Autumn 2020 saw the launch of the new team of CSW Group’s Community Engagement Advisers. CEA’s will ultimately be community based and have been recruited to work specifically with young people aged 16 – 19 who are not engaged in education, employment, or training.

The new team come from a variety of backgrounds and bring with them a wealth of experience. We are proud to announce that the CEA’s have already started to make a positive impact on the lives of young people across Devon, Cornwall, Plymouth and Torbay. Here are some examples of recent work that the team have carried out:

CEA Jackie

‘’Eat that Frog presented to the CEA’s within their team meeting about a programme that they were delivering on behalf of the Prince’s Trust. The LE@P programme focusses on exploring skills, interests, training, apprenticeships and employment opportunities with the aim of moving young people forward in their lives. It also includes employability skills, independent study, teamwork activities, health and wellbeing sessions and provides support and advice to overcome barriers. As this programme was to be delivered virtually, referrals could be made from all locations.

I reviewed my caseload and referred eight young people from the Torbay area and was delighted to hear that they had all started on the programme last week! The initial feedback received from Eat that Frog, is that the young people were engaged and fully participating. Despite the young people being at differing stages of life, they have all remained on the course and, with weekly updates from the provider I am already seeing the difference this is making to these young people’’.

CEA Lorna

‘’I first made contact with Andy* over the phone in December 2020.

Andy had been applying for some apprenticeships for a while but was having no luck, due to them being so competitive. Andy and I discussed his interests and skills and Andy told me he was interested in an animal care related field. I advised Andy where apprenticeships are regularly advertised and informed him of an apprenticeship vacancies which I had recently seen advertised within a local pet shop in Plymouth.

Andy said that he was very interested in this type of work and so after our conversation I emailed him a link to the vacancy along with an offer of help (to apply for it) and with an agreement to follow up with him in the new year.

In early January when I made a follow up call to Andy he informed me that he had applied for the apprenticeship I had emailed across to him. At that point Andy had been invited to attend an interview and had not long afterwards Andy called me to tell me that he had been offered a place on the program starting mid-February 2021.

I congratulated Andy on this huge achievement and Andy was so proud of himself as the manager of the pet shop had told him that they had received over 400 applications for the role.

Andy is so excited to begin his 1st year apprenticeship in animal welfare later this month’’.

The CEA team is continuing during Lockdown to support young people back into learning, employment and training and offering support via telephone, email, text and digital platforms such as Zoom.

*Young Person’s name has been changed.