Group pledges £21m for youth schemes

Chief Executive Peter Marks launches the Co-op Group’s youth pledge in London

August 03 2010

In support of young people, the Co-operative Group has pledged £21 million for various projects including an Apprenticeship Academy that will create 2,000 jobs.

The academy is a key element of the Group’s campaign to help reverse the negative image and treatment of those aged 25 and under and support their future life goals and ambitions.

Chief Executive Peter Marks unveiled the plans at an event in Millbank, London, in front of Maggie Atkinson, Children's Commissioner for England, and Labour/Co-op MP Mark Lazarowicz.

The society will invest £9m to offer its apprentices experience across its family of businesses and the opportunity to work towards a nationally recognised qualification, such as an NVQ.

As well as creating job opportunities, the eight point Inspiring Young People campaign will inspire those aged 25 and under to change their world for the better, through co-operative education, opportunities and campaigning.

Apprentices will also have the opportunity to join the management training scheme and will learn about the Group’s social goals and the Co-operative Movement’s values and principles.

Launching the campaign, Mr Marks urged the UK to start considering young people as the “solution and not the problem”.

He said: “Shackled with the legacy of national debt, an increasingly inaccessible property ladder and an uncertain future shaped by climate change, it’s a challenging time to be a young person in Britain.

“Sadly, as a society, we harbour a widespread negative attitude towards young people which doesn’t encourage or inspire them. We believe it is exactly these attitudes that need to change rather than the all too common view that young people have an attitude problem.

“All too often, we see or hear stories which portray youngsters as poorly educated, work-shy and uncaring,” he said. “As someone who runs a business which employs over 120,000 people, a quarter of whom are under the age of 25, I know this just isn’t true — we must start talking up the young and see them as the solution rather than the problem. While our work, through these commitments, will directly benefit 250,000 young people across the UK, we have set our sights far higher.

“In fact our vision is to help bring about a cultural shift in the way that young people are viewed and treated in this country.”

As well as the apprentice scheme, the Group will inject a further £1m towards the support of Co-operative Trust schools; invest £2m in Truth About Youth, a national programme to challenge and change the widespread negative perceptions of young people; and back the Co-operative StreetGames Young Volunteers with £1m to support 3,000 young people from the most disadvantaged areas to deliver sport coaching for children in their communities.

The Group will also engage its staff to raise £5m for charities that inspire young people; as well as investing £500,000 in a campaign to lower the voting age to 16.

A further £1m will also be invested by the society in Sports Opportunities and Arts Opportunities, programmes designed to find the next stars of the sporting and artistic worlds.

Your views:

Gary Watts said 549 days ago:

Being a young person interested in the co-operative movement, this sounds fantastic. When will applications be accepted for the Apprenticeship Academy, and where would one apply?

What's your view? (are you registered?) login to leave a comment.

(Forgotten your password?)