Sutton radio station tackles youth unemployment

Takeover Radio is a community radio station that launched in 2009, and is currently based in Sutton Community Academy.

Volunteers at the station work with young people, aged 8-17, to give them free training in radio broadcasting.

The work experience project, funded by the Coalfield Regeneration Trust is called Life Skills, and focuses on young adults aged 18 – 25 who are struggling to find work.

Project leader Adrian Rayworth said: “We are inviting up to 20 participants over the next few months to join us at the station once a week for around two hours per session, for two to four sessions.

"After this time participants can stay on with us as long as they feel they need support.”

By learning skills needed to produce radio broadcasts, Adrian has found himself more employable.

He says he wants the project to boost young peoples self-confidence.

"It's sad to see a lot of young people with no self -confidence." he said.

"Working on radio does increase confidence massively, and people build a level of friendhip."

Project participants will cover local news events from the Ashfield area, which will give them the opportunity to go out into their community, work in a team and develop a range of transferrable skills used in a professional workplace.

They will have the chance to sharpen their skills in research and planning, working in a team, writing and editing.

The 12 week course has been designed to tackle the growing issue of youth unemployment.

Nottinghamshire County Council's employment bulletin stated that the unemployment rate for 18‐24 year olds was 10.4 percent in the three months to January 2019.

This means there were 409,000 unemployed young people aged from 18 to 24 in the quarter to January 2019.

A Takeover Radio spokesman said: " With a general lack of qualifications prevalent in the Ashfield district of Nottinghamshire local young people need engaging activities to help them build confidence, divert them from anti-social behaviour, and to help develop their employability.

"Takeover Radio offer free media training services which directly address this ongoing need."

All participants will benefit from receiving free training as part of a valuable work experience opportunity providing them a huge boost in confidence and self-esteem, improve their people

skills, not to mention their participation in a ‘unique’ voluntary work experience being an interesting talking point at their future job interviews and networking opportunities.

If you are interested, email your CV to [email protected] – You’ll then be invited to the radio station for a short interview to discover how Takeover Radio can best help

you.