Welcome to our first Foundation newsletter of 2020. 2019 saw the LoveLocalJobs Foundation grow a tremendous amount, adding two additional programmes to our offer and support 1000s more students. We plan on maintaining this upward trajectory throughout 2020 and have lots of exciting plans in the pipeline.
We are thrilled to have been awarded funding to work in partnership with Rockinghorse, to support young people in the care of Chalkhill and CAHMS service at the Royal Alexandra. We will be working with young people who have had suffered with poor mental health, providing them with the tools they need to further their recovery journey. We will be delivering a series of workshop, centred on our foundation values, such as confidence, resilience and hope, followed by activities which complement the workshops. The activities will be predominantly outdoor, providing the young people with an opportunity to challenge themselves, develop new skills and confidence and most importantly, have fun!
Ryan Heal, Chief Executive of Rockinghorse, said: "Our partnership enables what we have been doing on the mental health agenda in Sussex for years to reach new heights. Too many local children, and young people, have reached their lowest ebb. We all have a duty to engage, enlighten and support the long road to recovery. Partnerships such as this, are a major step in the right direction."
We are currently midway through our five Be the Change programmes in Bexhill, Leicester, Brighton, Crawley and Chichester, which means it is Stepping Up time! At this point in the programme, we invite primary school students to attend the afternoon for the year 9s to guide and mentor. This year we are fortunate enough to be joined by 500 primary students for our five programmes, from Balfour Primary School, Chichester Free School, Maidenbower Junior School, St Peters St Pauls, to name a few.
The afternoon is spent exploring dreams and hopes for the future, and at last year's Chichester Be the Change conference, we were treated to the quote of the year (below).
Our latest programme, Dare to Dream, whilst still relatively new is receiving great feedback! Jack the Lad has been busy getting out and about to see over 4500 students, at 19 schools, sharing his messages of resilience, determination, confidence and hope through his own stories and anecdotes.
85% of Year 10 students from St Andrew's C of E High School for Boys said that Dare to Dream improved their self-belief and motivation and 81% said it had a positive impact on them.
Check out this video from one of the students.
Through our foundation programmes, we work with 100s of young people a month and are always impressed with their attitudes, hope and want to succeed. This month, we wanted to shine a light on a particular young person who has impressed us.
Two years ago we ran Be the Change in Crawley and were introduced to a year 9 student called Latifah. At the time, Latifah was put on the programme as a disengaged young person, who needed support to fulfil her potential. Having completed the programme Latifah has since continued to be mentored by her business guide and they regularly meet to discuss her future and aspirations.
We invited Latifah back to the Crawley programme this year and she impressed everyone in the room to say the least. She was with the team all day, helping us with the logistics and supporting younger students throughout the day. Not only that, but she shared her story in front of 300 people, which included students, teachers and business guides. Well done Latifah and thank you for joining us!
Latfiah said: "Be the Change changed my life completely, it brought hope back into my life and gave me a reason to live again for that I thank all the staff at Be the Change and my mentor Lucy…I recommend this course to anyone and everyone, it will honestly change your life. And it will change you!"
Finally, a thread throughout all our programmes is the importance of learning and development, both as students and later on in life through being business guides. We embody this in both sides of our business, as the LoveLocalJobs Foundation and LoveLocalJobs.com.
To practice what we preach, we are running a series of breakfast clubs, focused on supporting the development of you as a professional!
To find out more click here. Aside from a delicious breakfast and great networking opportunity, the breakfast clubs will provide you with the time to focus on yourself and ensure that you continually grow.
Book your tickets here - https://www.lovelocaljobsfoundation.com/events-1/breakfast-club-four-leading-through-change