Industry in the midlands is playing its part in reaching out to help disadvantaged teenagers through a novel project in Athlone, Co Westmeath, which also has the backing of the Defence Forces.
Transition to Working Life (TWL) is a project pioneered in the UK to support young people from very disadvantaged backgrounds to find their own way into the working world.
The scheme is designed to help the young people make choices that will give them a better future and is specifically tailored for 15to 19-year-olds who may come from several generations of unemployment and who have significant levels of disadvantage.
The scheme in Athlone is led by a "working coach", someone who has been seconded from a local employer to work with a group of 8-10 young people for a half-day per week.
This workshop provides a structured period of time in which participants can use the experience of the working coach to explore workplaces and meet working people.
The participants explore a wide variety of job options with local employers, including Ericsson, Mallinkrodt Medical, the Department of Defence, Ethos Medical, MSL Ltd, the Prince of Wales Hotel, the Hodson Bay Hotel and Tesco.
When the young people visit the workplaces they can question local staff about the different kinds of work and how they do it and then participate in a workshop to discuss what they have seen and learnt.
One of the key lessons the participants will learn in the workplaces is that many of the people they come into contact with are from their own localities but have got on in life despite the many difficulties they experienced earlier on.
Word of mouth has proved to be the most effective means of attracting young people into the TWL scheme in Athlone.
Others heard about it through statutory agencies, training schemes or their schools where teachers are encouraged to refer young people in danger of dropping out or who have already done so or been expelled.
Many former participants in the scheme, run by Athlone Community Taskforce, are already convinced of the worth of the project, which started in 1997.
Of the 39 people who had completed TWL workshops by last July, 11 are now in full-time employment, 16 have continued further training to secure job-related skills and six have gone on to further education.