United We Achieve is launched
Oxford United are pleased to announce they have partnered with Oxford City Council’s Youth Ambition Team to get more young people from Oxford City into employment, education and training.
The project called ‘United We Achieve’ is a unique and ambitious project that will see Oxford United run 18 employability workshops for unemployed people aged 15 to 21 years old through the course of the season.
Oxford United have identified there are over 700 people aged 15-21 years of age in Oxford City not in employment, education or training.
The project will be linked to the recently launched ‘United in Business’ which will see local Oxfordshire businesses such as New Driveway Company, Clark Howes and Jennings work closely with the project to form routes towards employability for the young people.
The employability workshops will run over the course of the season and involve work experience training such as CV writing, interview preparation and job application guidance. The young people will also get the chance to be involved in the day to day running of the club including website stories and interviewing players aimed at enhancing their CV’s.
Community Development Manager Rob Lees and Marketing Manager Gerald Kelly were involved in setting up the project, along with a number of Oxford United players including Michael Raynes.
Marketing Manager Gerald Kelly praised the players for their involvement. He said
“We are very proud of the ‘United We Achieve’ project and it is a project everyone at the club feels really passionate about. The game of football, our club and players as role models give us the tools you really need to get into disenfranchised communities and achieve some really strong outcomes for young people. We are lucky at Oxford United to have a group of players who want to be involved in projects like this. Michael Raynes is a project ambassador, and a key example of a player who understands the role he can play in helping inspire positive change.”
The project will see Oxford United work closely with Oxford City Council’s Youth Ambition Programme, a partnership Councillor Pat Kennedy is thrilled to see develop. Councillor Kennedy, Board Member for Educational Attainment and Youth Ambition, said:
“Supporting young people into work or training is a key aim for the Council.
"We are hugely excited about working with Oxford United in such an innovative partnership and look forward to helping young people across the city reach their full potential."