5 YEARS OF SUPPORTING YOUNG PEOPLE INTO WORK TALENT MATCH SOUTH EAST 2014 - 2018: AN EVALUATION JULY 2018 A J D Solutions Talent Match South East 2014-18 Acknowledgements The research team would like to thank the following stakeholders, delivery partners, and young people, who contributed to the report in valuable fashion: Stakeholders and Delivery Partners Talent Match Marketing Team, The Prince’s Trust Nucleus Arts Development Executives and Employer Coaches, KATO Volunteer Mentoring Manager, The Prince’s Trust Senior Specialist Mentor, CXK Talent Match Outreach Co-ordinators, The Prince’s Trust Benjamin Film Photography Talent Match Volunteer Executives, The Prince’s Trust Glowing Health Food and Fitness Talent Match Young People’s Partnership Senior Specialist Mentor, Southend YMCA Dreamland Thanet Community Development Trust Talent Match Volunteer Executives, The Prince’s Trust Senior Specialist Mentor, Tomorrow’s People ESN Lead, KATO Delivery Partner Manager, CXK Talent Match Ambassadors and TMSE young people Lacey Ben Reece Jodie Hannah Alex Ana Christopher Daniel Georgia Aaron Daniel Shannon Sarah Tom Lewis James Jessica Matthew Curtis Emily Catherine 1 | Page Talent Match South East 2014-18 Contents 1. Abstract Pg. 4 2. Introduction Pg. 5 3. Impact Map Pg. 6 4. TMSE participant characteristics Pg. 8 i. A National Perspective ii. General Characteristics iii. Economic-related characteristics iv. Personal and Social Characteristics 5. Performance and Outcomes Pg. 10 i. Data ii. Headline Report iii. TMSE Database iv. Sustained Outcomes by Delivery Provider v. Employment, Education and Training Outcomes vi. Employability Outcomes vii. Personal Wellbeing Outcomes 6. How TMSE Responded to Change Pg. 15 7. The Impact of TMSE Mentoring on Participants’ Outcomes Pg. 18 i. Specialist Mentoring Service ii. Volunteer Mentoring Service iii. Interview with a TMSE Specialist Mentor iv. The Value of Mentoring – Participants’ Perspectives v. Focus Group Feedback on Mentoring 8. The Impact of the Young People’s Partnership on Pg. 36 Participants’ Outcomes i. Talent Match Rocks! ii. What’s the Big Lottery Idea? iii. Photography Exhibition iv. Interview with the YPP Co-ordinator 9. The Impact on Participants’ Outcomes through Pg. 46 Collaboration with Organisations i. Case Study 1 – Nucleus Arts ii. Case Study 2 – Testing Your Talent 10. The Impact on Participants’ Outcomes Through Pg. 58 TMSE Commissioning of New Activities i. Case Study 3 – Street Photography ii. Photographs Taken by Participants iii. Case Study 4 – Glowing Health iv. Interview with a Glowing Health Participant v. Case Study 5 – Firebreak vi. Interview with a Volunteer Executive 2 | Page Talent Match South East 2014-18 11. The Impact of the Bursary on Participants’ Outcomes Pg. 80 12. Employer and Skills Network Pg. 84 i. Interview with ESN Lead ii. Case Study 6 – Inspiring Talent iii. Partner Feedback on ESN Offer 13. The Reach of TMSE – Marketing, Promotion and Wider Pg. 98 Engagement 14. The impact of TMSE on a young person’s wider social environment Pg. 104 15. Legacy and Recommendations for Future Delivery Pg. 109 i. Practitioner Feedback ii. Participant Feedback iii. Interview with Emily Ryles iv. Interview with a Delivery Partner Manager v. Recommendations – a perspective vi. A Fresh Model vii. Recommendations – Concluding Comments viii. Diagram of Proposed New Model 16. Final Comments Pg. 127 17. References Pg. 128 Report and research completed by A J D Solutions Andrew Dennis Executive Consultant 07504665726 [email protected] 3 | Page Talent Match South East 2014-18 Abstract Talent Match is a £108 million Big Lottery Fund investment in 21 Talent Match projects in England, aimed at helping young people aged 18-24, who have been out of work for 12 months or more, to gain employment. Each project is led by a partnership of voluntary, public and private sector organisations and a panel of young people (Talent Match Ambassadors) to deliver employment outcomes, employability skill sets, and increased feelings of health and wellbeing for young people. In the South East, Talent Match has particularly focused on delivering locally relevant solutions in areas of highest unemployment. It has concentrated on specific areas within Essex, East Sussex and Kent, due to the high proportion of unemployed young people living in the following locations: Kent – Medway, Swale, Thanet and Dover; East Sussex – Hastings, Bexhill and Eastbourne and Essex – Southend, Thurrock, Colchester, Basildon and Tendring. Talent Match South East (TMSE) has worked in conjunction with a number of stakeholders, its core partnership, delivery partners and local organisations and employers. Each delivery partner put in their own bid, outlining their proposed offer, method of