We’ve got some Barista’s in the making amongst us at Silx at the moment all thanks to a fantastic collaboration between UK Youth, NE Youth and Starbucks.
Louise Laws the development manager at NE Youth contacted us in June to tell us all about their Youth Action employability programme and to see if any of our young people would be interested in taking part.
Louise said:
‘NE Youth are excited to be working in partnership with UK Youth and Starbucks to deliver an exciting one year pilot to develop young people’s readiness for employment. The transition into employment is a tough experience for many young people, bringing with it challenges and responsibilities they may not be aware of, or equipped to cope with. Many young people don’t’ have the relevant life and work experience needed to confidently enter the workplace. This can result in a mismatch between expectations and reality. The Youth Action Programme, funded by Starbucks, empowers disadvantaged young people with the confidence, skills and experience needed to feel ready for the workplace. The programme addresses the key issues young people face surrounding employment and provides them with the opportunity to learn life skills through employability training, put these skills into practice in a networking environment and create their own business by running their own community café.’
This sounded like an incredible opportunity and when we told our young people about it 4 of our girls that regularly attend our employability project were very keen to get involved. The 4 girls began the 3 day programme in Newcastle on the 10th July, we were very proud of them as travelling into the city to begin something completely new can be very daunting but they all took it in their stride and supported eachother. The girls have reported that they have gained some invaluable skills by taking part such as networking and time keeping as well as life skills and business skills. The girls all feel more confident and told us they particularly enjoyed being involved with the community café.
After completing the training the young people were given the chance to attend a recruitment day for a role at Starbucks- this included a group activity and a real interview as well as this the young people were invited to attend a Barista training session and a work experience session in the form of shadowing real team members in a starbucks store. Jess and Donna both attended the recruitment day and did very well! Both girls were given the chance to polish up their CVs and fill in a job application form prior to the recruitment day- these skills are also invaluable and they were very grateful.
Louise Laws told us that:
‘It was great to get our members engaged in the first programme and the four young women from Silx Teen Bar were a pleasure to have on the course. The girls sustained participation and were very keen and enthusiastic and engaged throughout the three day programme. In only a short space of time we saw their skills and confidence grown and new friendships were made.’
Both girls that attended the interviews are now waiting for official feedback from starbucks and all of the girls that took part in the programme have taken a lot from it and are now much more focused on finding suitable employment and further training.
Well Done Starbucks and UK Youth for giving these young people a wonderful opportunity! Keep your eyes peeled as you might just see one of our young people working in a Starbucks near you soon!