One of Berkeley Foundation’s Strategic Partners is Lord’s Taverners. We fund their disability cricket programme Super 1s, which gives young people the chance to play regular, competitive cricket. Alongside the cricket skills they learn, the young people also gain key life skills, including communication, leadership and teamwork, as well as making friendships on and off the pitch.
In November 2022, four participants from the Berkeley Foundation-funded Super 1s hub in Surrey took part in an employability workshop hosted by volunteers from the Berkeley St Edward team, based at Chelsea Bridge Wharf.
The packed agenda included an introduction to the Berkeley Group and its business model, an interactive session on how to approach and deliver profitable planning applications and an office tour as well!
This was the first time Lord’s Taverners and Berkeley have run an employability workshop together. The session highlighted how important it is for businesses to showcase the workplace to people living with a disability. Disabled people are almost twice as likely to be unemployed as non-disabled people, which is why increasing skills around employability is a key strategic objective for the Lord’s Taverners in their new strategy.
At the Berkeley Foundation, we also want to ensure that all young people are able to develop the skills, attitudes and experiences they will need to succeed, and that many more young people are able to find jobs and careers they love. This is a key part of our 2030 Strategy and it’s why we are committed to providing young people with opportunities through our relationship with the Berkeley Group.
Many people who are living with a disability are told what they can’t do, rather what they can do. This workshop showed the young people what it’s like to work in a professional environment and that moving to employment and building their own pathway is a possibility.
“I’m so grateful for things like this today, it give me a little glimmer of hope that that he will find his feet and have his own life.”
Sarah, parent
“It's great to have a partnership with Berkeley where we're able to give the young people an opportunity to be in a work environment and for them to realise that just because they might struggle in one area, doesn't mean they can't excel somewhere else.”
Mark Bond, Disability Cricket Programme Manager
We hope this workshop will be the first of many that will help us to support more people facing barriers to work build the skills, attitudes and experiences they will need to succeed in the changing job market. We’re excited to deliver more workshops like this with the Lord’s Taverners.
For a snapshot of the session, watch this video. Thank you to everyone who made it possible!