The Reader Apprenticeship Programme: Building Opportunities for Life
The Reader Organisation has a new fundraising campaign for 2012: giving opportunities for life to care leavers.
Jane, TRO's director, and Niall, one of our apprentices, working hard on the TRO allotment
This is a cause close to our hearts as we currently have two care-leavers working full-time in their local communities and they are an invaluable asset to the TRO team. We aim to raise £14,000 to employ one more young person aged 16-22 to work with us in Liverpool as a Reader Apprentice, starting work in April 2013. We do a great deal of work with Looked After Children in Merseyside and feel passionately about providing young care leavers with the means to build an independent and fulfilled life.
The apprenticeship will be a life changing experience, consisting of practical, community-based, creative work experience in a flexible programme that will accommodate complex needs and develop several core competencies:
- Social: Social awareness and social skills
- Emotional Resilience: The ability to cope with rebuffs which may be short term, or shocks which consume long periods of time
- Enterprise and Creativity: The ability to shape situations, imagine alternatives, remain open to new ideas, problem-solve, and work in teams.
- Discipline: Inner discipline to pursue goals and the ability to cope with external discipline
No formal qualificiations will be required to enter the programme; we want to support individuals with a spark, a desire to make something of their lives, or with a passion to learn and to change.
The apprenticeship will also provide financial support, with an hourly starting wage of £6.32, well above the apprentice national minimum wage of £2.60 (£4,732 per year). There are currently 985 Looked After Children in Merseyside, vulnerable young people who will face huge emotional, educational and financial pressures when they turn 16 and we are determined to support them in a life changing way. Paying a care-leaver £4,732 will not give them the financial support to live independently or improve their quality of life. This is why we want to raise the money ourselves, so we can pay these young people a living wage that will give them the opportunity to overcome some of the many challenges they face.
To find out how you can support our campaign, and to hear from our current apprentices, please visit our website.
To raise money for the Apprenticeship Programme, 15 TRO staff members are taking on the Three Peaks Challenge on 30th June. To find out more and to register your support, please click here.