The Challenge:

Anybody I've met in the last 8 years probably knows how impactful the Spear program has been on me, and this month in celebration of Resurgo, the charity behind The Spear Programme, reaching it's 20th anniversary, I along with my fellow Spear Ambassadors will be walking 20km from their Bethnal Green centre to their very first centre in Hammersmith.

The Spear Programme:

The Spear Programme is an employability course that targets young adults who are not in employment, education or training. The coaches assist the trainees with overcoming their personal barriers to entering work in addition to providing skills and guidance for navigating the professional world.

Over the last 20 years the course has helped over 9000(!) young people into full time work or education, but the most impressive stat is that 75% of those who undertake the programme not only find employment but remain in their jobs a year later, demonstrating the ability of this programme to change the course of an individual’s life in the long term.

My Why:

I remember my first day on the programme, sitting with a group of strangers roughly my age, being grateful that I was on a 6-week course where and didn't have to go into the job centre to collect my JSA. I wasn't confident contributing to the sessions, and I wasn't really applying for jobs. By the end of the course, I had bought my first Primark suit, I was able to present in front of a room full of strangers, I was exhausting job boards by challenging myself to apply for at least one more job than I did the day before and that I would do it before I jumped on the PlayStation or watched TV.

The greatest thing about the course is post-completion the coaches offer 1 year of support to help you find a role, and provide space once a week for trainees to go and apply for jobs if it is helpful for them to be in a different environment to do so, with coaching support as they need it.

For me though one of the most important things to think about is this isn't just an opportunity to help change the life of another young person who needs this programme, albeit that would be a fantastic reason to donate! It's also an opportunity to fundamentally uplift our own communities, as when a young person finds employment, they are not on the street finding alternate means to make ends meet, they are either less reliant or not at all reliant on state support and can contribute to their local economy as well as the national economy. This makes our whole community richer, safer and happier.

Check out Harrison's story, if you want to hear just how powerful of an impact the Spear Programme can have:

https://resurgo.org.uk/resurgo-tv/harrisons-story/

I would really appreciate your support in this fundraising effort and the best thing is if you want to see where the money goes, you can join me at one of the next Spear Celebrations where the young people share their stories and what they have learned.

Thank You!

Matt Wise