How to help Yorkshire's young people access vital work opportunities: Sharon Davies

I’ve also seen first-hand how these opportunities equip young people with the confidence and skills to make valuable contributions to addressing issues facing local communities, such as making improvements to local services and problem solving cross-generational concerns.

Since 1962, at Young Enterprise, we have helped over 7.2 million young people access opportunities to learn by doing, including young people facing a number of barriers to social mobility.

Providing applied learning opportunities for young people to build skills and confidence in real-life settings, for example via enterprise challenges or work experience, is critical to helping them prepare for the changing world of work.

There’s already fantastic work taking place in schools, but this doesn’t mean more can’t be done.

However, this requires a collaborative approach. Therefore, we urge policymakers, educators, communities and the government to work together on a renewed push to increase opportunities for young people to apply their learning in real-world settings across the country.

Too often we’re seeing young people leave school without the practical skills to tackle student loans, exercise digital literacy and network.

Lack of financial capability is also an issue that is echoed across the rest of the population, with 45 per cent of adults saying they do not feel confident managing money.

This shows that if we don’t equip young people with a financial education, there’s a huge risk it will continue to impact them throughout their adulthoods.

With economic inactivity figures in the UK also high, engaging young people will benefit economic recovery. Young people have a pivotal role to play – but they need the support to do this.

In fact, according to research, prioritising financial education could add an extra £6.98bn to the UK economy each year, equivalent to £202bn by 2050.

While it’s a challenging time for young people, coupled with cuts to youth work and provisions in the Yorkshire and Humber region, it’s also a time of real opportunity to support them.

I have been hugely impressed by the level of entrepreneurship I’ve seen at Young Enterprise from young people. Last month, we hosted the 2023 Yorkshire, Humber and The Northeast Regional Final, which is an opportunity for young people to set up and run their own Young Enterprise companies.

At the recent final, a team of students ‘eCultivate’, were crowned winners with their bug hotel business, based on their passion for the environment.

However, it’s imperative that we find ways to build on these opportunities. Not only does this have the potential to drive social mobility, but increased collaboration between employers and charities to support teachers can do so much more to help young people build the skills and mindset they need to successfully prepare for the next chapter in their lives beyond school.

It really does take a village to raise a child.

Sharon Davies is CEO of charity Young Enterprise