The brand new team of Edventure apprentices recently met with the team of community contributors, who will be coaching and mentoring them on their journey, as they spend the next nine months getting a training in social entrepreneurship.
The launch event enabled the apprentices and community team to meet and start getting to know each other. The planning of the evening was among the apprentices’ first challenges, having now completed their first week of the programme.
Each apprentice is mentored by one of the Edventure directors as well as having a mentor on the community team who can give them a unique perspective from the world of work.
Johannes Moeller, one of Edventure’s directors said, “Meeting with the wider team gives the apprentices a sense of the community that will stand beside them this year and support them. This supportive relationship actually benefits the whole community. In fact, helping young people into meaningful work might well be a community’s best pension plan.
“This is our third apprenticeship cycle and our biggest yet as we are working with a larger number of apprentices this year and extending the scope of our work with Jobcentre Plus by running more Start Up: Inspire courses for jobseekers.”
Individuals and businesses in Frome gift their time and expertise in order to run workshops, offer training or provide mentoring to young people through Edventure, not only providing support to the apprentices but also to young people accessing workspace and training through a scheme known as ‘Start Up’ which runs on Tuesdays at the Welsh Mill Hub.
Frome’s mayor Peter Macfadyen is amongst them and has said, “I think (Edventure) has become a really interesting project that could easily be rolled out all over the country.” He also commented on the importance of the way in which the apprentices have, “Benefited their lives and benefit the Frome community.”
Lynne Robson, a community contributor for Edventure, said of the evening, “It was a lovely evening and great to meet the new apprentices. There was a great atmosphere of anticipation about what the year will hold for them. They have already shown that they are really ready to throw themselves into it. They are already saying to us what can we do to get started? It’s immensely positive.”
By the end of their first week as Edventure apprentices, the young adults had already run a workshop for 250 students at Frome Community College to inspire them to be enterprising. Many projects are to follow throughout the autumn, including the transformation of a piece of land near the Welshmill allotments into a community meeting space and garden.
The first term of the apprenticeship will see the apprentices receiving a structured training and engaging in team projects, whereas later in the programme there is time and space for apprentices to develop their own projects for social enterprise or self-employment.
This year Edventure welcomes 13 apprentices, the largest number yet, aged from 17 to 34. Applications were received from all over the world and Edventure are particularly delighted to welcome an apprentice from Germany, as well as a Swedish-Portuguese apprentice, alongside British apprentices of whom most have grown up in Frome.
It was also great to see former apprentices such as Ebanie Powell joining the launch evening and sharing their experiences. Chloe Meanwell, also a former apprentice, now works as hub host and operations manager at Edventure’s Welsh Mill Hub and took a key role in facilitating the event, helping the apprentices and contributors to ‘speed date’ their way to meeting everyone present.
If you would like to know more about the work of Edventure or think that you may have time and skills to offer to young people exploring opportunities within the world of work please visit www.edventurefrome.org and get in touch.
