Express & Star

Mission to transform way young people get jobs

The Vine Trust chief executive wants to transform the way jobs are created – and the way young adults get those jobs.

Published

He is a lynchpin of the Express & Star's Ladder for the Black Country apprenticeship campaign.

"We are not trying to do something which is just a sticking plaster," the 40-year-old said. "We are trying to achieve something that has a wider impact across the community, engaging public sector, private sector and the community to see what we can do together so that it is a win-win situation for everyone, with young people being the catalyst for this."

Mr Davis, who grew up in Palfrey and is a former Blue Coat School pupil, wants to see greater collaboration between employers, the communities where they are based, and young people.

The Vine Trust has been at the forefront of trying to create new work and skill opportunities for young people for 25 years. The trust was formed in 1989, by a collection of churches in Walsall.

The aim was support the youth of the town who had 'fallen through the cracks in the system'– young people who, the trust says, were largely viewed as a burden.

The project began with the purchase of the notorious Vine Inn pub on the fringe of Walsall town centre. It had stood derelict following a history of drugs and prostitution.

Based on Jamie Oliver's Fifteen in London, the pub was transformed to Vines restaurant with the young people staffing the restaurant.

By helping run the venture they learnt new skills and the experience acted as a springboard to new opportunities.

The success of the enterprise has seen the trust open a second restaurant in Stourbridge.

The trust has also formed a partnership with Swedish homestore IKEA, promoting a project known as 390, so named as IKEA uses the internal code '390' to refer to written-off stock that is recoverable. "This, in many ways, identifies with our students who have been written off by society, but they too are recoverable," said Mr Davis.

The students go on apprenticeships with the store in Wednesbury, with many then going on to secure permanent jobs with the store.

Across the road from the Walsall restaurant in Lower Lane Hall is the pioneering Walsall Studio School – forming part of the Walsall Social Enterprise Zone championed by the Vine Trust. Set up by the Vine Trust's education arm it is the school where every pupil goes on work experience and does an eight-hour day. The first 100 pupils started last year and eventually the school, located in the £3m Goldmine building, will cater for 300 pupils, offering GCSEs, A-Levels and BTEC courses for 14 to 19-year-olds.

The aim is to close the skills gap that businesses find when school leavers are looking for jobs.

A survey of 1,300 chief executives by PriceWaterhouseCoopers found two thirds of bosses were concerned about the lack of key skills.

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.