EY Foundation

📣 We’re proud to share our 2023-24 Impact Report, recognising the difference made to the lives of young people who qualify for free school meals in the last year.    Over the past 12 months, we've:  - supported 3,471 young people from low-income backgrounds  - working with 322 employers   - and creating 3,268 volunteering opportunities     👏 A huge thank you to our supporters for all the volunteer hours, business hosting, collaborations, and fundraising that has made this possible.      Join us in taking a more in-depth look into how your support has impacted the lives of our young people in the last year as well as over the past decade in recognition of our 10th anniversary: https://lnkd.in/eJWu7Ai3 We’re looking forward to continuing to work together as we increase our impact to be bigger, better and bolder for young people across the UK. Our CEO, Lynne Peabody, summarises our year below.  #EYFoundationImpactReport

It’s Number Confidence Week with National Numeracy! 🤔 Did you know that 36% of 15–24-year-olds feel anxious about maths*? Situations involving maths can cause young people to feel stressed, or they might avoid using numbers completely. At EY Foundation, we recognise the important role number confidence plays in setting young people up for the future, particularly regarding employment. Confidence in areas such as maths is influenced by many factors, and unfortunately there’s a disparity in achievement based on a person's household income, with young people from a free school meal (FSM) background being less likely than their peers to achieve a Grade 5 or above in GCSE Maths and English**. To provide additional support to young people taking part in our Smart Futures programmes, our mentoring-based programme ‘Maths Mindset’ tutors those who are interested in an EY apprenticeship. We offer them the opportunity to undertake numerical reasoning tests alongside tutoring from EY business volunteers and are pleased to have supported participants to pass their NRT, a fantastic step towards their future careers! 👏 To learn more about Number Confidence Week, head here: https://lnkd.in/duJjARbx #NumberConfidenceWeek #MathsMindset *Maths Anxiety Trust **Social Mobility Commission

🙌 This Trustees’ Week, we want to say a huge thank you to our fantastic Trustees! Your commitment to ensuring we positively impact young people’s lives across the UK extends beyond governance, management, strategy and vision, from being business challenge panelists on our programmes, to working with our Youth Advisory Board (YAB) to develop commitments for the future workplace and leveraging your networks to support our work. We truly appreciate the time and energy you bring to all you do. As a charity that supports young people, we know how important it is to have diverse representation on Boards and ensure that the voice of young people is considered at all levels of our work. This is why we recruit young trustees and work closely with our YAB, ensuring that the actions we take and the decisions we make are reflective of the communities we look to serve. As Sarah Baugh, one of our trustees, says “Anyone can be a trustee...Boards absolutely thrive when they have a diversity of skills, knowledge, age, and experience.” Below, Sarah has shared the advice she’d give to a young person questioning what they might have to offer as a trustee, and the important qualities that she believes young people can bring to a Board, including: 👉 fresh perspectives, 👉 innovative ideas, and 👉 unique approaches. If this sounds like a Board you’d like to join, you’re in luck! We are currently recruiting for an independent trustee, find out more here: https://lnkd.in/eifbw29A Applications close at 3pm on Wednesday 13 November 2024. #TrusteesWeek 

We’ve wrapped up our final alumni networking event of the series in Birmingham! On Wednesday, we got to hear from our panellists Mike Morgan (Hays), Arjan Shoker (EY), Syeda Akhtar (Catapult) and Antoinette Farrell-Jones (Birmingham Airport) in a discussion facilitated by Omama Ashraf (EYF Alumni). Together they shared their career development top tips including... 👉 Be curious, ask questions and get feedback.   👉 Network and invest in people.  👉 Take risks but stay authentic.   👉 Shout about your whole self, your passions and values, as well as your goals and aspirations.  A huge thank you to our speakers and to Hays for hosting the event and giving young people the space to connect with each other and business volunteers. #Networking #AlumniEvent #YouthEmployment

In the UK, 1 in 8 young people are NEET (not in education, employment or training), with those eligible for free school meals being 50% more likely to fall into this category than their better-off peers.      The chancellor has just announced the Autumn Budget but what does this mean for young people?      👉 The creation of Skills England, upcoming White Paper to ‘Get Britain Working’ and the £240 million towards employment support demonstrate the government’s commitment to tackle the root causes of inactivity. This sounds promising for NEET young people, and we look forward to seeing how these plans will help them to enter the job market.      👉 A £40 million investment to deliver new foundation and shorter apprenticeships in “key sectors” as well as an increase in the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage, including an increase in hourly pay from £6.40 to £7.55 for Apprentices, will support young people during the cost-of-living crisis and make apprenticeships more accessible.      👉 A further £300 million will go towards funding further education to ensure young people develop the skills needed for the future of work. We’re keen to understand what this will be used for specifically but it's good to see the role of further education recognised in supporting young people that don’t pursue the university route.      Our CEO, Lynne Peabody, said:      "I welcome the government’s mission to grow the economy and create opportunities for all. Investing in flexible and alternative routes into the workplace is key in a country where NEET rates have remained stubbornly high and largely unchanged over the last decade. This has long term consequences, that not only impact our economy but also has a negative effect on young people’s health and prospects. Whilst it’s positive to see action being taken it will take more than £ to drive the systemic change needed to overcome barriers to employment facing young people. However, the budget has offered glimmers of possibility and I think shows some commitment by the Government to breaking down barriers to opportunity which will begin to help young people from a low-income background, like those we support. Time will tell...”      If you’d like to learn more about our projects, on topics from employability skills training and work experience to employer behaviour and AI, then get in touch with us at enquiries@eyfoundation.ey.com.       Read the full budget here: https://lnkd.in/eA2b6xjZ       #YouthEmployment #AutumnBudget  

