David was homeless, unemployed and without a clear direction in his life when he first attended Spear, the Resurgo Trust personal development and youth employment preparation programme. He not only went on to successfully complete the programme, but right afterwards, he secured a rewarding job that offered him a real future in his life.
In David's words:
At 11
years old alcohol problems in my family caused my brother and I to
be put into government care. At age 12 we were placed with a foster
home, at which point life improved as we experienced a stable
family environment. My schooling saw a definite improvement and I
realised how different life could be with stability, love and
support. For the first time in my life, I went on a holiday.
I left school at 16 with 2 GCSE C Grades in Maths and Science and
took a cleaning job while studying for an NVQ Level II certificate
in IT. Despite passing the qualification, I had no clue which way
to take my career, I didn't have one! There was very little good
career advice around. I was told to just take any job without
concentrating on any particular field, which I proceeded to
do.
Over time, I took on a couple of sales positions but ultimately
found them unrewarding; I experienced no job satisfaction at all. I
attempted going back to college to study Business but found that I
couldn't afford the high rent in the hostel I was living in if I
wasn't working, so soon dropped out and was doing anything I could
to keep up rental payments and avoid losing my accommodation. This
backfired on me as I was made homeless soon afterwards.
It was a few months later that I was in the Job Centre applying for a Crisis Loan when I had the chance to meet Jo from the Spear programme. Jo explained the course to me and it sounded like just what I needed - help in getting career direction and forging a relevant future for myself, rather than jumping from one job to the next without any goals or targets.
Spear, with its unique teaching methods, helped me to realise my
skills and the potential I have to find a fulfilling career in my
chosen field. I loved studying for my qualification and scored 93%
in my exam, which was really exciting.
At the end of the Spear programme, I was offered a unique
opportunity to undertake a three-month training contract with the
communications consultancy company MEC Global. It was the
opportunity of a lifetime and I threw myself into it. It was a
tricky start. In my first week there my mother passed away from
serious alcohol abuse, but the company was kind enough to give me a
week off before I returned to complete my placement.
On my birthday - the day before my placement was due to finish -
MEC offered me the position of Accounts Executive within the
sponsorship department, working on increasing client's brand
profile via activities related to sport, media, music, and the
arts. I found myself constantly learning whilst at MEC. The
day-to-day work was never the same and I relished the diversity of
the workload and the flexibility of my role.
Read more about our work with Resurgo Trust - Spear and other lives being turned around by our charities and social enterprises.
Impetus is the best investor of funds in the not-for-profit sector, by a mile. Of that, there is absolutely no question.
Chris Mathias
Founder of Arbor Ventures and Impetus donor