Barclays Luton-based Commercial team supports a charity which encourages disadvantaged young people in the area to train in garden design and construction.

In 2007, Barclays donated more than £18,600 to Groundwork Luton and South Bedfordshire, to fund a 20-week programme designed to offer potential and convicted young offenders the opportunity to learn valuable skills.

A team of seven volunteers from Barclays also gave 19 hours of their time to provide the 14-to-18-year-olds with advice on budgeting, to improve their financial management abilities for when they ultimately gain employment.

As part of the project, the participants transformed a previously unsafe and unused area into an attractive garden, now used on a daily basis by staff and students from crime reduction organisation Nacro.

Better still, feedback reveals the young people who took part have benefited from increased confidence, improved team-working, better money management techniques and skills they can take into the workplace.

 

Project targets

To engage with 20 unemployed people who attend the centre to transform their new garden area into a great outdoor space for both centre users and wildlife

To encourage the participants to commit to coming to all the sessions and to be on time - this was quite a challenge for many of them who had been out of work for some time and made them think about the commitment they would need to make to gain a job

To run a 20 week programme at the centre offering training in garden design, horticulture, sustainability and small scale construction. The training course would give the participants practical skills that could help them gain future employment, build their confidence and team building ability and also work on basic skills such as numeracy, literacy and communication.

To deliver two sessions a week, one for the 14-16 age group and one for the 16-18 age group. These will all be delivered on-site and will include time for first aid training and health and safety awareness.

 

Impacts to date

The partnership has resulted in the transformation of a previously unused, unattractive and unsafe area into a garden used by at least 20 NACRO staff and learners a week.

Feedback from the project has shown that all people that took part benefited in some way, whether through improved confidence, better team working skills, new skills in outdoor landscaping, better budgeting and money management skills.

10 people received advice on personal finance and budgeting resulting in them feeling more confident in managing their money

One adult is now looking to take up employment in the gardening sector following participation in the project

NACRO were able to give positive reports to the youth offending service on two young people as a result of their excellent behaviour and high levels of participation in the project, therefore improving future prospects of work and future training

10 of the young people attending the course have received British Red Cross first aid training certification

John’s story

One participant, John aged 17, who had left school and become unemployed, took part in the project after he had just started at the NACRO training drop in centre. He was initially reluctant to join the project as he thought he had little interest in working in the outdoors. But he agreed to try it out and ended up being the best worker on the project. Taking part in the garden project helped him learn to work with others, take control of situations and increased his confidence - something that was sorely lacking after being out of a job for so long. As a result he went on to support a new student at the centre and feels that the skills he has developed will help with future employment whatever sector this is in. He is still finishing his training at the NACRO centre and will start to look for jobs in September, but feels in a much better position to do so now.

Related projects