Reach your potential

Supporting young people with their journey into work

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About the programme

The REACH programme aims to reduce youth unemployment in the Leeds City LEP Region by providing tailored support for young people to move into employment, education, and training.

Funded by the European Social Fund, the programme is available to:

Young people aged 16 to 24
Not currently in education, employment or training
Living in the Leeds City Region including Craven, Harrogate, York, Bradford, Leeds, Selby, Calderdale, Wakefield, Kirklees

Highlights

Providing additional support to existing youth initiatives
Specialist employer-led approach
Personalised one-to-one support

What we offer

Our services are delivered by an experienced team of Employment Opportunity Advisers and cover the following areas:

Providing additional support to organisations already offering provision to young people who are not currently in employment, education, and training. This includes expert employability advice and sourcing employment opportunities.
Supporting young people to reach their potential through bespoke, one-to-one employability guidance. This includes CV writing, interview skills and job hunting.
Enabling employers to connect with enthusiastic, new talent, as a way to fill their skills gaps and build a talent pipeline for the future.

Benefits of this programme

Exposure – a higher level of support, helping individuals to fully understand the labour market and informing their career decisions.
Experience – support with sourcing a role as an employee or apprentice.
Employment – helping to move the young person into sustained employment through links with employers.

Jack was extremely helpful during my time with the programme. When I had my first meeting with him I wasn't exactly sure of what I wanted to do, after dropping out of university, but then he advised me of a range of different options and told me to put myself out there. After a month or two of applying to degree apprenticeships, two companies had seen my CV and reached out to me. Now, I have a full time job as a graphic design assistant in a great global company and attend university part-time.
REACH participant

Employers

The REACH programme works with employers to connect them with motivated, young people ready to embark on their journey into work.

What are the benefits to employers?

Tackle your skills gaps and shortages
Increase the capacity and productivity of your business
Secure enthusiastic new talent, carefully matched to the needs of your business
Provide a young person with a life-changing opportunity to start a new career

Partnerships

We work in partnership with organisations already supporting young people, to help strengthen their service offering.

We can provide:

Additional support to existing youth initiatives

The REACH programme provides additional support to organisations already offering provision to young people who are not currently in employment, education, and training. Our expert employability guidance and dedicated resource to engage directly with employers means we can work collaboratively with these organisations to increase their support offering, helping more young people on their journey into the world of work.

Specialist employer-led approach

The programme aims to source sustainable employment for young people by undertaking extensive employer engagement to provide opportunities including employer encounters, work experience, short courses, voluntary work, apprenticeships and traineeships. Our employer-led approach is informed by our extensive Labour Market Information, ensuring our focus is on local labour market needs.

Personalised one-to-one support

Our Employer Opportunity Advisors will support young people to reach their potential through in-depth, personalised guidance. Through an identification of their specific career aspirations and the barriers they face in achieving those goals, we design a tailored programme that progresses them towards education, employment, and training. This includes expert employability guidance, such as CV writing, interview skills and job hunting.

Connect with us

Got a question?

Please get in touch with us if you are interested in partnering with us; an employer looking to provide employment opportunities or a young person aged 16 to 24, not currently in education, employment or training and Living in the Leeds City Region.