What we're doing

To mark our 450th year, the Broderers have agreed do something very special - to raise a significant sum for a small charity with excellent links to the City of London.  Key to this concept was the thought that any funds raised would have a significant impact upon the recipients.

After a careful selection process, involving visits to some 20 charities, a shortlist of 6 suitable charities were then presented to the Court of the Company to vote to choose the 450 charity.

We are pleased to say that the charity City Gateway, based in Tower Hamlets hard by the City, won the vote. You can read more about their challenges on the City Gateway page but the key aspects are:

• The charity targets the young and under-privileged

• The charity is situated at Tower Hamlets – a stone’s throw from the city of London

As a focus for the 450 fundraising campaign, we have agreed that we will raise funds for a new and innovative City Gateway project.  This project is to be known as “Transitions”, and the following is a brief summary of the aims of that project:
 

Transitions

Progression is a key focus of the current service provided by City Gateway and one of the reasons their projects have been successful – offering young people and women clear stepping stones towards employment & independence. As a natural extension of this work City Gateway plan to launch a new support project aimed at helping young people through three key transitional phases in their life.

The Transitions are:

10-13 – Starting senior school

14-16 – GCSEs and end of compulsory education

17-20 – Transition into work or further training

The programme will be headed up by a small team of Transition Workers, providing Information, Advice & Guidance at all these stages but also offering wider, more holistic, support opportunities including:

• Workshops on Independent Living
• Homework clubs and peer mentoring
• Youth leadership training & opportunities
• Social enterprise business start-ups

The project ties in closely not only with the existing training opportunities provided by City Gateway but also with the close school partnerships City Gateway have built up through their work at their Limehouse youth centre. The scheme will involve going into schools and working with pupils who are struggling to engage, for whatever reason, and seeing how extra support can help them re-engage with the opportunities available to them.