delivery, and funding requirements. The delivery partners have been: The Prince’s Trust (lead partner of TMSE), responsible for volunteer mentoring support (Volunteer Mentors), outreach activity, and co-ordination of the Young Person’s Partnership (YPP). CXK Ltd, Southend YMCA and Tomorrow’s People, responsible for specialist mentoring support. KATO has worked with training providers and local employers to support, in conjunction with the mentors, a young person’s journey through training, work tasters and work experience opportunities, and all other employer related activity, by delivery of the Employer and Skills Network (ESN). Each TMSE young person has received 1:1 support from a mentor, who has acted as the main point of contact and support. The role of the mentor has been to: Develop an individual plan based on a young person’s skills, interests and goals. Link a young person to the ESN, for job search support and for access to employer and training provider opportunity. Provide access to the Bursary (personalised and travel). Refer to additional services as necessary. Conduct a follow up survey with each young person at 3, 6, 12 and 18-month intervals, to evaluate progress. 4 | Page Talent Match South East 2014-18 Introduction TMSE has been a large project, which started in 2014, and which covers 10 areas across 3 large counties. This report has therefore concentrated on the measurement of outputs and outcomes from carefully selected aspects of the project. To have attempted to evaluate every activity and aspect of TMSE would have led to too large a scope, with too much detail. Accordingly, the research has concentrated on a sample range of activities across selected timeframes and geographical locations. This report will demonstrate the effectiveness of TMSE in supporting young people to achieve a number of different individual outcomes. These have been split into 3 separate categories (see table on the following page) and have been selected according to specific project targets around achievement of sustainable employment (6 months or more) and other employment, training and education outcomes; in addition to employability indicators; and personal wellbeing factors. It will show how TMSE has achieved strong measurable headline outcomes, but will also dig deep into the stories behind young people’s achievements. It will do this by investigating the breadth of activities that were accessed by young people; as well as by looking at the highly effective partnerships and collaborations that were built to facilitate these achievements. 5 | Page Talent Match South East 2014-18 The table below breaks the project outcomes down into 3 main headings, for ease of reference: Table 1: Main project outcomes, as defined by this report, and categories within each heading Category A Category B Category C EET Outcomes Employability outcomes Personal Wellbeing Outcomes Full time and part time Reliability Satisfaction with life employment* Volunteering Confidence Happiness Full time education Managing Feelings Anxiety Training** Working with others Worthwhile (the extent to which the things you do in life are worthwhile) Sustained employment Communication Work Experience Setting and achieving goals * Including Apprenticeships ** Including Traineeships The report will include interviews and quotes from meetings held with mentors, other project practitioners, and with young people who participated on TMSE. It will include the opinions and thoughts captured at 4 separate Focus Groups, where a total of 20 young people gave their views on the effectiveness of TMSE support in helping move them closer to an outcome. The Focus Group activities were held in London, Chatham, Hastings, and Southend, and captured feedback and comment about the project from young people across all 3 TMSE areas. It will demonstrate the breadth of the project offer, by using a case study approach to highlight 6 TMSE funded activities or collaborations, including capturing the views of young people who took part in these, as well as the organisations that were commissioned to partner with TMSE. It will also look at Bursary spend and marketing, as well as considering the ways in which the different mentoring models, the engagement with employers, and the Young People’s Partnership all impacted on a young person’s outcome on TMSE. It will also reflect on best practice and lessons learned and will include a short section containing recommendations for future delivery, which will intend to be of benefit to organisations who are considering applying for funding to run similar NEET-mentoring style projects. On the following page, there is an illustrative Impact Map, which shows the scope of the analysis from the research project plan. This outlines the key