Empowering the Next Generation: Ridge’s Match with Greater Manchester Youth Network 

At Match My Project, we celebrate businesses that step up to create meaningful jobs and training opportunities in their communities – and Ridge & Partners is a shining example of this commitment in action.

Ridge & Partners, a Built Environment Consultancy, recently partnered with the Greater Manchester Youth Network (GMYN) through Match My Project to deliver their flagship Carbon Literacy Training programme: Ridge Green Futures. 

This partnership has enabled GMYN to champion their Build Your Future programme which supports Stockport-based young people who are or have been in care or are disabled/neurodivergent to access introductory opportunities in construction.

Ridge’s Green Futures programme promotes carbon literacy, empowering individuals to engage in the net zero transition and take action within their local communities to combat climate change.

Ridge invited GMYN to their head offices in Manchester for a World of Work visit with five of their young people. During the visit, they completed Ridge’s Green Futures certificate, which explores the effects of climate change on the built environment.

The second half of the workshop focused on Green Careers.

This included what a career in the green space could look like and entry routes. Participants also took part in a Q&A with two members of Ridge’s Sustainability Team. The young people quizzed them on their career journeys and the types of activities they get up to in their roles.

A real highlight for the young people was enjoying the skyline of Manchester from the 9th floor of Ridge’s building. They spent some time looking at all of the new developments springing up across the city and got to appreciate Manchester’s rich architecture from this unique viewpoint.

A young attendee commended Ridge’s Green Future programme, saying, “It was interesting to hear how they are trying to use less energy and save resources in building, I didn’t know there would be jobs like that in construction.”

Laura Perry, Social Value Project Consultant at Ridge, who delivered the programme, had this to say:

We were delighted to partner with Greater Manchester Youth Network as part of their Work Readiness Programme to host our Flagship Ridge Green Futures workshop for young people from Stockport. After listing our offer on Match My Project and matching with Greater Manchester Youth Network, I worked closely with Julia Hannam [Programme Coordinator at GMYN] to tailor the programme so it could be of maximum benefit to the participants.

Ridge received some impressive feedback about the programme:

  • 6 out of the 7 attendees reported at least a one-point increase in their carbon literacy as a result of the workshop
  • Two attendees are considering a career within the sustainability field after being presented with green career opportunities and participating in the Q&A with Ridge’s Sustainability Team

One workshop, one opportunity, one moment of inspiration can spark a career of purpose. 

This success story between Ridge and GMYN shows how your organisation’s expertise can shape tomorrow’s talent pipeline.

Businesses: don’t wait to make a difference. Post your jobs and training opportunities on Pathways To Work today and help build the workforce of tomorrow.

Sign up here.

We recently heard from Ruth Martin, work placement coordinator at The Hive College, about how Match My Project has been helping her source opportunities for young people with disabilities in Birmingham.

I’m Ruth, I’m from The Hive College. We are an outstanding, according to Ofsted (and ourselves), college in Erdington North Birmingham. We offer courses for young people with disabilities, and that’s right across the spectrum. So we have some very complex learners, right the way through to those with more mild to moderate conditions.

And my role there is to get our learners into jobs. Did you know that less than six per cent of, this is in the UK, people with disabilities are in employment, and that is 4.8 per cent in Birmingham. So if that doesn’t make you uncomfortable and desperate to do something about it, then you can stop reading now! So how can you do something about it? And why Match My Project? 

So I was introduced to Match My Project by a contact completely by fluke a couple of years ago. Didn’t really know what it was, gave it a go. Very, very simple and very quick to fill out. I think I probably spent a maximum of half an hour on there, and kind of thought nothing of it, but incredibly we got matched with an organisation with a company called Kier Highways. You might have noticed them at number one on the leaderboard in Birmingham and that’s because of what they have delivered. 

Voluntary sector organisations have asked  about longevity before and we are still very close partners with Kier. Not only did they deliver and provide an amazing work opportunity, a paid position for one of our learners, it’s super easy to use, super quick and I got this fantastic relationship from Kier Highways out of it. So they have delivered first aid training to some of our learners. They’ve delivered vehicle marshalling training. They have had our groups go round their stores and their centre in Aston.

We’ve had multiple work experience students. We’ve probably had about 10 students that have gone to them for long term work, experience opportunities. They have donated money – they’ve bought us three quarters of a car – £15,000 – in the last year. And most incredibly, one of their Social Value managers is now on our board of trustees.

So in terms of longevity, in terms of commitment, in terms of relationship, I hope that gives you a little flavour of the power that Match My Project can have. Such a very simple, very basic, low cost, low input from this side of the fence. But massive, massive what we’ve received back.

Community organisations and businesses in Birmingham can sign up to Match My Project here.

The amount of vacancies due to skills shortages in England more than doubled between 2017 and 2022, from 226,500 to 531,200. 

