Young Leaders: Help save the future of work

Young Leaders saved 30 youngsters from Universal Credit. Help us to help build more lives together and a big success story for the UK!

Covid 19 has had a huge impact on the morale of people working in Britain. 

Young people from every walk of life are the future leaders of our country. They have been hardest hit by the pandemic. If we want a world that is not limited by the problems and divisions of the past, we need to give them tools and the freedom to shine!

Ethos VO believes that every person has the right to meaningful and purposeful work, and moreover there is plenty of this work available.

The UK government's DWP Kickstart Scheme enabled us to start our Young Leaders programme working with 30 unemployed 16-24 year olds on Universal Credit. Through our network of Ethos projects, we provided young people with work that does them good, and the world good: Here's what some of our partners have to say;

A great start, but we are now finding the constraints placed on us by DWP are restricting our very achievable ambitions. We want to expand our Young Leaders programme and reach those furthest away from the labour market. The money will go to paying young people like Reni a basic income which will allow them to explore and find their own path to meaningful work. 

This is our current project, supported by Department of Work and Pensions Kickstart: Young Leaders Kickstart.
We are also offering the benefits of our Young Leader programme to third party social enterprises and charities who lack funds and resources for knowledge work: Young Leaders Employers. People like Ele George of Elevate are excited to work with us. We work with employers and organisations with similar values and morals to us - we are able to provide them with the opportunity to work with young people.

 Covid-19 had a massive impact on the job market and young people have disproportionately been affected by this. People like Natalia , our incredible graphic design Young Leader who turned to Universal Credit when her freelance work dried up. Natalia has designed all our visuals for this campaign:

We see the potential in young people to be leaders, to take part and lead the way for important and necessary change. We have the dedication to support and give young people agency to find their way to fulfil their own unique potential. People like Niamh who used her Kickstart placement to try out new skills: 

We believe work should be fun and meaningful, this is why we place so much emphasis on young people finding their "why" and their own specific journey. Young People like Iqbal who has created brilliant web-based solutions for different teams.
   

In our first recruitment round we had over 500 applicants for only 30 places. We could offer so many more places to over 40 organisations that really want to work with us because they have been impressed by our young leaders' personal stories of growth, motivation and improved self confidence. Our young people want others to have the same experience.

Read Trip

Read Trip is an entrepreneurial project conceived by a Young Leader Sarah Mc Manus, after discovering that Ethos could help her achieve her dream to launch a movement that would  encourage travel writing and reading, support bookshops and discourage air travel.

aspect magazine

Serena Haththotuwa joined the Young Leader programme with a business proposition of her own. She has since launched an independent magazine that aims to feature diverse voices of young and marginalised people. 

Other incredible outcomes of our Young Leaders programme so far:  

Noggin Hub: An affordable technology project for town centre data management is supported by a team of young leaders who helped it get selected by the Mayor of London’s Resilience Fund. It was listed with 36 of the best digital providers selected by NESTA. This project was supported by Elliot on sales and business development:
 

Team Police - Young Leaders have been supporting the massive effort to create wellbeing through sport for our Police Service. Young Leaders have been providing administration, sales development, market research and digital content for social media. This project was supported by Harry who made films:
 

Ethos Wilder - Young Leaders like Nick have been engaged in research and design for an innovative tech project to accelerate the regeneration of nature in the UK. Nick helped design visuals:
 

Young Leaders - the project itself has many valuable outcomes. It has built the skills, confidence and motivation of young people such as Lucy to do amazing things. She has found sustainable, well-paid work at Sustrans, the pro-cycling charity: 

We want to meet the demand for this sort of work which will bring social good with easy-to-see results. We can’t do it alone.  

That is where you come in.  

• £100 could buy a Young Leader three hours of mentorship from an experienced technology, marketing, sales, finance, business development, recruitment, human resources, administration or creative entrepreneurship partner.

• £250 could buy a young leader a week’s time to try out a new skill and to learn from their success and failures without penalty or censure.
  
  

• £1000 could allow a Young Leader to drive the development of their own social impact project for a month.

• £10,000 could make a positive impact for one individual and their work journey for the rest of their lives. ( Based on a 6 month programme costing £10,108.10 for 24 year old funded with 35 hours employment per week at the April 01 2021 minimum wage rate of £8.91 over 26 weeks including a £2000 for work platform overhead, training, and employability support). 

• £15,000 could employ our Young Leader partnership development team (Joel, Charlotte and Sarah) for three months - we have a long list of organisations who want to work with us!

