- Area:
- Wales
- Programme:
- Getting Ahead
- Release date:
- 25 9 2012
The new £3.4 million Getting Ahead programme aims to engage, prepare and motivate care leavers and young offenders between the ages of 16 and 18 who are not in education, employment or training into undertaking a six month paid supported work placement. The aim is to enhance their chances of progressing into sustainable employment or further learning or training by increasing their employability skills.
A glowing example for young people set to benefit from this programme is 17 year old Christopher Storer from Cardiff who has reaped the rewards of attending a similar project which has also been part funded by the Big Lottery Fund.
Growing up with considerable problems in the household, 17 year old Chris Storer had a chaotic childhood and spent his early teens skipping school and hanging out on the streets of Cardiff until he was placed in Local Authority Care. With nothing to do and no hopes, drive, dreams or aspirations for the future- he was fast heading down a slippery slope to nowhere.
Turn the clock forward ten months and Chris now tells a completely different story. The young care leaver is in fulltime employment, has money in his pocket, is brimming with confidence and is looking forward to his future with a great deal of optimism.
Chris is among the hundreds of young people from Cardiff and the South Wales Valleys who have benefited from the Learning 4 Life Scheme run by homeless charity Llamau. Part funded by the Big Lottery Fund, the scheme aims to provide young care leavers with tailored support and guidance to help them into work and enable them to live independent lives.
“My life was boring until I got involved with this scheme,” says Chris.
“I was just out on the streets, hanging around, doing nothing and I had a lot of problems at home.”
“I didn’t have anything to do. I tried to find a job but I couldn’t get anything. I never got my head down in school either and I always used to get distracted. I can’t sit down to write and read – all that’s just boring to me. I prefer using my hands and learning through looking at other people first and doing it that way.”
After being placed in Local Authority care, Chris was referred to Llamau by a Social Worker from Children’s Services in August last year. He initially took part in a work experience scheme but was keen to gain paid employment on a permanent basis.
“I started going back to school to show that I was making an effort to change and trying to make something out of my life,” says Chris.
“My social worker then put me in touch with the project and it all started from there really.”
Through the scheme, Chris was offered a placement opportunity with AE Insulation Ltd, a Cardiff based company which provides and installs insulation for residential industrial and commercial properties. After just a few weeks of work, he was taken on in a paid capacity.
Delighted with his new job, ‘boredom’ is no longer a word that enters Chris’s Dictionary and he can’t imagine life without work: “I’m really enjoying it and I can’t wait to be fully qualified,” he says.
Having dealt with a great deal of chaos during his childhood, Chris wasn’t ready for an apprenticeship and thought it would be too much to take on so soon. He just wanted to gain paid employment with the possibility studying more seriously later on. Chris has now been employed by AE Insulation for over ten months and has moved on from his initial position of installing loft insulation to cavity wall insulation.
In addition to paid employment, Chris has also gained new skills and on the job qualifications within his role. He has even passed a City & Guilds qualification in computers (ICT), which is something he would never have imagined a few years ago.
“I’ve done computer courses and I’ve had work experience at places,” he says.
“I would never have bothered with something like that before if I’m being honest. I’ve also done loads of courses with work.”
The project also gave Chris some much needed confidence: “They gave me more confidence as well when it came to meeting new people,” he says.
“I was a bit shy and quiet when it came to meeting new people before. There were so many different people coming in and out if the project, I eventually just got to know them and build up my confidence.”
According to Chris, this is the best thing that’s happened to him and he doesn’t believe he would have found employment at all if it wasn’t for all the support he received.
“Without this support I wouldn’t be where I am now,” he says.
“I wouldn’t have a job and I would probably be doing nothing or on the dole or something.”
“It’s a lot easier with support. If there was something I didn’t understand, the support worker at the project would explain it to me and also encourage me and push me towards getting a job. When I was on my own, I was ringing loads of different people and they would take my details and I’d never hear from them again. This project took me to that next step of actually getting a job.”
And Chris now has firm plans for the future and has much more enthusiasm for life: “I’m definitely willing to give things a go now whereas before, if it didn’t sound good, I didn’t want to know,” he says.
“It’s a good thing that I’ve changed. My life’s a lot more exciting; I’ve got a lot more money to do things and not as much free time- so I really enjoy my weekends even more when they come round now.”
And his message to those wishing to benefit from the new programme is clear: “Just go for it. Get working and get some business going,” he says.
AUDIO AVAILABLE: Chris Storer explains how a project funded by BIG helped him get some much needed qualifications and find a job To arrange an interview with Chris, please call Oswyn Hughes on 02920 678 207 or Email oswyn.hughes@biglotteryfund.org.uk
Further Information
Big Lottery Fund Press Office – Oswyn Hughes: 02920 678 207
Out of hours contact: 07760 171 431
Follow BIG on Twitter: www.twitter.com/biglotterywales
Find BIG on facebook: www.facebook.com/biglotteryfundwales
Public Enquiries Line: 0300 123 0735
Textphone: 0845 6021 659
Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available on the website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Notes to Editors
- South Wales based homeless charity, Llamau Ltd, was awarded over £500,000 through Life Skills to run the Learning 4 Life scheme - a project which provides over 200 young care leavers from Caerphilly, Merthyr Tydfil and Rhondda Cynon Taff with tailored support and guidance to help them into work and enable them to live an independent life.
- The £14 million Life Skills project is a funding stream which matches Big Lottery Fund (BIG) money with European Social Fund - delivered through the Welsh Government.
- In Wales, the Big Lottery Fund is rolling out close to £100,000 a day in National Lottery good cause money, which together with other Lottery distributors means that across Wales most people are within a few miles of a Lottery-funded project.
- The National Lottery Act 2006 allows us to handle non-Lottery as well as Lottery Funding. We do this by operating as BIG Fund.
- The Getting Ahead programme is funded by money that has been dormant in bank and building society accounts across the UK for 15 years or more. How we spend this money in Wales has been determined by Policy Directions issued to the Big Lottery Fund by the Welsh Government. This programme has been developed to meet the need identified in those directions.
- The Big Lottery Fund, the largest of the National Lottery good cause distributors, has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK since its inception in June 2004. It was established by Parliament on 1 December 2006.
- Since the National Lottery began in 1994, 28p from every pound spent by the public has gone to Good Causes. As a result, over £28 billion has now been raised and more than 383,000 grants given out across the arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.
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