Did you know today is World Youth Skills Day? It was declared by the United Nations General Assembly in 2014 to celebrate the importance of equipping young people with skills for employment, work, and entrepreneurship. This year’s theme is ‘Transforming Youth Skills for the Future’, with a focus on those overlooked communities like women and girls, young persons with disabilities, rural communities, and vulnerable young people.

This year with the whole world still economically and socially recovering from the 2020 pandemic, and cultivating sustainable skills in young people for the future is more important than ever. Championing communities who benefit from further support is how we can ensure future youth skills will continue to flourish.

As part of our mission, our Creative Futures and Creative Communities programmes focus on supporting young people and organisations to become confident leaders in education, community, business, and employment. We work with children and young people from across the East Midlands to reach their creative potential, including our Young Empowerment Fund (YEF) and working with our Youth Board.

Amongst other communities, vulnerable young people (including those who are care-experienced and those not in employment, education, or training [NEET]) are often overlooked for employment and work opportunities. The Mighty Creatives aim to combat this inequality and provide support through our Employ ME programme – aimed at preparing care-experienced young people aged 16-25 for the working world, further education, and training. Unemployment has continued to drop in the East Midlands, averaging around 3.5% which is lower than the national average of 4.1%. Recent studies have shown the development and use of practical and life skills can have a positive impact on young people, especially in the shadow of the pandemic.

TMC are also working towards breaking down access barriers through our Mighty Employers network. Following on from the success of the DWP’s Kickstart scheme, in which over 71.5% of young people supported by our gateway went on to further education or employment, our Mighty Employers are a network of likeminded organisations committed to supporting young people from vulnerable circumstances in their futures.

Take our quiz below to see just how important sustainable youth career support is through World Youth Skills Day!

Interesting in finding out more about our Creative Futures programme, including Employ ME?

Find out more about our Creative Futures programme, which focuses on supporting individuals to become leaders across education, community and the business sector.