Youth support project gives young people chance to succeed
A project that gives everyone the chance to do well, irrespective of their beginnings and current social circle has received backing to expand the scheme to young people across England, Scotland and Wales.
“In a fair society everybody has the right to succeed. Ability, effort and ambition should count, not the school you went to, your parent’s jobs, who you know or where you live. No one should be prevented from fulfilling their potential by the circumstances of their birth. Success should be based on what you do, not who you know,” says Chris Davis the projects founder.
The Free To Succeed project is using an online platform of specialist support networks to provide 1000 young people with support they wouldn’t typically have access to, to help them achieve goals, overcome obstacles, learn new skills, find new opportunities and make new professional contacts outside their current social circle.
“There is no limit to what people can request. It’s not all about careers and job opportunities. It’s important to open young people’s eyes to what’s possible in all areas of life. They don’t want to be told they can’t do something, that’s what many of these young people have been hearing all their lives. We have a motto that goes Aim for the moon. If you miss, you may hit a star. The young people I have spoken with all understand it. We have already had our first request for help to walk on The Moon,” explains Chris.
Social mobility is a measure of how free people are to improve their position in society and is a serious issue in the UK, affecting millions of people. The Free To Succeed project gives young people access to relevant support and assistance to enable them to change their social circumstances and give them the chance to succeed. The project started life on a crowd funding site in August, before attracting independent backing from leading micro-jobs site quiddoo.com to expand across the UK.
“Improving social mobility requires people in all parts of society to play a part. We have a growing network of people and organisations prepared to offer support and assistance. quiddoo’s involvement and support gave us the boost we needed to set up the network and start helping young people all over the UK. Everyday more organisations are pledging their help,” reveals Chris.
Add My Support, the organisations behind Free to Succeed, works with young people directly and through verified partner organisations (charities, educational organisations, youth organisations, coaches and teachers) to identify and encourage the creation of personal support requests by people needing help to achieve a goal or learn new skills. Once a request has been made it is shared with experts, professionals and organisations who can make support proposals directly to the members or person representing them.
“Through partnerships with organisations who work with young people from all different backgrounds we are able to speak with all sorts of people who want to learn new skills or achieve a goal. Everyday we hear new stories of young people facing adversity. What many of these young people have already overcome is inspiring. Now we want to help those people be successful and happy whatever goals they set themselves,” explains Chris.
The Free To Succeed project aims to create a sustainable legacy that can be scaled and replicated to new areas, people and needs. “We are creating young role models and community champions that can help inspire others. Each time we receive a request it is an opportunity to learn what really matter to young people. We are using this information to tailor support packages for common needs and goals to ensure we can offer the best possible help and assistance every time someone makes a request,” Chris says.
Entrepreneur and quiddoo.com founder, Rakesh Luthra, who set up his own software development and CRM consultancy business at the age of 17, says “In the current economic climate there are a lot of really talented young people who are struggling to get their first paid job. When I met Chris and he told me about the Free To Succeed project, I realised it was the perfect partnership for quiddoo.com. Together we are able to give confidence to youngsters looking to break into the jobs market without all the usual obstacles.”
If you need assistance or are interested in assisting young people to achieve their goals you can get involved at www.freetosucceed.co.uk or contact chris@freetosucceed.co.uk