At Match My Project, we’ve been tackling this problem through our Pathways to Work feature,  which gets people from underserved communities into work and training by facilitating partnerships between community organisations and businesses.

We’re proud of our work. But we need changes at a wider policy level to better address the nationwide skills gap.

This week, the #KingsSpeech laid out the government’s agenda and commitments for the year ahead.

The focus on investing in skills and education is encouraging. 

This is what the King pledged:

My Government will establish Skills England which will have a new partnership with employers at its heart, and my Ministers will reform the apprenticeship levy.

Let’s take a deeper dive.

Breaking Down Barriers to Opportunity: Skills England Bill

The King’s Speech introduced the Skills England Bill which aims to boost skills training and tackle skills shortages to support sustained economic growth.

“The Skills England Bill delivers on [the government’s] manifesto commitment to simplify and improve the skills system, ensuring the supply of skills needed for the economy and breaking down barriers to opportunity.” – The King’s Speech briefing document.

This plan has threefold objectives:

  1. Developing a single picture of national and local skills needs.

  1. Identifying the training for which the Growth and Skills Levy will be accessible. This involves ensuring that government-funded training available to learners and employers aligns with skills needs.

  1. Ensuring that the national and regional skills systems are meeting skills needs and are aligned.

Partnership work is at the heart of the government’s plan to build a more resilient and skilled workforce by bringing together businesses, providers, unions, Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCAs) and national government to tackle skills shortages and inequalities.

We support this strategy. Collaboration between the public, private and voluntary sectors has always been a key part of Match My Project’s approach to facilitating Social Value delivery.

Pathways to Work: Aligned with Government Priorities

Our Pathways to Work feature is already well-positioned to support the goals outlined in the King’s Speech and the formation of Skills England. Here’s how:

  1. Facilitating Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships: Pathways to Work connects community organisations, businesses, and job seekers, creating the exact type of collaborative ecosystem that Skills England aims to foster.

  1. Addressing Local Skills Needs: By matching local talent with businesses seeking specific skills, our platform helps identify and address skills gaps at a grassroots level, aligning with Skills England’s goal of understanding local skills needs.

  1. Breaking Down Barriers: We focus on connecting underserved communities with opportunities, directly supporting the government’s commitment to break down barriers to opportunity.

Looking Ahead

As the government moves forward with its plans to establish Skills England and reform the apprenticeship levy, Pathways to Work is ready to play a crucial role. We’re committed to aligning with these new initiatives, and ensuring that we continue to be at the forefront of creating meaningful partnerships that drive Social Value and economic growth.

Our platform and partnerships can help accelerate the implementation of the government’s skills agenda, creating more good jobs and training opportunities across the UK.

Ready to make an investment in the future? Post your opportunities on Pathways to Work today and connect with motivated young talent in your community. 

Curious? Learn more about the benefits of Pathways to Work from our CEO, Dan, here.

Ridge & Partners, a Built Environment Consultancy with eleven locations across the UK, recently signed the Care Leaver Covenant. The Covenant is a promise made by the private, public and voluntary sectors to advocate for care leavers aged 16-25.

As part of their pledge, Ridge agreed to offer twelve work experience opportunities to care leavers in the local community.

They chose the Match My Project platform to fulfil this commitment. Four successful candidates were referred to Ridge by the Greater Manchester Youth Network and the Stockport Leaving Care Team. 

Diversifying Workforce Practices

Philippa Wilkinson is the passionate Post-16 Lead at the Stockport Virtual School. She explains that it is not a “real” school, but rather, a team of teachers and other professionals that support the educational attainment and employment aspirations of people aged two to twenty-five, who have been looked after by the local authority.

I asked her about the main challenges that care-experienced individuals face in entering the workforce.

She cites disrupted education patterns of these young people, including suspensions, exclusions, and low attendance, as major factors that often become barriers to entering the workforce in subsequent years.

The Stockport Virtual School advocates for these oft-misunderstood individuals: “So we’re trying to make the best opportunities for them, and get companies to understand that and make allowances for this group of young people.”

Matching with Ridge through Match My Project has allowed the virtual school to promote quality employability opportunities for young people. Phillipa explains that the successful candidate was treated like a “proper” employee at Ridge: they were given a laptop, and their own email address, and included in meetings at different levels. They were made to feel a part of the working environment at Ridge, and given personalised support throughout the two-week placement.

The work placement went so well that the candidate was offered an ongoing mentorship.

What stands out to me most about my conversation with Phillipa is the point that care-leaver work placements add value to the hosting business as much as they benefit the candidate.

Phillippa puts it this way:

“As adults and professionals, we do tend to think our way is the best way … but it’s not necessarily the case. Sometimes for a company to take a young person who has a care-experienced background might give them another dimension, another viewpoint in meetings, another way of looking at things. It diversifies their own workforce practices.”

