Pictured: Michelle Musgrave, director for customers and communities at Midland Heart

100 days on from the riots that shocked the nation, leading housing and care organisation Midland Heart has announced a £500,000 commitment to get some of the most vulnerable young people back into work. 

The organisation is also urging other local businesses in the Midlands to join them and back the initiative.

Midland Heart has put together an innovative and exciting programme targeting those young people who may be marginalised from mainstream opportunities due to their history of offending, anti-social behaviour or poor educational attainment. 

A programme has been put together offering a range of interventions which will tackle these and help young people achieve success via new apprenticeships on offer; mentoring, pre-apprenticeship support, family support and access to housing and tenancy support.

The organisation recognises that some young people are often experiencing a range of complex issues which prevent them from accessing and achieving success in training and employment. 

The investment follows local consultation and discussions with customers, staff, and service providers in the public and voluntary sectors from across the Midlands. They found a number of key themes that linked the disturbances; lack of training and opportunities, poor educational outcomes, lack of family support and alienation which contributed to poor behaviours.

Michelle Musgrave, director for customers and communities at Midland Heart said: "We are really excited about the initiative; we have worked with customers and partners to look at the problems and we know that some young people feel alienated and have few opportunities into work.  

"Our programme will invest in young people that live in the communities in which we work and will give support that is centred on the needs of the individual. 

"We believe that housing providers should play a key role in providing solutions to the issues around why the riots happened - we are already working in the heart of communities on successful projects that aim to boost skills and provide opportunities".

Marcia Martin a customer said: "I hope that other housing associations and businesses follow suit, I think that Midland Heart is leading the way in its response".

Midland Heart is keen to see further investment in the area and sees the support of other businesses as critical to the success of the programme. 

Michelle explained: "It would be fantastic to expand the initiative - we would be delighted to work with partners to further develop and invest in even more opportunities for young people.  Businesses need to show that they really do care about the future of young people and our cities".

Midland Heart customer Cathy Geraghty added: "Every bit helps, young people want to work, they need to be given the chance to by local businesses."

Midland Heart is working in partnership with local agencies to deliver the initiative which will work on both internal external referrals made by partner agencies including police, youth projects, family intervention projects and other support agencies.