Street Elite is our longest Strategic Partner. The programme is delivered by The Change Foundation, and works with young people who are impacted by crime, violence and inequality. Over 10 years we have given £1.38m to Street Elite, to work with young people across London and Birmingham.
Alex took part in Street Elite in 2015. This is his story.
I heard about Street Elite through a friend. He was one of the first ones to go through the programme and said it was a good way to get into a company like Berkeley.
I joined the training where we played football and interacted with others. It was a bit like a youth centre where the coaches would talk to us about our futures and what kind of job we might want to get into.
My coach could see that I really wanted a job in construction so I was given a two week placement working at Royal Arsenal in Woolwich. I shadowed site managers, looking at the externals and brickwork for the first week, then in the second week, I focused on the internals.
I was offered a permanent job and I’ve now been there for six years. I am an assistant site manager awaiting promotion to site manager.
I’ve matured a lot. I’m better at decision making. I had knowledge about the industry, I’d tried scaffolding and painting, but this role in site management is a plan for the longer term. I can see more of a career in it.
I’m still in touch with all my friends from the programme. A lot of them went into construction, one is training to be an electrician, one is a site manager.
The most important thing about the programme was that it opened a door for me.