It’s in our VIY Values: we’re all about collaboration. We work with a mix of cross-sector partners, funders and stakeholders, who support us nationally and now in our growing regional hubs too. These range from retail trade brands to skills grant-giving organisations, to local authorities, councils and housing associations, to youth work organisations, schools, colleges, alternative education providers, and local sector-relevant employers.
Our principal current partners and funders are featured below, with a wider collection of those we’ve worked with throughout our first ten years below.
City & Guilds
City & Guilds has supported the creation of a bespoke skills assessment and accreditation framework for VIY, working in conjunction with external skills assessor RM Training. This allows young people taking part to be fully assessed on site in working towards City & Guilds Entry Level 3 skills accreditations.
Dulux
The Dulux Let’s Colour programme has been painting a better future since 2009. Working together, Dulux and VIY are focused on transforming run-down community buildings, supporting young people to flourish and paving the way for an even better tomorrow. This includes enabling VIY learners to achieve a City & Guilds Painting & Decorating employability skills accreditation.
Sport England
VIY works with Sport England, supported by the National Lottery Community Fund and #iwill campaign, to open our offer to more grassroots sport clubs with facility needs. This includes driving and demonstrating sustainable volunteering outcomes on VIY projects alongside the youth training and venue improvement outcomes.
Toolstation
Toolstation is one of Britain’s fastest growing suppliers of tools, accessories and building supplies. They began partnering with VIY in 2021, funding the City & Guilds accreditations, skills training and mentoring of the young volunteers working on the projects they support. Toolstation wish to work with the local communities in which they live and work, whilst helping more young people learn DIY skills and consider a career in the construction and building industry.
Travis Perkins
Travis Perkins is the UK’s largest builders’ merchant. We’re helping fulfil their purpose to build better communities and enrich lives through their generous donation of building materials to VIY project sites, as well as through visits and volunteering from Travis Perkins colleagues. As well as providing progressions and apprenticeship opportunities for our VIY graduates, Travis Perkins Plc also acts as the Gateway Provider for our Kickstart scheme, through which we’re employing 8 young people through the Government’s six month placements scheme, and hopefully beyond. See more of the projects TP have lent a hand on here.
Youth Futures Foundation
The Youth Futures Foundation is an independent, not-for-profit organisation established to find, fund, support and evaluate programmes which help young people to move into meaningful work. The funding we receive from YFF directly helps more VIY participants to achieve skills and sustained employment and further training outcomes – while also enabling us to better track and evidence these outcomes.
