By Siobhan Goss, Regeneration Manager, and Alasdair Heselgrave, Regeneration Officer

Over the past few months, the Social Value team has partnered with a range of government and community institutions to provide tailored and accessible career support for young people leaving the care system. By partnering with Barnet-based charities, Live Unlimited and Boost Barnet, the team was able to participate in a series of on-going events supporting looked-after young people to develop their employability skills and independence.

The first of these sessions gave young people an opportunity to hear from, and put questions to, 4 guest speakers from a variety of industries including technology, music and recruitment. After this session, the team was thrilled to be invited back to deliver a seminar on Financial Wellbeing and Money Management to a similar group of young-adult care leavers.

The Social Value team is now planning a short course of employability and life-skills classes to supplement the care-leavers’ learning experience and provide additional support for their forward journey. These include introductory workshops on CV Writing, online job searching and using LinkedIn to find work. Ultimately the team’s goal is to provide young care-leavers with the skills needed to thrive in today’s challenging job market.