Lewisham Council secures funding to tackle youth unemployment

Lewisham is one of seven places selected to receive a share of the ￡16 million Youth Futures Foundation ‘Connected Futures’ grants programme, helping young people overcome barriers to getting a job.

Following a competitive selection process, Lewisham Council - has secured a share of the ￡16m Connected Futures Fund to help tackle youth employment, working in partnership with Phoenix Community Housing and Circle Collective. The scheme is delivered through Youth Futures Foundation - a not-for-profit organisation established in 2019 to improve employment outcomes for young people from less advantaged backgrounds.

The programme aims to provide young people who face barriers to employment, with the support they need to build their careers and access great quality jobs. It is funded via the Dormant Assets Scheme, which releases funds from dormant bank and building society accounts - accounts where no transactions have been carried out for the past 15 years – to support good causes.

The Lewisham partnership will support young people in Downham and surrounding areas in the south of the borough – where youth unemployment is 50% higher than it was pre-pandemic and where complex barriers to employment are 21% higher than in the rest of Lewisham.

Over the next 18 months, the ￡117,500 of confirmed funding will be used to support a research project into improving youth employment opportunities in Downham.

Young people will be at the heart of the project and will be recruited into paid roles as ambassadors , leading peer-to-peer research and producing a proposal for improving employment support services in Downham. Ambassadors will have the chance to boost their employability skills and see their work influencing, and leading to positive changes in the borough.

Young Mayor of Lewisham, Rosanna Campbell, said:

“I am so excited to see a youth-led project for young people in Downham to support them to help them reach their future goals. I’ve been in Downham for my whole secondary school and have just left to take my next steps, it’s not always easy to know which path to take.

“For some young people it can be difficult and they have many hurdles to face but all young people however they got on at school want to be able to progress and make the most of their life, everyone has dreams and things they want to do.

“I’ve found, from being Young Mayor, how important it is to go to where young people are and really listen to their experiences, what they need and what the problems are. Young people have many skills and talents and are definitely part of the solution! I look forward to hearing how the project goes and how we can be more involved in the future.”

Apply on our website for a paid role as a Youth Ambassador , or find out more information on the programme, by contacting the team?[email protected] .