Empowering Care Leavers: Building Opportunities & Raising Aspirations

1. From Care2Work Creating Opportunities Raising Aspirations Barry Cullen Employability Projects Manager

2. Why From Care2Work?

3. From 2009 to Now

4. Local Authority Support • Helped to map employability support & services to care leavers • Developed work-plans to improve where necessary the employability offer to care leavers • Helped leaving care services engage with national and local employers • Provided training in-house to social care staff now responsible for employability support • Identified areas where local authorities could offer opportunities to care leavers as good corporate parents e.g. Apprenticeships/Work Experience • Highlighted and disseminated good practice from across England

5. Good Practice Examples

6. Engaging Employers • Exceeded target of 100 employers engaged through the programme • Ensured that there was a broad range of employers across different sectors in order to meet the needs of care leavers • Developed a flexible model which understood that employers and young people aren’t 1 size fits all • Tried to create opportunities that were aspirational and inspirational • We have encouraged care leavers to think “I Can Do This”

7. Marriott Hotels – Home & Abroad • 23 Hotels in England support From Care2Work • Over 300 opportunities have been created for care leavers • Commitment to supporting the programme matches their “Spirit to Serve” in communities • Increasing numbers of care leavers now employed as Marriott Associates • 5 Hotels in Germany involved in the Willkommen programme • 11 care leavers learnt German, gained work experience in England before travelling out to Germany for work experience in Marriott Hotels • 6 of the participants now employed by Marriott in England

8. Premier Partnerships • Premier League football clubs supporting care leavers • Tottenham Hotspur Foundation’s E18HTEEN programme • Arsenal in the Community’s Care Leavers Employability Programme • Chelsea FC supporting young people in Essex! • Stoke City developing a programme to work with Stoke care leavers • London’s top 3 clubs now partners to Catch22 NCAS, Goals2Work Programme funded by Comic Relief’s Sport for Change • Goals2Work will support 60 care leavers from London & Essex with football, employability and life skills training.

9. Quality Mark • Demonstrate Commitment • Creating Opportunities • Providing strong Support • Ensuring effective Monitoring • http://leavingcare.org/?page_ID=100019

10. Toolkit & Resources • Employers Handbook & Awareness Session • Career Planning Workbook • A Young Person’s Guide to Employment • Benefits Guide for young people & professionals • Employer Engagement & Work Experience Toolkits • http://leavingcare.org/what_we_do/ncas_projects/from_carework_project/resources_fcw • http://leavingcare.org/what_we_do/ncas_projects/from_carework_project/resources_fcw

11. The Future??? • Delivering From Care2Work across England to 2015 • Catch22 AEI will ensure local opportunities for care leavers and a clear focus on apprenticeships • Working with LEPs and Chambers of Commerce to ensure strategic support and links to SMEs • Willkommen, Goals2Work, Children’s Home Project projects grown out of From Care2Work which make a real difference to care leavers

12. Thank You Barry Cullen Employability Projects Manager Barry.Cullen@catch-22.org.uk Website - www.leavingcare.org Twitter - @NCAS_uk From Care2Work Mailing List http://leavingcare.us1.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=5c9a0bfa9b06a75f21c1181f4&id=a68663cfed