Project Title: Intergenerational Pathways: Skills for a Connected Future
Organisation: Intergenerational Music Making Location: London (Hackney) and Manchester (Harpurhey) Grant Amount: £6,000 Delivery Period: 2025/2026 Academic Year
CET’s Small Grant is supporting Intergenerational Music Making to deliver an intergenerational skills, mentoring, and work placement programme for young people aged 16+ from disadvantaged backgrounds. The project combines skills workshops, mutual mentoring with older professionals, community-based projects, and work placements to help young people build confidence, develop employability skills, and gain insight into different career pathways.
What the Project Did
The project delivered youth skills workshops, 10 mutual mentoring sessions with older professionals, intergenerational community projects lasting 6–12 weeks, and supported work placements. Delivery used a hybrid model across Hackney and Harpurhey, combining online and in-person workshops, mentoring, and placements in community, housing, social care, and cultural settings.
Who It Reached
· Direct beneficiaries: 90 young people
· Target group: Young people aged 16+ from disadvantaged and underrepresented backgrounds in Hackney and Harpurhey, including care-experienced young people, neurodiverse learners, and those from refugee or migrant backgrounds
Commercial Ability in Action
Commercial Ability was embedded through intergenerational skills workshops, mentoring, and work placements, helping young people develop communication, teamwork, problem-solving, and workplace behaviours. Exposure to sectors such as housing, social care, community development, and business strengthened organisational and sector-specific understanding.
Impact & Outcomes
· Improved confidence, communication and teamwork skills among participants
· Increased understanding of workplace expectations and intergenerational working
· Greater awareness of career pathways across social care, housing, community and business sectors
· Approximately 60 young people engaged at mid-point, with delivery on track to reach 90
What’s Next
The project will complete delivery across Manchester and Hackney by the end of the academic year. Learning from the programme will inform future delivery and contribute to the development of a model that can be replicated in other locations.
