My Life is My Business

 

My Life is My Business was a pilot programme created with the Aldridge Foundation and delivered in Blackburn with Darwen. The project targeted young people from Blackburn & Darwen, who were not in education, employment or training and offered them a structured, intensive programme of personal development coaching and entrepreneurship training. The project also challenged conventional approaches to youth work and organisational partnership and provided an opportunity to engage Darwen’s business, professional and residential communities.

The programme worked with 45 young people and 136 adults, 17 of whom became life coaches to the young people. 22 young people completed the intensive training.

My Life is My Business celebrated it’s completion in January of this year with amazing successes. One of the young people won the “outstanding achiever of the year” in the Young’s awards. He was recognised for his personal journey over the last 18 months, going from being described by his youth worker as being ‘one the of the most disengaged young people I have ever seen’ to pitching business ideas to entrepreneurs and meeting royalty. He was described by the judges as an inspiration and positive role model to other young people across the region. He is developing his own business idea recycling gym equipment from the Darwen Creates business centre at the Darwen Aldridge Community Academy.

All the young people who completed the programme started full time college courses, went into work, enterprise or training – the majority pursuing additional activities in support of their business ideas. 88% of the young people reported an increase in their confidence; aspirations and motivation and a positive impact on their behaviour. In addition, 57% reported a reduction in their levels of substance misuse and offending and 43% reported a reduction in their levels of gun and knife crime.

The external evaluation noted considerable success of the model in delivering transformative outcomes for a group of potentially excluded and hard-to-engage young people. It also concluded that Intensive transformational personal development training proved to have real impact on the target group and should be promoted amongst practitioners working with young people in challenging circumstances.

 

Honor Wilson-Fletcher, Director, The Aldridge Foundation, said ''My Life is My Business has produced the most impressive results to date of any pilot we have worked on."

 

 

 

 

 

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