“CJS provides a lifeline to those young people who are most in need of additional support"
New jobs will be created for young people as part of a £6.1 million funding package.
The Scottish Government reaffirmed its commitment to Community Jobs Scotland (CJS) with the funding pledge at the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations’ (SCVO) Gathering event at Glasgow’s SECC.
Managed by the SCVO, almost 9,000 people have been placed in jobs over the last seven years that CJS has been running.
It aims give to young people aged 16 to 29 years paid jobs in third sector organisations.
Fair work minister Jamie Hepburn said: “CJS provides a lifeline to those young people who are most in need of additional support into employment.
“Enabling them to make a contribution to our economy and society in turn provides them with the confidence to take control of their lives and shape their future.”
Attendees at the Gathering heard the difference CJS has made to the lives of young people.
Fiona Pirrie of East Ayrshire Carers Centre spoke about the challenges but also the great advantages young people have brought to her organisation.
Some people who have benefitted from CJS also spoke, including Ian Gallagher of West of Scotland Regional Equality Council, and Callum Hutchison, a navigator at Braveheart Industries, which works with Police Scotland’s Violence Reduction Unit to mentor young people from troubled backgrounds.
He spoke movingly about how finding work through CJS had turned his life around, having suffered from drink and drug problems. On one occasion, he said, he was stabbed nine times outside his own home.
Callum now works in mentoring young people with a similar troubled background.
He said: “CJS has seen numerous lives transformed.”
Anna Fowlie, chief executive of SCVO, said: “Our Community Jobs Scotland team do an amazing job. The support and experience that young people obtain through the jobs CJS creates is invaluable and helps build their confidence to go on to bigger and better things, while also benefitting their local communities. It’s a hugely successful initiative.”
