5 Jun 2023
Lincolnshire education providers celebrate success of youth scheme, Career Net, and look to the future of employability funding for young adults.
On Wednesday 25 May a number of key funders, education providers and local councillors joined together at Acis House in Gainsborough to recognise the impact made by Career Net, which was funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) as an employability, training and career development programme for 15 to 24-year-olds delivered by ten providers across Greater Lincolnshire.
Originally commissioned by the Greater Lincolnshire LEP, it was led and managed by CLIP (Community Learning in Partnership) who are part of the Acis Group. As part of its provision, CLIP supports young people in making career choices, enhancing their CVs and interview experience, and gaining qualifications.
The celebration event took time to reflect on the impact Career Net has made, hearing from course facilitators whilst listening to a personal story of a Career Net learner, Alex from Mablethorpe, who expressed her thanks and passion for the scheme, “now my future is so bright, I can go anywhere, my world is my oyster.”
Throughout the pandemic, Career Net continued to run with a mix of face-to-face and online learning and support. 1084 young people started the programme and 639 of these have already progressed to work, higher level learning, an apprenticeship or a traineeship. Making a real difference to the opportunities and aspirations for many young adults.
The programme was delivered across Greater Lincolnshire by CLIP, The Network, Abbey Access Training, First College, Boston College, Lincoln College, Grantham College, Grimsby Institute, Tempus Training, 1st Care Training and Children’s Links.
Greg Bacon CEO at the Acis Group said, “In 2022 we brought CLIP into the Acis Group family, and it has been a pleasure to host this celebration event. Hearing the knowledge and expertise in the room as discussions took place about the future of Career Net, and what it would need to look like, was a real inspiration.”
As the ESF Funding has now ended the discussions focused on what a successor to Career Net might look like. Richard Thorpe, Head of Operations at CLIP added “The discission was really productive with attendees all agreeing that working together across the districts of Lincolnshire was key, sharing success and understanding that we have a really diverse range of learning environments.”
For more information on the current programmes of support please contact CLIP on info@cliplearning.com.