By Juno Schwarz | Director of Fundraising, Policy & Communications
Dear Care Leaver Champion,
In the last 3 months, your support enabled 40 care-experienced young people eager to move forward in their lives to kickstart their careers more smoothly. Here are some of their stories.
“I can’t say how grateful I am... it’s a tough life out there at the minute and I don’t think I’d have gotten any of this otherwise. I’ve never owned a suit before... and Justin helped me with the tie as well.” - Lukas, 20
Lukas joined us just under a year ago. He had just completed his Maths and English at college, a big success especially when compared to most other care-experienced young people working with us. One of his biggest challenges back then was managing his money and expenses. He was on Universal Credit then, which means he had to be careful not to fall into debt.
At the same time, Lukas was unsure of what his future should look like. He had done work experience as a mechanic before but was looking for a change of direction. So, he and his DFF Careers Specialist got to work and within a few weeks Lukas was offered an internship with our partners at John Lewis.
His job required him to wear professional clothes and be present at work throughout the week. With Universal Credit not being available to him from the day he started, and his first paycheck not coming through until about 1 and a half months later, it’s only due to Closing the Gap that Lukas was able to accept and succeed in his new role.
Having regular employment was new to Lukas, so we provided regular check-ins and motivational calls to help him see the employment contract through to the end. He did complete the internship, and now, armed with this useful experience, is working with us to find his next role.
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Driving Construction Forward
At the end of last year, DFF began a training initiative to assist young people with an interest in working in the construction sector to achieve their CSCS qualification. This is a prerequisite for working on any construction site; we took the decision to take the training in-house for this because we know how crucial regular and intensive support during the course can be in helping young people to complete it,and alsoto pass the exam at the end.
Jason was aparticipant on the first CSCS course we ran at DFF. He had been working for a railway company but had to leave his job because of difficulties with housing. Despite all the complications in his life, he was steadfast during the course, coming in earlier than all the other candidates and making every effort to complete it.
His Careers Specialist, Daniella, put him forward to for a role with Wates Group, one of our corporate partners; he started work with them in early January 2024 and has been doing well ever since. The Closing-the-Gap fund enabled him to travel to work for his first two weeks and buy suitable clothing, and reports from Wates about his performance at work have been very positive.
This month sees the third iteration of our CSCS programme with a further ten young people this week qualifying for their site Health & Safety certificate, interviewed, and accepted for jobs as soon as they pass the final exam which should be in the next few weeks. With your help, we will continue to support themas they begin their jobs in construction.
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Thank you for believing in their potential!
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