By Josie Armitage
Pudsey-based Building Futures Together has been awarded funding to help improve social mobility in deprived areas by Northern Rail.
Building Futures Together is one of two not-for-profit organisations that have been awarded a major grant of £20,000 from Northern Rail’s Customer & Community Improvement Fund.
John Thornton, managing director/co-founder of Building Futures Together, said: “We applied for a Northern grant which was focused on early careers, education outreach and inclusive employment.
“£20,000 was awarded to us to deliver our vocational work experience programme for people interested in a career as a plumber or electrician.
“We will work with secondary schools, communities, and partners to offer opportunities to experience a realistic work environment and enhance employment opportunities. We’ll also look to pilot a transition programme between primary and secondary schools whilst also taking our sessions into schools which may help them with Gatsby benchmarks.”
The other organisation, Scope will focus on helping disabled young people improve their skills and confidence. A further five organisations received a grant of £10,000 and four received a grant of £2,500.
Tricia Williams, managing director at northern, said: “Helping to improve social mobility across our network is something we see as really important.
“Transport connectivity is itself a vital element of the wider support structure – but the organisations we’ve awarded grants to as part of this year’s Customer & Community Improvement Fund are specialists with direct, hands-on experience.
“With our support, these groups can make a huge difference to people’s lives and we look forward to hearing the many success stories that will follow.”
Northern is the second largest train operator in the UK, with nearly 2,500 services a day to more than 500 stations across the North of England.
If you are interested in being involved with this project, contact John Thornton at john.thornton@buildingfuturestogether.me to find out more.