The Prince’s Trust’s Future Workforce Fund initiative, in partnership with Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), has launched three new digital projects for young people in Greater Manchester.
The projects are running through the Digital Futures Fund, which supports the digital strategy for Greater Manchester and seeks to recruit, engage and progress young people into the growing tech sector in the region.
The expansion of the tech sector in Greater Manchester has created the largest digital and creative cluster in the UK outside of London, and with it a wealth of opportunities for young people. Over the course of 2021, Digital Futures Fund projects will provide training and support to enable hundreds of young people aged 16-25 to make their first steps into their future careers.
The digital opportunities will support young people from under-represented groups, who often find it more difficult to access and sustain digital jobs, such as young women, young people from BAME backgrounds, young people with disabilities and those with English as their second language.
Three partners, all with a different offer for young people, were successfully commissioned by The Prince’s Trust and will deliver digital projects throughout 2021.
Generation UK will be running a mixture of 12-week and five-week bootcamps to support young people into careers within cloud engineering and customer service. The courses are an immersive experience and will focus on giving young people everything they need to sustain roles within the sector.
We Are Digital empowers people to enrich lives and communities across the country, through positive, innovative and practical solutions to break down barriers to exclusion. They will be delivering Digital Boost Youth, 12-week digital marketing courses, supporting participants into this fast-growing area of work.
Young Manchester and partners, including Hive Learning and Greater Manchester Youth Network, will be running Digital People, an innovative partnership project that equips young people furthest from employment opportunities with the most in-demand digital skills. Over the course of three to six months, participants will achieve qualifications in; programming, networks, cloud, cyber, data and IT.
“In Greater Manchester we want everyone whatever their age, location, or situation, to be able to feel empowered and have their lives bettered from the opportunities digital can bring,” GMCA Employment, Skills and Digital Lead, Councillor Sean Fielding, said.
“The Digital Futures Fund was set up to help diversify the talent pipeline into the digital industry and address the digital skills shortage across Greater Manchester. These exciting new programmes will support under-represented groups in Greater Manchester who have been hardest hit by this pandemic to gain valuable skills and support to gain get a foot on the ladder in our thriving digital industry”
If you are an employer and would like to find out more about how you can support these projects, or a young person who would like to take part, visit the Digital Futures Fund page to find out more and contact the delivery organisations directly via email.
