My Talent Match London: Jace Joseph
01 August 2014
Friday 1 August 2014
Jace, 23, speaks about his experiences as a youth board member on London Youth’s Talent Match London Youth Board.
I am Jace Joseph and I’m 23 years old from the London Borough of Hackney. I am a very enthusiastic person who is not afraid of a challenge. I also love working with young people and socialising. I am a mechanically minded individual and love getting my hands dirty as I am a bit of an enthusiast for cars and bikes. I enjoy working on my own car which is a Toyota Starlet GT, especially when I have to prepare it for the Milton Keynes Santa Pod Events. My other passion is for bikes and one day I will like to start my own business in mobile bike repair.
Before joining the Talent Match London Youth Board, I was doing peer facilitation with Immediate Theatre where I was doing a Gold Arts Award in drama. My role included running drama workshops for young people aged 7-11 and 12-18 year olds in an after school drama programme. I really enjoyed doing this as I like helping young people to express themselves through drama.
I got involved with London Youth’s programme, Talent Match London, because I liked the youth-led aspect of it. I also think youth employability is important and the Talent Match London Youth Board members get paid which I think is very exciting and encouraging for young people like me.
As part of the Youth Board I was involved in a residential for the programme’s core partnership which was at Hindleap Warren, one of London Youth’s outdoor education centres. This was a great opportunity as I got to meet all the partners delivering under the Talent Match programme in London.
Jace, Talent Match London Youth Board member with Zoe Eccles from Community Links, showing how Talent Match London acts as a guide for young people who sometimes feel lost during their journey towards employment.
I also attended the “Test and Learn Event” where the delivery partners and young people received updates, detailing where all the partners are in delivering this employability programme. This was very useful as we understood how each partner delivers the programme locally and how we can all work together to improve the provision of the programme.
Another event that I attended with London Youth is the Parliamentary Reception which was hosted by Meg Hillier, MP for Hackney South. I was very excited to give a speech at this event, and I also got really good feedback from members of staff and MPs who attended. At the event I spoke about the Five Pillars which Talent Match London focuses its offer on – all designed and developed by young people.
The Five Pillars are:
- Targeted outreach: which means looking for new ways to engage young people and get young people who are furthest away from the job market onto the programme
- Personalised support: the ‘youth work’ approach to employment which entails giving young people ongoing 1:1 support, focusing on the needs and wants of the individual and ensuring support is consistent
- Transferable skills: building confidence, motivation and commitment in the young person
- Job ready skills: identifying where young people might have training needs
- Employer engagement: opening more opportunities for young people and also guiding them into a career (and not just a job)
Meg Hillier MP with Jace and other youth board members across the Talent Match London.
Through my journey so far with London Youth, I’ve learnt that the Talent Match London programme is an exciting employability programme, designed by young people for young people, which is a very important aspect of this programme for me. I’ve learnt that having young people involved and engaging young people at every level is brilliant; and also having a ‘test and learn’ approach will definitely drive this programme forwards over the next five years. And for me personally, I think my learning and experience so far on this programme, and what I know is yet to come, will also open many doors for me.
