Whitefriars gives youngsters a positive chance to get noticed

Thursday 25th August 2011

A Coventry housing association is giving 12 young people the chance to turn their lives around with a week-long 'boot camp' course with the incentive of an apprenticeship at the end of it.

As David Cameron calls for National Service to be introduced after the recent riots, Whitefriars Housing is running the course to give eight boys and four girls aged 16 to 18 to discover leadership skills, improve employability and discover community spirit.

The person who excels the most on the course, which was planned by Whitefriars before the disturbances, will be offered an apprenticeship with the housing organisation.

Starting on Monday, August 22, the course is open to people living in Whitefriars' properties or living in neighbourhoods managed by Whitefriars, who currently have no college or work plans.

The week of activities includes team building, physical challenges such as wall building and diffusing a pretend landmine, a charity fundraising car wash, visiting the National Memorial Arboretum, gaining advice on CV writing and interview skills. Another important part of the course is community work which they will scope themselves. They will also meet with West Midlands Police's Youth Offending Team to discuss the recent riots and think about the importance of communities.

The young people taking part are all keen to find out about training and employment opportunities with Whitefriars and some, but not all of them, have been involved in low level ASB or are known to the Youth Offending Service.

Charlie-Dee Murphy, aged 16 from Willenhall, was known to the police and realised how much stress she was causing her mum. She explained: "I knew I needed to change for my mum and the court told me if I didn't do something about my behaviour I wouldn't be able to see my nieces. They mean everything to me so I knew I had to stop what I was doing.

"I want to work with other teenagers who have been in trouble and have family issues. I really hope that Boot Camp can help me turn my life around and get the job that I want."

Gail Cooper, who heads up Whitefriars' anti-social behaviour team, said: "The recent riots experienced in cities across England have put the spotlight on young people and raised questions about the opportunities available to them.

"This course won't be easy but it will give those who take part a positive opportunity to prove themselves and potentially improve their prospects. They are all willing to make the most of the course and the incentive of an apprenticeship is there for them.

"We believe we have a key role to play in helping young people foster the skills needed to get where they want to be in life. The scheme is part of Whitefriars' ongoing work to help Coventry residents to improve their communities, skills, life opportunities and employability."

There will be a visit to the National Memorial Arboretum in Cannock for the young people to talk about the concept of individuals dying to serve their country.

This visit will also act as inspiration, as the group will be asked to come up with ideas for landscaping Wellington Gardens, at Windsor Street, Spon End where Whitefriars is creating a new green space and memorial garden.

Directors at Whitefriars Housing will form a panel for one of the tasks, where participants must come up with a business plan and marketing ideas to run a charity car wash. They will pitch to the directors their plan and where they want to run the car wash from based on two given locations before putting them into action at the location selected for them.

All participants in the course will receive personal feedback and a reference to help them with future job or college applications. They will also be able to get further employment advice and support from Whitefriars' staff.

In addition to the apprenticeship on offer, a number of places on Whitefriars' 'Foundation to Learning' course will be offered to those who show staff they could benefit from further study.

The course is part of a campaign being run by WM Housing, of which Whitefriars is a part, to work with all Coventry residents to improve skills, employability, communities and life opportunities.

Whitefriars would like to thank Astleys of Coventry for discounting the cost of the boots for the young people.

Photo captions:
Coventry youngsters take part in the Boot Camp being run by Whitefriars Housing to help young people turn their lives around with the incentive of winning an apprenticeship at the end of the week.

Posted by 0 for WM Housing Group