Blackpool has been awarded £2.3m to help get more of the town’s school leavers into jobs after a successful campaign to secure the funding.
The cash – from the Youth Futures Foundation – will be used over three years for initiatives including creating a more employment-focused curriculum for Blackpool’s secondary schools.
A town-wide database will also be developed to ensure young people get a more personal approach when it comes to helping them find work.
It follows a £380,000 project over the past two years to understand the youth employment challenges faced by the town. Figures from 2023 showed levels of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) were at 4.4 per cent compared to 2.8 per cent nationally.
Blackpool’s Connected Futures partnership is led by education charity Right to Succeed working with partners including the council, Blackpool Football Club Community Trust and the Blackpool Youth Advisor Team.
Paul O’Neill, deputy chief executive at Right to Succeed, said: “No single organisation can solve complex problems such as youth unemployment alone, but by working together we can start to shift the dial on the issue both in Blackpool and at a national level by sharing our key learning, insight and practice.”
Coun Kath Benson, Blackpool Council cabinet member for young people and aspiration, said: “To break down barriers and improve access to employment for young people, it’s essential that the programme works for, and is shaped by, its young people.”
Blackpool was one of seven areas chosen to benefit from the Connected Futures programme.
More than 700 Year 11 pupils took part in a survey last year and the Big Conversation event, hosted by Merlin at Blackpool Tower, was attended by 200 young people. Parents and teachers also took part in surveys.
Barry Fletcher, chief executive at Youth Futures Foundation, said: “Following the success of the Connected Futures programme in Blackpool, we are pleased to announce this further investment to enable Right to Succeed and other members of the Blackpool partnership to continue the work that they’re doing to improve youth employment.
“Connected Futures has enabled us to leverage the strengths of the Blackpool community, by working with organisations and young people across the area, to create impactful local solutions that will help foster a thriving youth employment landscape.”
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