Barratt Developments, the country’s largest housebuilder, has launched a new three year, £1,000,000 partnership with The Outward Bound Trust.
The Outward Bound Trust helps young people who need it most to make positive changes in their lives through learning and adventures in the outdoors. The new partnership will support 2,400 young people to develop the key employability skills needed to prepare them for the world of work and make a purposeful contribution to society.
Barratt Developments’ work with Outward Bound will cover three main areas; providing funding to disadvantaged young people for residential courses, placing Barratt employees on the courses as mentors, and hosting the annual ‘Big Barratt Hike’ with Outward Bound.
To help launch the partnership Chief Executive David Thomas visited the Ullswater centre in the Lake District where he met with Outward Bound Chief Executive Nick Barrett and saw first-hand how their courses help young people build and develop new skills.
Young people from across the UK will benefit from Barratt Developments’ funding by attending residential courses at one of Outward Bound’s six centres, which are spread over Snowdonia (Aberdovey and Ogwen Cottage), The Lake District (Ullswater, Howtown and Eskdale) and The Highlands (Loch Eil).
In 2018, 23,379 young people attended an Outward Bound course, with over 80% of attendees receiving grants. Outward Bound is passionate about helping young people defy their limitations by providing young people with skills they will have for life – such as confidence, resilience and the motivation to succeed.
Nick Barrett, Chief Executive of The Outward Bound Trust, said: “We are incredibly proud to be entering into our partnership with Barratt Developments. It’s clear that they are as passionate as we are about creating a lasting impact on young people’s lives. This partnership will make a huge difference and we cannot thank everyone at Barratt enough.”
David Thomas, Chief Executive of Barratt Developments, said: “The Outward Bound Trust does amazing work transforming the lives of young people, giving them the confidence and practical skills to help them reach their full potential. We are excited to become partners, providing funding for new residential courses, involving our own ex Armed Forces employees as mentors, and using The Outward Bound Trust’s practical expertise with our annual charity fundraiser – The Big Barratt Hike.”