STREET LEAGUE BRINGS AWARD WINNING PROGRAMME TO GIRVAN
Street League has teamed up with the Girvan Youth Trust and Girvan Academy to support local young people into the workplace and raise their aspirations.
The detrimental effects that the last two years have had on the young people of Scotland is startlingly obvious. We are on the cusp of both a significant skills shortage incited by school closures and a mental health crisis for young people who are feeling the full force of pandemic impacts. For young people who live in rural areas, such as Girvan, this is only heightened.
With school closures, redundancies, and the ending of the job retention scheme in September 2021, we see a staggering number of young people in Scotland struggling to enter the workforce, with estimates as high as 42,000 unemployed and at least another 10,000 economically inactive. As the economy opens back up, job openings are increasing. However, many young people have not had the opportunity to build the skills necessary to move into work. The Open University found that two-thirds of Scottish businesses are struggling to find young people with the right skills to hire. Areas where the skills shortage is expected to be most prominent over the next five years include care sector work, digital work, and hospitality.
Furthermore, cuts to funding for youth services - in rural areas in particular - has exacerbated an already critical youth mental health crisis within Scotland. For every £16 of cuts to local services made during the pandemic, £1 has fallen on youth work. The average spend on youth services per head has tumbled in the last year from £154 to £62 in urban areas and from £108 to only £47 in rural areas. This lack of youth services and support has created heightened feelings of isolation and loneliness, and currently, rural communities are not seen as sustainable places for young people to thrive.
Street League, the UK's leading youth-focused sport and employability charity has teamed up with the Girvan Youth Trust and Girvan Academy to provide a safe, accessible programme that aims to empower young people in the South Ayrshire area and help them realise their true potential.
Gail McMaster, Project Co-ordinator at Girvan Youth Trust said
“It’s fantastic to have the opportunity to work in partnership with Street League here in Girvan and South Carrick. Young people living in rural areas are often required to travel to Ayr or Kilmarnock to access Employability and Skills support which is a barrier due to poor public transport and funding. We believe that our young people should be offered the same range of employability support that's available to others living in the larger towns in South Ayrshire as not one size fits all. Each person can buy into different aspects of the programme, the most important element is engagement and building positive relationships.”
This is Street League's first foray into delivering its award-winning sports and employability academies into a rural area. The ten-week academy will work with young people to raise their aspirations and give them the tools to create a brighter future for themselves by providing help with employability skills, including one-to-one coaching and help with job applications, daily sports sessions that are invaluable in improving physical and mental wellness, and self-development work that improves key life skills like self-confidence, teamwork, and communication.
Alex Scott, Depute Head Teacher of Girvan Academy said,
"We believe that young people who live within a rural community and face the challenges of social deprivation, rural isolation and reduced opportunities need those supporting them to work in a joined-up and coherent way so that the work being done is as impactful, coordinated and connected as possible. We believe that the work we do with our partners, including Street League, does have a positive and sustained impact, increasing ambition and aspiration, broadening horizons and opportunities, and leading to positive outcomes and destinations. This collaborative approach has resulted in our positive destination figures being one of the best in Scotland."
This partnership provides the first step towards reducing the inequalities felt by young people living in rural areas of Scotland. If you would like to find out more information about Street League's work in Girvan and surrounding areas, please contact info@streetleague.co.uk.
This project is supported by the Rural Communities Ideas into Action fund, supported by the Scottish Government and delivered by Inspiring Scotland to encourage and support innovative approaches to community-led local development in rural communities across Scotland.