Excited to have seen our Alumni Network in action, meeting with other young people as well as employers today in London! We were joined by panellists Elijah Amoako (EY Foundation Youth Advisory Board Member), Michelle Fotsing (EY Foundation Youth Advisory Board Member), Ijaz Hussain (EYF Alumnus and EY Apprentice), André Peters (Social Value & Stakeholder Manager at John Sisk & Son Ltd), and Davina Majeethia (Head of DEI at Nesta). They covered a variety of topics from imposter syndrome and self-belief to life-long learning and how to cope with rejection. Here were some of their key points: 💡 Finding or following purpose as you move through your career 💡 The importance of communication and seeking support and guidance (most people are very happy to help!) 💡 The power of mentoring, particularly the importance of seeking to cultivate a relationship with your mentor and putting in just as much effort as a mentee Thank you to our panellists and everyone who attended today and keep a look out for our next alumni networking event taking place in Birmingham! #Networking #AlumniEvent #YouthEmployment  

🌟 In recognition of National Mentoring Day yesterday, we want to celebrate all the fantastic mentors that have volunteered their time with us to help support and guide young people from low-income backgrounds to achieve their career aspirations.  👏 A huge round of applause and thank you for sharing your experiences and insights – have a look below at the difference you’ve made. With more programmes coming up later this year, as well as a packed spring and summer in 2025, we need you as a mentor! If giving back and using your experience to help others sounds like something you’d be interested in, contact us at volunteering@eyfoundation.ey.com. And don’t forget – all experience is useful! You might be in the first year of your career or your fortieth, whatever your journey we guarantee you have something to offer. #NationalMentoringDay #Mentor #Volunteer 

❔ Given the rise of emerging tech, what skills will the workforce need? We’ve talked about the importance of AI literacy in the future of work this week, but equally important is Emotional Intelligence (EQ). It’s a skill increasingly demanded by employers looking for human-centric skills and an essential complement to AI literacy. Our research into engagement with the metaverse* found young people from low-income backgrounds often lack the ‘intrinsic motivation’ needed to successfully engage with new technologies as they may not see them as being “for people like me”. 💡 To address this, we’ve piloted a session with Alec Reed Academy to support the development of EQ, with an emphasis on ‘intrinsic motivation’, in parallel to building AI literacy. This includes... -         demonstrations of some key AI tools; -         understanding and developing self-awareness and self-regulation; -         and activities like gratitude reflection and reflecting values to support motivation. Looking ahead we’ll evaluate this pilot to understand if it will be beneficial to incorporate learnings across all our Smart Futures programmes. *Read our report on the metaverse here: https://lnkd.in/exHdjgXY   #AI #EQ #EmotionalIntelligence 

We are proud that Gianluca Riccio, CFA, Chair of the Finance Committee at the Business at OECD, highlighted our work as a model of best practice during the World Employment Confederation forum at the B20 Summit in São Paulo.     At EY Foundation, we’re committed to ensuring all young people have the same opportunities to succeed and that businesses can benefit from the rich diversity of talent available.    This acknowledgement aligns with the B20 Action Council’s recommendations for addressing barriers to #diversity and #inclusion. #B20SummitBrasil

💡 Let’s talk about the role of AI in entrepreneurship. Did you know that 25% of teenagers are thinking of starting their own business in the future*? However, research shows that entrepreneurs from underrepresented groups spend on average more time and money developing their idea than their peers**. We believe that AI, and Gen-AI in particular, has the potential to help break down some of the barriers young people from low-income backgrounds face when looking to start a business, providing support such as idea-generation, access to tailored information and regular feedback. Yesterday we were excited to kick off our pilot ‘AI and your Side Hustle’ with some of our alumni, consisting of two workshops which will cover: 👉 the steps to take to start your own business, 👉 the basic concepts behind AI, and 👉 how AI can support entrepreneurship, from helping to develop business management materials to marketing strategies. We look forward to seeing the next steps our aspiring entrepreneurs take towards their side hustles!   *https://lnkd.in/eVwkziTP **https://lnkd.in/eNKqxXUK   #AI #GenAI #Entrepreneurship