The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and Chair of London Councils, Georgia Gould, have today announced that every young Londoner in need of support will have access to a personal mentor by 2024 – one of his key manifesto pledges.
This will be delivered as part of a New Deal for Young People, with City Hall, London boroughs, community groups and others across the city working in partnership to put young Londoners at the heart of the recovery from the pandemic.
The commitment is to provide access to a dedicated mentor to young Londoners who are most in need of support and who face the biggest challenges to reaching their potential. This includes children who have been excluded from school or college, those who are impacted by exploitation, young Londoners who are impacted by domestic violence or living in poverty, and those involved in the care system. Overall, there are roughly 100,000 young people in London who face these kinds of challenges.
Sadiq is kickstarting the action by announcing £7.2 million of investment from City Hall. The new funding will expand the mentoring offer in the capital now, helping young Londoners most in need get the help and support they deserve to reach their potential.
The new fund consists of £4.8 million for three programmes that will boost mentoring capacity and build on the incredible work already happening across London. It will expand mentoring for young people, including in science, technology, engineering, arts and maths, and support local organisations to provide training and work experience.
Alongside this, the Mayor has announced today that London’s Violence Reduction Unit, which he set up in 2019, will invest £2.4m in a three-year mentoring programme. The new investment will build on the VRU’s determination to tackle school exclusions by investing in effective mentoring programmes to keep pupils in Pupil Referral Units, engaged in their education, motivated and supported to achieve their goals.
Young Londoners have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic with a third either losing their jobs or being furloughed, compared to one in six older adults.
Far too many young people are working in insecure jobs with many on temporary or zero-hour contracts. Many more have seen training, education and employment opportunities reduce significantly in the last 20 months, making the need for support more important than ever to prevent increasing numbers of young Londoners being left vulnerable to exploitation or getting sucked into gangs and violence.
Throughout the pandemic, through City Hall, London Councils and London boroughs’ networks, young people and youth practitioners have championed the importance of a trusted personal relationship in transforming a young person’s life.
Research shows that young people will be adversely affected by the impact of COVID-19. The Resolution Foundation found that one-third of 18-24-year-old employees (excluding students) have lost jobs or been furloughed, compared to one-in-six older adults. Resolution Foundation: ‘Young workers in the coronavirus crisis’
Young people have been hit hard by Covid-19 and are a top priority for the Mayor, London Councils and the London Recovery Board. Young Londoners have told us about the transformational impact that mentors and role models can have on their lives.
The New Deal for Young People has committed that by 2024 all young people most in need of support will be entitled to a personal mentor and all young Londoners have access to quality youth activities.
Funding for the expansion of mentoring for young people was made available from three separate programmes1 with grants ranging from £50,000 to £500,000 for groups who deliver mentoring direct or support organisations which do.
Two separate grants worth a total of £300,000 will also be made to support local organisations to provide employability, training and work experience opportunities for young people.
- Leaders Programme: 7-12 grants available of between £100,000 and £500,000 who are able to expand mentoring for young people and provide support to other organisations delivering mentoring;
- Headstart Action programme: Two grants available of up to £150,000 to support local organisations to provide employability, training and work experience opportunities for young people
- Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths (STEAM) Mentoring programme: 5-12 grants of between £50,000 and £100,000 to expand quality STEAM mentoring for young people and to support STEAM employers who want to expand or introduce mentoring programmes.
The VRU has listened to feedback from the education sector and invested £2.4m in a London PRU Mentoring programme for a three-year period. PRUs serve pupils who have been excluded from mainstream education; a cohort of children and young people who are disproportionately vulnerable. The VRU wants to reduce the likelihood of poor life outcomes associated with being excluded by investing in effective mentoring programmes to keep pupils in PRUs engaged in their education, motivated and supported to achieve their goals.