ENGAGE to CHANGE

1,000 young people with a learning disability and/or autism to gain employment from new £10m five year project in Wales

ELITE Supported Employment Agency Ltd are delighted to announce, that we will be the South Wales Supported Employment delivery partners, within a consortium led by Learning Disability Wales that has been awarded a £10m grant, to boost the employment prospects of young people in Wales with a learning disability and / or learning difficulty, including Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

The five-year Engage to Change project, starting in April 2016, will work with 800 employers across Wales to help 1,000 young people with learning disability and/or autism to develop their employment skills through paid work placements lasting between 6-12 months.
Learning Disability Wales are leading the consortium of organisations to deliver the Engage to Change project. These include Supported Employment Agencies ELITE and Agoriad, the international internship programme Project SEARCH, self-advocacy organisation All Wales People First and Cardiff University.
The project is being funded by The Big Lottery Fund's Getting Ahead 2 grant - the largest ever awarded by the organisation in Wales. The grant was developed in partnership with Welsh Government to meet priorities for supporting children and young people. It will be funded by money that has been dormant in bank and building society accounts across the UK for 15 years or more.
Youth unemployment in Wales is an issue for all young people but for those young people with a learning disability and/or autism, the routes into employment and the support that is available isn't always clear. The project will allow us to draw from previous good practice and clearly demonstrate what works for these young people.

Welcoming the funding, Andrea Wayman, Chief Executive Officer of ELITE said: “ELITE are delighted to be delivering the Supported Employment element of this project across 16 Counties in Wales. This funding will change the lives of young people with learning disabilities / difficulty, including Autistic Spectrum Disorder, who will participate in the project, allowing them to demonstrate their skills and abilities that will contribute to the workforce in Wales. This project will validate that investing in person-centred, tailored training through Supported Employment programmes produces sustainable employment for individuals, establishing with employers the benefits of a diverse workforce, creating opportunities for future generations”.