We have awarded Small Grants to seven organisations working to build commercial ability with young people across the country.
Commercial ability is what allows a young person to understand how organisations create value, to see where they fit within that, and to act on it. It is not a fixed talent. It is developed through practice, through contact with employers, and through being trusted with real responsibility. The seven projects funded in this round each create that opportunity in a different setting and for a different group of young people.
The funded projects
First Star Scholars UK will deliver workshops, mentoring and workplace experiences for 50 care-experienced young people aged14 to 21, through its project Building Commercial Ability for Care-Experienced Young People.
The Royal National College for the Blind will run two years of vocational training for blind and visually impaired students in Hereford through its Massage and Complementary Therapies pathway, including public clinics and community outreach that put students in front of real customers.
Underdog Crew Studios CIC will run the SENtrepreneur Self-Employment Skills Accelerator, an 18-month programme in Essex helping 20 neurodivergent young people aged 18 to 30 turn their skills into self-employment.
Career Ready will deliver Empowered to Succeed East Midlands, fifteen months of mentoring, masterclasses and a paid summer placement for 65 young people from low socio-economic backgrounds.
Urban Synergy will run Pathways to Success, a12-month programme for 52 young people aged 16 to 24 in South East London, delivered with partners including PwC, Morgan Stanley and ITN.
The Switch will reach 510 young people through its Future Skills and STEAM Industry Insight Programme, combining full-day STEAM corporate challenges with employability workshops.
Keyfund Federation will deliver The Key to Empowered Futures, working with 60 young people aged 11 to 16 across six schools in the North East who will design, pitch and deliver their own projects.
Together these projects will reach young people in Hereford, Essex, the East Midlands, South East London and the North East, and they include care-experienced young people, disabled young people and neurodivergent young people among those they work with.
That spread is deliberate. In assessing this round we looked for organisations that know their young people well, that give them genuine contact with employers and with the world of work rather than a description of it, and that are clear about what changes as a result. We were also looking for work that reaches young people who are furthest from the labour market, where the case for early, practical support is strongest.
Our recent roundtable report with The King's Trust, on recognising early skills progress in NEET young people, set out how much of the progress made by young people furthest from work goes unrecorded because the measures used are too blunt to capture it. Several of the projects funded in this round are working in exactly that territory.
Small Grants support projects that develop commercial ability in young people. You can read more about the programme, including what we fund and how to apply, on our Small Grants page.
