Starbucks Youth Action, a programme supporting young people not in education or employment to carry out a project benefiting their community, launches today 15 September 2015.
This is the 5th year of the programme run by Starbucks and UK Youth and set to offer over 100 grants to successful 16-24 year olds who have a community idea they want to bring to life.
Running until March 2016, the programme provides young people not in education or employment with a monthly opportunity to apply and be in with a chance to receive a ‘seed-corn’ budget to kick start their winning campaign. Awarded applicants are given access to a specially designed App which guides them through the planning and delivery of their social action project. As well as a copy of UK Youth’s employability toolkit, they are provided the opportunity to accredit their project through UK Youth’s Leadership Unit and learn about job opportunities available at Starbucks.
Since launching in 2011 across the UK and Ireland, the Starbucks Youth Action programme has supported 260 projects with over £450,000 worth of funding. Now in its 5th year, the 2016 programme aims to reach over 18,000 young people across Britain.
Simon Redfern, communications director at Starbucks said:
“We’re excited about this year’s programme which provides opportunities to those not in education or employment.
“Many young people start their career with us and through our partners and through Starbucks Youth Action we know they want an opportunity to work and to succeeed more than anything else.
“Our message to those young people is: ‘if you’ve got a bright idea, we’ll back it. So get in touch.”
Anna Smee, chief executive of UK Youth, partners in Starbucks Youth Action said:
“UK Youth is incredibly proud to help deliver Starbucks Youth Action. It shows that when big organisations trust and support young people to make a difference to their community, this not only prepares young people to embrace the real world but it also helps them build self-confidence, enhances awareness of their capabilities and helps them feel a real sense of personal achievement. Often in my experience of working with young people from disaffected backgrounds – the hardest thing for them to do is believe in themselves and programmes like SYA give them the opportunity to try something new and really test themselves on a grand scale.”
