Verbal Update by Right Track
Minutes:
Stuart Bell and Nick Parr of Right Track Social Enterprise updated the Committee on the work of Right Track (RT) as the Lead Organisation for the Area.
The following points were highlighted:
(a) Right Track Social Enterprise has been the Lead Organisation in Area 1 for the past 3 years and provides and enables community engagement and activities for all sections and ages of the community, including employment and training and support;
(b) although the contract for Area 1 Lead Organisation was renewed on 12 July 2016, the amount of funding has been reduced by £5,000;
(c) RT is involved with the Employment and Skills Area Partnership which met for the first time in June and proposes to hold a Local Opportunities Roadshow in October with local businesses meeting with local people who want to get back into work, as a confidence builder, finding out what local businesses do and what skills they need. It is hoped that further sessions can be provided;
(d) drop-in Jobs Clubs already operate in Top Valley (Mondays and Fridays 10am-12 noon) and Bulwell Riverside (Wednesdays 10am -4pm), with an average attendance of 15 people per session;
(e) ‘Nottingham into Work’ has helped 106 local people, 55 were successful in gaining employment, 39 of whom are still in employment 6 months later;
(f) RT also work with children and young people, engaging with 457 local young people during the first year quarter, 274 through the toy library alone, with a variety of engagement and activity sessions;
(g) RT has engaged with 4 new local volunteering community groups to help them set up and source funding and contacts, and during the new year, hopes to provide specific ‘set-up’ sessions for other emerging groups;
(h) Any Councillors or community representatives wanting to find out more about what RT does and can provide, can contact Stuart or Nick via the Neighbourhood Development Officers.
The Committee’s questions were responded to as follows:
(i) the local people who RT have helped into work are aged 18-29 years old;
(j) work opportunities have been accessed across a range of sectors including warehouse, driving and retail, depending on the young people’s areas of interest;
(k) career advice is provided to young people engaged with RT to try and encourage them to raise their aspirations of what they are capable of achieving and working as;
(l) statistics can be provided regarding the level and type of formal qualifications which young people engaging with RT may have, but this would be following the meeting. Some young people do have qualifications but many struggle with maths and English so RT aims for them to achieve basic qualifications in these subjects but with only 6 months engagement, this is not always possible;
(m) with regard to current school leavers, it is possible to electronically access their course attendance and formal qualification and records but this is not possible for everyone;
(n) RT undertakes a skills audit with all young people accessing their employment support service and it has been interesting that for some who have qualifications, they don’t necessarily achieve as expected on a practical level;
(o) young people are tracked for 6 months after completing the training course, but not beyond;
(p) there is a huge skills gap in the City but young people need both the skills and attitude to want to work;
(q) there is an ongoing capacity for RT to host more young people than apply for employment courses but there is an element of apathy from some young people as inter-generation unemployment is high in the area and few young people appear interested in addressing this;
(r) courses and schemes are advertised traditionally but also through texting and tweeting, which provides better results than telephoning some people. RT is currently investigating the possibility of sponsoring Pokémon so young people will come to RT as part of their gaming activity. Social media is very expensive and difficult to manage so hasn’t been considered appropriate;
(s) mental health is a large barrier for some young people to enter work but they are treated as individuals by their mentors and appropriate support made available, including where necessary, referrals to specialist services. The opportunity to return to RT is made available when they’re ready;
(t) for some young people living on the edge of City, the cost of travel to and from work placements is discouraging as some are left feeling as though they are working with nothing to show for it once the 6 month support and travel allowance has finished.
RESOLVED
(1) to note the update and thank Stuart and Nick for the presentation;
(2) to note that Right Track can be contacted as follows:
Right Track 0115 9200300
Right Track Academy,
Knights Close,
Top Valley,
Nottingham.
NG5 9AJ
(3) for Right Track to provide Ward Councillors with information on:
(a) which qualifications, if any, young people enter the Tight Track Training courses with;
(b) what tracking, if any, is there once young people have completed their training and 6 months of employment.