Help to give kids a chance
A BOLD plan to get more youngsters with special needs into local employment is appealing for support from businesses.
Led by a group of Tees Valley bosses inspired by a Business in the Community tour of two schools for children with behavioural and learning problems, the project is looking for help in cash or in kind to address the poverty of opportunity for the schools' teenagers - just 2% of whom go on to find any form of work.
Project manager Liz Allison from Stockton Borough First Federation - a partnership of Abbey Hill School and Westlands School in Stockton and Thornaby - said it would help a significant number of 14 to 19-year-olds meet their potential.
“These young people do not lack ambition - just the chance to prove themselves. They are often labelled from the start of their lives as being unemployable - but what others perceive to be their limitations can just as readily be turned into a strength, making them a valuable addition to the workforce,” said Ms Allison.
The project has already attracted a powerful consortium of interests, including Johnson Matthey Group, Dickinson Dees, Pearsons, Exwold Technology, KP Foods, the Gazette Media Company and Esh Group plc, among others.
For more on this story, go to nebusiness.co.uk