• Rory Maxwell OBE FCILT, Lead Partner Ethos IndependAbility and Senior Defence Specialist at Trilateral Research
  "It has been an absolute pleasure working with Young Leaders - highly motivated, full of energy and bursting with ideas. They’ve completed some excellent research into the demands placed upon Adult Social Services; the emerging trends; and how the IoT may be able to help people with special needs lead as full, fulfilled and independent life as possible."
• Claire Borer, Performance Coach and iheart practitioner
  "It’s inspirational just what can be achieved with their unfettered minds. I believe the trust that Ethos gives them in order to have that space is unheard of. When you give someone the right support, and the right environment they really can show what they can do and realise their potential. The mindset of Ethos goes hand in hand with how the human mind works - creative, trusting and knowing the only limits we have are the ones we put on ourselves or others. In terms of the iheart work I have done with seven young leaders, it is sensational and quite humbling to hear what they have to say. The way Ethos works is the way humans behave when they are cleared for take off and given permission to play, full out and fearless. We do trust. We are caring and supporting. Organisations large and small struggle with the ability to open themselves up to the best in human nature. But this happens with the Young Leaders. And look at the results - it’s brilliant!
  Organisations struggle to open themselves up to the best in human nature. But this happens with the Young Leaders."
• Dr Calum Carson, Labour Market and Policy Research Officer, Employment Related Services Association (ERSA)
  “You can see in the Young Leaders programme various ways in which young people can be supported in finding work, developing their skills via in-work progression tools, and provided with the opportunities to further advance their own career aspirations beyond their current roles. It’s such a great initiative. It’s not just about finding roles for young people - it’s about allowing them the time and freedom to make their own projects. ” http://ersa.org.uk/index.php/media/case-studies
• Geoff Carss, co-Founder, Ethos Wilder
  "The Ethos Young Leaders have brought passion, curiosity and a fresh perspective on the issues we are addressing in Ethos Wilder. It's been such a pleasure working with them."
• Lamont Kirkland CBE, Team Army CEO
  “The film (Young Leader ) Harry made was awesome. So impressed and very moving for me having been with Ethos since the beginning. Well done everyone who contributed.”
• Zoe Metcalfe, co-Founder of Ethos Wilder and Client Director, Local and Central Government UK, Atkins Consulting
  “So loving our logo for Ethos Wilder created by Young Leaders as part of the EthosVO Young Leaders programme. The approach is truly transformational, inclusive and empowering.”
• Elisa Tuijnder, founder of Sardines, Digital Engagement, social justice entrepreneur
  "As a social entrepreneur that started her business in a challenging time, I can not express my gratitude to the Kickstart scheme enough. Working with these talented young individuals has provided Sardines Digital Engagement with the breath of life it needed to blossom into a viable enterprise. I was not only able to benefit from their know-how and skills. More importantly, they brought an energy and optimism in a time of isolation that made me more than ever determined to succeed. In all the Kickstarters I was fortunate to work with, I found partners who will continue to believe in the mission of Sardines. Colleagues whom I will continue to follow and hope to work with in some capacity in the future. While rooting for them while they discover pastures new."
• Ele George, Founder of Elevate
  “My journey so far has been extremely positive and I am excited to see what what young people can bring to the projects I am working on.”
• Linda Wall, Ethos Community Cohesion Lead Partner, former Detective Chief Inspector and retired Deputy Commander, Reading, Thames Valley Police
  "Working with the young leaders has been a delight. I am constantly in awe of their ideas, energy and confidence. It has been a pleasure to watch individuals develop their skills from research on grants to chairing meetings. All fantastic skills for future roles within the workplace."
• Bill Skelly QPM, Chair of Team Police
  "Team Police raises much needed funds through a commercial sponsorship scheme to enable increased participation in sport and physical activity for the policing family. Ethos have developed an innovative Young Leaders’ programme through the Kickstart initiative. A number of Young Leaders have been supporting the massive effort to create wellbeing through sport for our Police Service. Young Leaders have been providing administration, sales development, market research and social media support to help move forward this worthwhile endeavour. I have met with some of the Young Leaders and I am full of admiration for their enthusiasm and dedication. It feels to me that Young Leaders is exactly the kind of positive activity that Kickstart was designed to deliver."
• Tania Fielden, Careers Adviser, Hurstpierpoint College
  "We have been delighted that Ethos has been able to give two of our sixth formers the opportunity of work experience on their work platform. Their work has involved direct engagement with the Young Leaders initiative and they have been able to thrive and spread their wings into spaces that they simply did not know or expect when they joined, whilst getting great support from the community. It has also been great for myself to work directly with Young Leaders as they bring great energy, thinking and new ideas to the project we are working on together."
  
  For so many of our young people exiting lockdown or furlough, the work landscape is foreboding. They need support and imaginative alternatives, and together, with your help we can give more of them the chance and space to explore their options!

Read their stories:
Alice James, Cara Jeal, Charlotte Kinloch, Connor Rennie, Dilan Kaygisiz, Elliot Coulling, Reni Mackintosh, Serena Haththotuwa, Richard Lam, Paige Martin, Sarah Mcmanus, Sarah Fay, Nick Christou, Niamh O'Connell, Natalia Nowakowska, Mowafak Al Saty, Lucy Ingram, Michael Mcevinney, Lewis Clay, Harry Rae Smith, Hari Kumaranisanthan, Hannah Walker, Fraser Wright, Joel Escayg, Emily Thornhill, Katie Stephenson, Iqbal Haque, Ines Da-Silva. 

Ethos was founded in 2010 by Robert Pye & Tony Clarke as a network of social entrepreneurs and innovators who create innovative and sustainable solutions to society’s complex challenges. For us, success is more than just economic – it’s also about achieving positive social and environmental outcomes. Since the beginning we have successfully experimented with what the future of work should look like. We believe this is our most important project to date.