National Express Foundation grants £20,000 award to EmployabilityUK
The National Express Foundation, a charity that helps disadvantaged young people, has once again pledged life changing sums of money to young people via community groups and educational institutions this month. We are absolutely thrilled that EmployabilityUK has been chosen for a funding award of £20,000.
Since it was launched in 2012, Foundation funding has helped over 22,000 young people. Combined with a round of funding earlier in the year, this year’s grant is expected to benefit over 4,000 young people by supporting them with the cost of their studies and also helping groups to deliver educational and developmental activities for youth in the community.
Anthony Vigor, Chairman of the National Express Foundation, said:
“We are delighted to announce the second round National Express Foundation funding awards for 2019. This is the largest grant we have ever made in a single year, with a total of over £450,000 of funding pledged this year to support over 4,000 young people. We are proud that this funding will help deliver even more positive and developmental activities for local young people and help those who might not otherwise be able to continue with their studies in further and higher education.”
EmployabilityUK will use a grant of £20,000 to widen participation to their ‘Inspiring Young Birmingham’ (IYB) programme. The extended provision will allow people that may not have otherwise had the chance to prepare themselves for volunteer or paid job roles at the upcoming Commonwealth Games in the city.
Diane Vernon, founder and CEO at EmployabilityUK said:
“We are absolutely delighted that the National Express Foundation has awarded us this grant. It means that we are able to reach even more young people across the West Midlands as part of our ‘Inspiring Young Birmingham’ initiative.
“The programme will already see more than 1,500 young people from across the region become ‘Games Ready’: to volunteer or secure jobs created when the Commonwealth Games comes to Birmingham in 2022. Now, this funding will directly enable us to extend our programme to young people with ‘special educational needs’, ‘learning/behavioural difficulties’, ‘looked after children’ and the ‘hardest to reach’.
“We are immensely grateful and will ensure that the opportunity to experience this transformational programme is extended to as many young people as possible.”
