The EFL Trust has outlined what it is doing to help reduce youth unemployment rates. The EFL Trust is the charitable arm of the EFL and was established in 2008 to oversee the work of EFL’s club community organisations (CCOs), including Brentford FC Community Sports Trust. The EFL Trust is responsible for distributing core funding from the Premier League and The PFA to each CCO and highlights community work done by clubs across the country, including at Brentford.
In a post on the EFL Trust website, Adrian Tallon, the Head of Education and Employability, explained that the past 12 months has impacted the opportunities and aspirations of our nation’s young people. He said the roadmap out of lockdown was welcome news but added it was not all positive. In a blog, Adrian wrote ome stark data that has been released recently showing that young people are still faring worst, and facing a slow recovery. He did, however, outline how the EFL Trust and football clubs could help.
"It has been great to see the appetite of our network of CCOs to take this challenge on by offering Kickstart and Traineeship opportunities – key elements of the Government’s ‘Plan For Jobs’," wrote Adrian. "Along with the CCOs offer of study programmes, apprenticeships and Higher Education. This month’s report by Youth Futures Foundation found that young people have been particularly hard hit by a slowdown in hiring since last year. The rollout of the Kickstart Scheme, which funds job placements for 16-24 year olds for six months, will help combat this issue and EFL Trust are working with over 70 Football Club Community Organisations to offer 650 funded placements across England and Wales through the Scheme."
He added:"To underline our commitment to supporting youth employment, the EFL Trust are proud to have signed the Good Youth Employment Charter; a pledge that we will follow the principles of good youth employment, including providing opportunities and developing talent. We believe, more than ever, that our network have a key role to play in the ‘roadmap’ back to normal – remember that? – and tackling the youth unemployment challenge head-on is first on our list."
The full blog, outlining the commitments from the EFL Trust and clubs to tackling youth unemployment, can be seen here.