Alliance secures Invest to Save funding

The Welwyn Hatfield Alliance has secured £15,000 in government Invest to Save funding to launch the Aspire Project.

Aspire is a new pilot initiative aimed at young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET). Up to fifteen young people will be paired with a personal mentor to enhance their life skills, assist them into employment, education and/or training, and work with them to sustain their job role or education placement.

Before the project starts, all mentors will attend an accredited mentoring course, run by the University of Hertfordshire.

Connexions, the government's support service for all young people aged 13 to 19 in England, has agreed to work on the scheme and other community groups have demonstrated an interest in the project.

Councillor John Dean, Chairman of the Welwyn Hatfield Alliance, said: “Out of 140 national bids, only 24 were successful in securing funding so submitting a winning bid is a real achievement. The Alliance is keen to run a mentoring project and it’s great that we now have the funds to run a pilot scheme. Thanks go to all those within the Alliance who put together the bid and also to the individuals and organisations who are now committing their time and resources to getting the project off the ground. I look forward to seeing how it will develop.”

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