Adding Another Dimension

Laura Perry, Social Value Project Consultant at Ridge, agrees that care-experienced individuals bring immense value to an organisation.

She tells me that, as part of the work placement, the candidate was tasked with researching charities in a local area that Ridge was submitting for work in. The care-leaver happened to have had first-hand experience with many of the local charities. They were able to give insights into these organisations that, as Laura points out, the team would have had no other way of finding out. 

Laura goes on to explain the impact that the student had on her team:

“With the knowledge of charities and being a service user – that was huge – money can’t buy that kind of first-hand experience. I think we all learnt a lot from them. They’re resilient; they spoke really openly about their experiences or some of their challenges, and it was a really open conversation … it helped us understand more some of the challenges that care-leavers face … it was a massive learning curve for us.”

Match My Project is Helping Overlooked Individuals into Work

The testimonials from the Stockport Virtual School, Greater Manchester Youth Network, and the team at Ridge & Partners illustrate the immense value that Match My Project’s Pathways to Work feature can bring to both businesses and individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds. 

By posting work placement and job opportunities through the platform, companies can quickly and directly connect with organisations supporting overlooked groups like care-leavers. The successful Ridge work placement shows how care-experienced individuals can provide fresh perspectives and diversify workforce practices.

For businesses looking to make a positive social impact while tapping into an underutilised talent pool, Match My Project’s Pathways to Work is the ideal solution. Post your employment opportunities on the platform today – here’s how.

For VCSE’s looking to access quality opportunities for local people, look no further than Match My Project. Watch this video on how to navigate Pathways to Work as a community organisation.

To learn more about Pathways to Work watch this video in which our CEO Dan explains the value of the new feature.

By partnering with Match My Project, your organisation can join the movement towards building a more inclusive workforce and equitable society for all.

For far too long, the job market has been dominated by outdated hiring practices prioritising certain demographics and overlooking qualified individuals from underrepresented communities. 

Conventional hiring criteria tend to favour candidates with traditional educational and professional backgrounds, excluding those with non-linear career paths. Unconscious biases in the recruitment process have also limited the opportunities available to people of colour, women, and other marginalised groups. And the heavy reliance on narrow networks and referral-based hiring has created a lack of diversity within many organisations.

The result is a workforce that fails to reflect the rich diversity of our communities – a missed opportunity for businesses to access quality talent and fuel innovation.

This is where Match My Project’s new Pathways to Work feature comes in. By serving as a bridge between businesses and community-based organisations, Pathways to Work provides a gateway to connect companies with talented professionals from local talent pools.

Pathways to Work: Technology as a Bridge Between Communities

Through community-driven referrals, Pathways to Work aims to promote accessibility and economic resilience in previously overlooked communities. This represents a true win-win scenario – businesses gain access to a broader range of qualified candidates, while community members are empowered with new opportunities to become part of the workforce.

“Pathways to Work is about using technology as a bridge, not a barrier, to fostering human connections and uplifting communities,” explains Zahra, the Delivery Manager at Match My Project. “We know it’s those human connections that really make the difference and move us forward.”

By tapping into the rich diversity of local talent, businesses can gain a significant competitive edge. They’ll be able to build more innovative, well-rounded teams that reflect the customers and communities they serve. And in the process, they’ll be investing in the long-term resilience of those very communities.

It’s time to rethink traditional hiring practices and embrace the power of diverse talent. With Pathways to Work, Match My Project is making it easier than ever for businesses to access untapped pools of quality candidates – and boost their success in the process.

Pathways to Work is only the beginning.

We have lots of new features set to launch in the coming months. Watch this insightful conversation with our Product Lead, Ruth, on what you can expect from the Match My Project Team.

In an era where businesses are increasingly held accountable to contribute to societal progress, opportunity creation is a powerful strategy for driving inclusive growth and Social Value. Our new jobs and training feature is here, and it’s making opportunities more accessible for local communities and businesses alike.

Businesses today are expected to do more than just make a profit. They need to operate in a way that benefits society as a whole. 

The UK is one of the world’s most regionally unequal advanced economies. Wealth and opportunity are disproportionately concentrated in specific areas, posing a significant challenge to the nation’s economic potential and social cohesion.

For purpose-driven businesses committed to Social Value and community empowerment, tackling these regional imbalances presents a compelling opportunity to align corporate objectives with societal needs. By strategically investing in underserved regions and fostering local talent, companies can fulfil their ethical obligations and gain a competitive advantage through access to untapped talent pools, enhanced brand reputation, and stronger community relationships.

Regional Inequality

A study by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) found that average personal wealth in the North East is around one-third of the average level of wealth in the South East. Drastic imbalances in wealth, power and opportunity attest to the fact that our economy and democracy are not yet designed to help all places thrive. 

