Welcome to our virtual gathering!

We are excited to invite you to this virtual gathering, the first in our second series of virtual community learning exchanges. We will hear from Inspiralba based in Kintyre and The Usual Place in Dumfries, who have a breadth of experience supporting young people and delivering employability and access routes.

This session is not a webinar, but will require active participation. All participants will be able to share and learn, and we will use interactive breakout rooms to drill down into the key learning points, ideas, and issues. The learning exchanges are sponsored by the Scottish Community Alliance.

Who are the speakers?

The Usual Place is an award winning employability social enterprise based in the heart of Dumfries. Their community cafe and experience staff provide training, SQA accredited education, and employability skills for young people with additional support needs. The Usual Place supports young people who were previously invisible, excluded, at risk of isolation, and unable to fulfil their potential as valuable, active citizens contributing positively to their local communities.

Inspiralba is a charitable social enterprise that provides business support to community based organisations across Argyll and Bute, as well as having a priority focus on involving young people in all levels of their organisation and work. We will hear firsthand from young staff at Inspiralba about how different access routes have enabled them to be supported to earn and learn, whilst remaining rooted in their local community.

What will I learn?

The Usual Place will showcase their work to challenge established stereotypes of young people with a learning disability, and share how their innovative training project helps young people gain confidence and transferable skills in a real work environment.

Inspiralba will share their experiences of running employability projects, and championing young people through offering various access and progression routes as an alternative to the traditional educate and train for export model.

This session will look at all aspects of involving young people in social enterprise - from a leadership and management level, involvement as a board member, employability and training programmes, research and graduate opportunities, and through work experience placements with young people in schools.

For small to large organisations, this learning exchange will offer a fresh perspective, and enable you to take away key learning to support you to develop opportunities to involve young people in your own activities.

Wider Background and Benefit to Rural Communities

Supporting young people into meaningful employment through different access routes is a vital component of supporting and sustaining our rural communities. This session is aimed at people who are interested in learning more about how they can support elements like work experience placements, employability programmes, graduate posts, research internships, and modern apprenticeships - within their organisation.

Rural depopulation is a major issue threatening the sustainability of our rural communities, and community and social enterprises are in a prime position to be able to help. By creating opportunities for young people locally, social enterprises can assist young people to remain in their local communities, or attract those from outwith the area.

This session will highlight the benefits to organisations of involving young people in social enterprise, and the new skills and perspectives that they can bring. Young people will also share some of the main challenges that our they have faced and what they've found hard, as well as the new skills, ideas, and experiences they've gained.