Young Enterprise boosts deprived communities

Sovereign Twynham Press Release
Date: 30 January 2012

Young Enterprise boosts deprived communities

A project to help young people gain and develop a range of skills to prepare them for future employment is underway in Bournemouth and Christchurch.

The project, ‘One Community: Prevention, Intervention and Direction’, involves three schools from Boscombe and Somerford, two areas that are among the 20 per cent most deprived areas in the country.

More than 550 young people, aged between 13 and 17, will attend three workshops, where they will learn about business and learn about the skills required to improve their employability and succeed as an entrepreneur.

The initiative is led by the business and enterprise education charity Young Enterprise and funded by the multinational banking corporation JP Morgan, which has offices in Bournemouth. Staff from Sovereign Twynham are volunteering to help run the sessions, which begin on 1 March.

“The young enterprise One Community project is a collaboration between local organisations, united to raise young peoples aspirations and prepare them for further education, employment and life,” Hannah Cook of Young Enterprise, who has organised the project explains. “We are grateful to Sovereign Twynham for pledging their support and time to help deliver aspects of the project."

The project includes youth centres, community-based organisations and secondary schools, including The Grange in Somerford, and Avonbourne Girls School and Portchester Boys School, both near Boscombe. Sovereign has several properties near these schools.

Other organisations involved in the project include BCHA, Next Generation, Bournemouth and Poole College, Brockenhurst College, AFC Bournemouth and Dorset Fire and Rescue.

“With such a range of organisations involved, we believe this project will be very successful,” Ann Brown, Senior Resident Involvement Officer at Sovereign said. “We were involved in something similar last year at the Grange school last year, but on a smaller scale, so when we got approached by Young Enterprise directly we decided to get involved again.”

Notes to Editors

* Sovereign Housing Association is a charitable body. It comprises Sovereign South+West, Sovereign Twynham, Sovereign Kingfisher and Sovereign Vale, which were merged into a single legal entity in October 2011. Sovereign Housing Association includes the non-charitable Sovereign Living Limited. Sovereign is one of the largest providers of affordable housing in the south and south-west of England. It owns or manages more than 33,000 properties, offering a variety of tenures.

* If you would like more information, please contact Roy Probert, Public Relations Manager for Sovereign, on 01635 277406 or 07827 356479, or email roy.probert@sovereign.org.uk