England men’s football manager Gareth Southgate is working with charity The Prince’s Trust to give young people skills in leadership and teamwork.
The new Prince’s Trust programme, Future Leaders, officially launched on 9 May in London and is the latest addition to a range of schemes run by the charity to give young people crucial life skills and help them into jobs, education and training.
As a Goodwill Ambassador of The Prince’s Trust, Gareth Southgate is supporting the two-day programme, which will help more young people with the confidence, resilience and self-awareness to become leaders and succeed.
Speaking at the launch, he said:
I’m very fortunate in my position to have witnessed first-hand the benefits an individual can reap from the right advice and guidance at the right time. That’s why The Prince’s Trust exists, to offer that vital support to young people across the UK, and I feel proud to play a small part in helping them achieve that.
Future Leaders is the first new programme to be launched by The Trust since 2016. It has already been successfully piloted in London, with plans in place to trial and launch it in Manchester, Newcastle, Leeds and Burnley in the coming months.
24-year-old Judith Turkson-Baidoo is one of more than 300 young people to have taken part in the pilot programmes. She struggled to find meaningful employment after graduating in 2017 and has Asperger’s syndrome, but kept this to herself throughout her job search for fear that it would negatively impact her chances of securing a role.
Judith saw an advert for Future Leaders on Facebook and signed up, and soon after the programme landed a full-time position in the Inspiring Governance team at Education and Employers. She is now far more open about her condition and receives support from her manager. She says one of her highlights of the programme was being able to identify qualities within herself, which built her confidence and self-belief.
She said:
It helped me find out more about myself and I am grateful that I attended the programme. I got so much from it.
Prince’s Trust Deputy CEO Ian Jeffers said:
Here at The Prince’s Trust we’re all about equipping young people with the confidence and skills to live, learn and earn.
“Future Leaders focuses on personal development and finding confidence and leadership from within, so young people who take part can feel fully ready to make that next step.”
Developed with Capgemini and Lea_p Leadership and delivered in partnership with Lea_p and Flying Start XP, Future Leaders is open to 18-30-year-olds not in education, training or employment, or who are underemployed.
