Join The Campaign… Posted in: News & Events on 2nd March, 2010.

Sandwell Partnership has got together with a range of our partners (including Connexions, West Midlands Fire Service, Business In The Community, the Shaw Trust, West Bromwich YMCA, Sandwell Homes, the Hadley Group) – to respond to the Backing Young Britain challenge.

Some of the key players in the Sandwell business community have already come forward offering apprenticeship and work placement opportunities and now we’re launching the Backing Young Sandwell campaign with the aim of creating 1000 apprenticeships and 500 work placements for young people in Sandwell who are aged between 16 – 24 years old and are currently unemployed.

As Stewart Towe, Managing Director of the Hadley Group puts it:

“The harsh reality is that in Sandwell we are facing a 33% unemployment rate, amongst our young people.  There are many people who are young and gifted but unemployed in Sandwell.  I’m asking everyone who thinks that’s unacceptable to join the Backing Young Sandwell campaign.”

“We want to put something back into Sandwell and I believe there are many other successful employers – across all sectors – who share our determination to help our young people take that first step into work and hopefully into careers that give them a great future.”

The Backing Young Sandwell campaign will launch with a business breakfast in March and be followed up with the launch of a youth focused website that will be the place for 16 to 24 year olds to register for apprenticeships and work placements.

For more information on how you and your organisation can join us in Backing Young Sandwell, please download the leaflet or email sandwell_partnership@sandwell.gov.uk for more information.

Download information for employers here

UPDATE 2nd March 2010

The response to our Business Breakfast for Sandwell employers on 17th March has been good so far - thanks to everyone who’s already agreed to come - but it’s not too late to book your place at the official launch of Backing Young Sandwell, which will be at the Public in West Bromwich. 

If you are an employer, in the public or private sector, and want to know how you can be part of Backing Young Sandwell email us at sandwell_partnership@sandwell.gov.uk for an invitation to our Business Breakfast launch event.

Backing Young Sandwell is our local response to the national Backing Young Britain campaign.  Click here for information about Backing Young Britain.

Connecting Communities – up and running! Posted in: News & Events on 2nd March, 2010.

Sandwell has been awarded a total of £300,000 of government funding for four voluntary sector led Connecting Communities programmes in Tibbington, Friar Park, Ocker Hill and the Rowley Regis/Tividale areas of Sandwell.

 
The programmes will be working to strengthen community cohesion and community leadership in areas where there has been a sense of isolation from services and the decision making process that has been worsened by increasing levels of unemployment.

 
The four programmes will be tailored to the needs of the individual areas but all will have common elements which will include teambuilding, work placements, training to develop the participants’ general employability and a “team challenge” that will carry out some type of improvement to the area.  In total 80 young people (aged 16-24) will take part in the programme in community leadership and citizenship.

 
The lead partners are Friar Park Millennium Centre, Murray Hall Community Trust, Centrepoint and Oakham Church, all community led organisations rooted in the neighbourhoods identified.  Other partners include the West Midlands Fire Service, Sandwell Council Communities Unit, West Midlands Police, The Albion Foundation and local housing associations, Accord and Black Country Housing.

 
All the partners are signed up to provide taster sessions or placements for the young people involved.  Part of the purpose of the “taster sessions” is to ensure the young people involved have a chance to sample a wide and varied range of work opportunities in the hope of broadening their horizons and raise their aspirations.

 
In each of the four areas a smaller delivery group has been set up to implement the programme, in each case this involves further voluntary organisations active in the area.  Care has also been taken to ensure the people who will work on the programmes know the areas well, in some cases they are local young people themselves.  While the programmes are up and running, all are still keen to hear from local young people who might be interested in getting involved.

 
Gary Bowman, director of Sandwell Partnership said; ‘This is a really exciting chance to reach out to some of the areas of Sandwell where we know people have felt alienated from the mainstream which leads to understandable frustration.

 
What Connecting Communities offers is a chance to open doors for some of our young people.  Giving them the chance not just to work with some of the organisations that influence their everyday lives, but to have a real say and perhaps from this some of the next generation of community leaders can emerge.’

 
If your organisation would like to get involved in Connecting Communities contact Sandwell Partnership on 0845 434 9140 and we will put you in touch with the lead agency for your neighbourhood.

We’re Proud of Sandwell - Tell Us What Makes You Proud! Posted in: News & Events on 1st February, 2010.

Sandwell Partnership is launching the Be Proud campaign as a celebration of the people, places and prospects that make Sandwell a great place to live and work.  During 2010 we want to discover and celebrate that things the make you proud - it could be your work, your family, your school or your street - and we’ll be encouraging people to tell us your stories and share what makes you proud in a variety of ways.

 Already up and running is the Be Proud Flickr photography group (at http://www.flickr.com/groups/sandwellbeproud/) and we’ll be attending events and sending out publicity over the next few weeks asking you to tell us who, what & where make you proud of Sandwell.
For further information call Brian McKinstrie, Communications, Events & Campaigns Manager, Sandwell Partnership on 0121 569 3452 or email brian_mckinstrie@sandwell.gov.uk