Groundwork London’s Welcome to the Green Economy focused on three interlinking strands of work:
  • Window into the Green Economy: Engaging more than 1,800 young people across London secondary schools. Supporting them to deliver school environmental audits encompassing energy, water, waste, landscape. Extrapolating results of audits to show what it would take to tackle this work on a national scale – practically demonstrating the range and number of jobs available in green economy
  • Welcome to the Green Economy: Recruiting 166 young people onto training and work experience programmes offering them the skills and experience required to access vacancies in the green economy
  • Work for the Green Economy: Creating ring-fenced jobs and apprenticeships for 133 young people who were furthest from the labour market. Giving each of them at least six months paid employment and training to prepare for jobs and apprenticeships within the green economy
The team worked closely with schools to design workshops and lessons that were engaging and desirable. By linking its schools work to the STEM pedagogy (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), the team was able to access school pupils, because teachers and senior leaders were interested in STEM. Groundwork London held a teacher panel and consulted teachers before and during the workshop design. This co-production approach meant that resources were designed by schools, for schools, creating a bigger impact on young people.
Of the 166 young people from the Welcome to the Green Economy strand of the project, 45% progressed into employment
Of the 133 young people from the Work for the Green Economy strand of the project, 42% progressed into employment after their placement
One young person said
“Our Bright Future has raised my awareness of green jobs and to be able to see them first hand. It’s given me a better understanding of environmental issues from growing my own plants to Green Doctors who help people save energy.”
Towards the end of her placement this young person was very proactive in applying for jobs and was successful in securing a role at Groundwork London. She said:
“I really appreciate the support and determination to help me. I would not be as successful as I am today without the OBF programme.”
The project also:
  • diverted 626,533 kg of waste from landfill
  • saved 2,456 tonnes of CO2
  • improved or maintained more than 970,000 square metres of land in a range of public spaces, parks and housing estates
Andres completed a placement at Groundwork London, you can read the blog he wrote about his journey. You can also read about Keanu, Farhana and Emile’s experiences on the project. Want to learn more? Have a read of the project evaluation report here.