Young people who are out of work are being offered help into employment through their love of sport with Street League sessions returning to West Dunbartonshire.
Street League is the UK’s leading sport for employment charity, supporting thousands of young people each year and aiming to end youth unemployment.
The number of young people who are out of work locally soared due to the Covid-19 pandemic – however recent statistics have painted a brighter picture showing an increase in the number of young people entering employment.
Admitting that the picture for local youngsters looking to get into work remains challenging, Graham Reid, the charity’s local co-ordinator, is hopeful that Street League can help to change lives.
Dumbarton local Graham told the Lennox Herald: “It can be more difficult now than ever for young people to move into employment.
“Not only is unemployment high, the number of jobs available has been hit by the pandemic.
“The competition to try and get a job for young people is very difficult so that’s something we try and overcome as best as we can.
“We provide as many opportunities as possible for young people to develop their skills. As well as that, people who come on board with our programmes will get the chance to achieve SQA-accredited qualifications which will enhance their CVs and improve their chances of being successful in applying for a job.”
Graham is optimistic that a love of football could encourage more people to come along and take advantage of the benefits of being involved with the charity.
He continued: “I think the popularity of sport across our country plays a huge role especially with football in the west of Scotland.
“We work on helping people improve their employability through things like CV writing, interview skills, communication and teamwork but we do it all through the power of sport. We use that to engage with people.
“We’ll carry out employability tasks and that sort of thing and then go out onto the pitch and do some physical activities that bring the benefits of that so it’s really the best of both worlds for us.
“We also get participants who come on board who aren’t interested in sport and are only interested in the employability side of things and it’s really successful for them as well.
“If an employer is looking at an application form and perhaps sees that this young person has gone through Street League and gained the experience and SQA-accredited qualifications that we offer, then it does put them in with a better chance than someone who hasn’t been on the programme and might not have these things to add to their CV.”
The programme will begin on Monday February 28 and will be based at Goals Glasgow West in Clydebank. It will last for 10 weeks and sessions will be four days per week.
Street League is available to anyone aged 16-29, unemployed and living in West Dunbartonshire.
Participants – if eligible – can earn £55 per week plus travel expenses for attending the programme.
They will receive an SQA qualification whilst taking part in personal development workshops to prepare them to move into work, college or training.
And Graham is keen for anyone in that age group who is out of education, work or training to get in touch.
He added: “We try to open up as many channels as possible for people to get involved, either via my Facebook page, Graham Reid StreetLeague, and Twitter or via email.
“We also have an online form where young people can sign up via www.streetleague.co.uk/forms/join-a-free-programme.”
