By Anne Bailey | CEO
I'm writing this on the first day of 2021 and my thoughts are less about looking back and more about moving forward. But it's worth reflecting on 2020 which was a challenging year for so many. Our work has always involved working directly in schools or bring school students into businesses so when the pandemic led to lockdowns we needed to completely rethink our delivery model. Fortunately, we're big fans of technology and were quick to adapt. And while elements of what we do are lost - 3000 work experience placements were cancelled - there are gains, too, as digital delivery transcends time and space allowing us to reach new beneficiaries.
Highlights from the last quarter of 2021 include our Annual Conference, with distinguished educators, Professor Anna Vignoles and Oli de Botton, informing and inspiring more than 150 delegates from business, education and the civic sectors. We were also joined by business leaders, Jane Paterson-Todd, Alex Hughes and Naily Makangu, and local and national politicians, Cllr Neil Gough and Anthony Browne MP. Events like this remind us that our work is only possible with the full support of our community.
We occupy a unique place at the intersection between learners / future employees and businesses with job opportunities and a need for skilled labour and we enter 2021 knowing that our work has never been more needed. Young people and those furthest from the labour market have been hit hardest by the economic downturn. We need to redouble our efforts to protect a generation from long-term economic scarring.
The good news is that Form the Future has survived this far. We've added staff and developed new tools, built new partnerships and we believe we're in a strong position to provide exactly what's needed right now.
But like every non-profit, we must continue to raise funds to deliver our services. Your support means so much to us. Thanks for all you've given in the past. Please consider us for your donations in 2021.
Best wishes for a healthy and happier 2021.
Anne Bailey
CEO, Form the Future CIC
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
