Manchester Athena secures 250 jobs for young people through the Kickstart scheme
Manchester Athena has been successful in securing funding for Kickstart, a scheme created by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), aiming to create jobs for young people at risk of long-term unemployment. Thirteen housing providers from the Athena partnership will be involved in the scheme.
The successful bid was for 106 job roles which have been created across a variety of disciplines and will lead to 250 jobs being created for young people during the twelve months of the scheme.
DWP created the Kickstart Scheme which allows employers and gateway organisations to bid for grant funding to create new employment opportunities. One Manchester was selected by Athena members to perform the function of the Gateway Organisation and who will offer over twenty job roles within One Manchester. In addition, twelve other Athena Housing Providers have also offered job roles totalling over 100.
The Kickstart Scheme aligns with Manchester Athena’s mission to work collaboratively with all the partner housing providers to deliver training, employment and other initiatives across Greater Manchester and the North West to reduce inequality and poverty. The scheme is a good example of partnership working making a positive difference to people’s lives and creating opportunities. Karen Mitchell, Chair of the Athena Board, said:
“Athena’s mission is to transform lives across Greater Manchester and Kickstart is supporting this mission. The jobs created will provide and develop valuable work-based and employability skills for young people within our communities, who are currently at risk of long-term unemployment. We hope many of the job roles will also lead to long-term employment within our partner organisations.”