Beyond statistics, these gaps and inequalities are taking a real toll, resulting in shorter, sicker, less fulfilling lives.

We need to work towards a future where all regions stand equally and offer opportunities for all to thrive within a healthy, prosperous, and equal country.

The IPPR’s 2024 State of the North report stresses the creation of good-quality jobs as imperative for restoring balance. The report says: “Rebalancing opportunity means creating not only jobs, but good quality, fulfilling jobs across the country.”

Businesses have an opportunity to be part of the solution. Through a commitment to Social Value delivery, companies can drive opportunity creation and empowerment for local communities in marginalised regions.

Sounds good … but what does this look like on a practical level?

Five principles for businesses to drive multi-stakeholder partnerships built on trust, cooperation and a shared goal of inclusive growth

  1. Create direct pathways to employment. Partner with the local community to provide work experience, apprenticeships and mentoring schemes for students, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds. 
  1. Collaborate with community organisations, charities and social enterprises to offer skills training, adult education and employment support services tailored to the needs of the local area—co-develop programs to maximise impact.
  1. Work with local government agencies to design policies and initiatives that drive inclusive economic growth, such as small business incubators in underserved neighbourhoods or infrastructure development to attract investment.
  1. Sponsor community projects and events that support entrepreneurship, creativity, and cultural development. This stimulates innovation and job creation.
  1. Encourage employee volunteer programs where workers share their expertise with vulnerable groups, helping build skills and confidence.

Creating work and training opportunities in less advantaged regions is not just an act of altruism; it is a strategic investment in the future. By tapping into local talent pools and providing skills training, we can unlock untapped potential and empower individuals to become active participants in the economy. This, in turn, stimulates local economies, generates tax revenue, and reduces dependency on welfare systems.

Rebalancing Power, Wealth and Opportunity

Investing in the local workforce contributes to a more cohesive, prosperous nation.  

At its core, addressing regional inequalities through opportunity creation is about rebalancing power and wealth across the UK. By decentralising economic activity and spreading prosperity to underserved regions, businesses can help break the cycles of deprivation. This not only enhances social mobility but also strengthens the overall resilience of the economy by reducing its reliance on a few dominant regions.

One way to achieve this is to place Social Value at the heart of corporate strategy. 

At Match My Project, we are determined to help businesses create employment and training opportunities that are responsible, empowering, and prosperous for themselves and the community. That is why we’ve developed our new Pathways to Work feature that allows businesses to find top talent while making a real difference for local jobseekers and organisations.

But that’s not all.

We have loads of exciting new features launching on our platform in the upcoming months. Watch this exclusive new conversation with our Product Lead, Ruth, to find out about what you can expect, and to learn more about what motivates the people behind Match My Project. 

A Behind-the-Scenes Conversation: Our Exciting New Features

Unveiling our new “Pathways to Work” features – creating employment opportunities with local communities

At Match My Project, we’ve always believed in the power of connecting businesses with local communities to create positive social change. Today, we are thrilled to introduce our latest endeavour – “Pathways to Work“… groundbreaking features that redefine how businesses contribute to Social Value while empowering local talent.

More Social Value means more opportunity

Our customers in the public sector, particularly at the local level, are focused on creating apprenticeships and work placements.

These organisations, councils and housing associations – for example, are using Social Value to ask their suppliers to create new apprenticeships and work opportunities for local people.

But it’s not always easy creating these local opportunities. The data shows that only 1.5% of the UK’s 4.4 million employers are taking on apprentices. This number needs to change if our economic prospects are to change.

Finding local people to fill your apprenticeships and work placements can be a struggle

MatchMyProject is an award-winning platform that matches suppliers and businesses with good local community projects.

The platform was recognised by the Chartered Institute for Procurement and Supply (CIPS) as last year’s Best Initiative to Deliver Social Value through Procurement (for our work with Birmingham City Council).

The platform is a source of local community organisations – plugged into local networks, across local politics, and aware of local problems. MatchMyProject gives access to these organisations to suppliers and businesses looking for opportunities to deliver Social Value in their localities.

We are now introducing features which enable you to advertise apprenticeships and work placements that can be easily matched with local people.

You will be able to upload opportunities and receive candidate referrals from local community partners and, for the first time, self-referrals from individuals.

Posting your opportunity will be a quick process, with almost exclusively multiple choice questions, which has the added benefit of making opportunities easy to filter and sort for those accessing them.

And you’ll be able to manage all of this in one place.

JOIN US FOR THE LAUNCH EVENT!
To celebrate the launch of “Pathways to Work,” we invite you to join us for a special event on March 6th. Network with like-minded businesses, hear success stories, and witness the impact this feature can have on both businesses and communities. Sign up here!