Participants are mentored by professional tradespeople and can gain vocational accreditations as well as access to further training, work placement and apprenticeship opportunities.
The majority of young people who take part and benefit are disengaged or excluded from mainstream education and training, at risk of disengagement, and/or unemployed.
We also deliver ‘early intervention’ construction sector employability skills and careers training for 10-14 year olds in schools.
We are delighted to announce we have received significant funding to deliver multiple local community projects in partnership with three local authorities (Nottingham, Nottinghamshire and Norfolk), thanks to the Community Renewal Fund.
The £220million national fund is designed to help pilot programmes and new approaches in local communities, to invest in people and boost skills. This is exactly what we do day in, day out, so we couldn’t be better placed to deliver this for the local communities we’ll be working with.
All works are subject to final contracts.
Across all of our projects with the Community Renewal Fund, we’ll be supporting over 1000 young people at risk of marginalisation who’ll be volunteering with local trade mentors, learning and applying vocational construction skills whilst breathing life back into buildings at the heart of communities in Nottingham/Nottinghamshire and Norfolk.
Channel 4 presenter Guy Martin and a camera crew recently visited four VIY project sites and the resulting four short films are now live on All 4/Channel 4 online - well worth a watch!
Guy is keen to encourage more young people to learn vocational trade skills and wanted to meet, and work alongside, young people doing just that at VIY projects across the country.
"I met great lads and lasses volunteering on all four projects. Their enthusiasm was a brilliant reflection of what the VIY scheme is all about. They all just just wanted to get on with it." - Guy Martin
Watch now
As a complete novice, Kayleigh, from Hackney, took part in skills sessions at VIY’s north London Hub project, on the Northumberland Park Estate in Haringey, in 2015. Through her participation she achieved City & Guilds Entry Level 3 accreditations in carpentry and plumbing, and her VIY experience inspired her to start a construction skills course…
