London,
11
February
2010
|
23:00
Europe/London

One hundred new jobs for young people in Hackney

Hackney Council has secured funding to create one hundred jobs for young Hackney residents who have been out of work for at least six months.

The jobs are part of the Olympic Host Borough’s successful Future Jobs Fund bid to create 611 jobs for long-term unemployed young people, announced last summer, as part of the government’s Backing Young Britain Campaign to support young people through the recession.

Nationally, the Future Jobs Fund will provide funding for 170,000 jobs - 120,000 for young people and 50,000 for unemployment hotspots.

The paid jobs in Hackney will last for at least six months, offering mentoring, training and a taster of different roles so that the young people have a good chance to gain skills, experience and a route into full time work.

Each job will be offered by a public sector or community organisation in an area identified to bring real benefit to the local community.

Cllr Guy Nicholson, Hackney Council Cabinet Member for Regeneration and the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, said: "Hackney Council is determined to ensure that residents have access to high quality jobs and training. By bringing resources from our public services and our businesses together, we can create employment opportunities for young residents starting their working lives during this economic downturn. Through this partnership approach, we can not only help young residents into work but support our local economy at the same time."

Minister for the Olympics and London, Tessa Jowell said: “The Olympic Host Boroughs were among the first employers to get behind the Backing Young Britain campaign to support young people through the recession.

“It’s really pleasing to see that recruitment for these roles with the council and NHS City and Hackney and other employers is underway and that young people in Hackney are being helped out of long-term unemployment.”

Hackney Council, Hackney Homes, The Learning Trust, and NHS City and Hackney will offer roles to young people identified through Jobcentre Plus. Voluntary and community sector support agency HCVS will co-ordinate roles offered by community sector organisations.

The Arcola Theatre in Dalston (a registered charity) will be the first community sector organisation to offer jobs to local young people. Jobcentre Plus will help it recruit for a youth and community assistant, a marketing and press assistant, and a technical assistant. Each of the three posts will last six months and the individuals will be supported to secure employment at the Arcola Theatre or within the industry at the end of this period.

Ben Todd, Executive Director at Arcola Theatre, said: "We are very excited by the possibilities offered by the Future Jobs Fund through this new partnership with London Borough Hackney. By creating paid starting-out roles in entertainment & the arts, we will open the door to the many dedicated, hardworking young people in Hackney who might otherwise not be able to enter this industry because of the long period of unpaid work often required to get-a-foot-in-the-door . We will be integrating these roles with our existing volunteer, intern, apprenticeship and staff recruitment programmes to maximise benefit for
all concerned."