Teen Action has been selected as a UK Youth and Osborne Clarke grantee.
We are set to receive multi-year funding from national charity UK Youth and international legal practice Osborne Clarke to improve digital skills and access for young people in the area.
UK Youth and Osborne Clarke have teamed up to tackle ‘digital poverty’, focussing on areas of the UK where young people are less likely to have the digital skills and resources they will need for the future. According to the European Union1, demand for digital skills is expected to increase more than any other area by 2030. Yet research in 20212 revealed that 42 percent of young people – equal to six million young people across the UK – don’t have access to either a suitable device or home broadband. Osborne Clarke and UK Youth will be investing in local grants over next few years to tackle these inequalities.
Teen Action supports young women from minority communities, many of whom do not have access to digital devices and/or training. With the grant we will be able to increase our digital training offer, expanding upon existing IT and computer graphics training programs, as well as improve internal digital systems to make our work more efficient and data-driven.
Bola Gibson, Head of Inclusion and Corporate Responsibility at Osborne Clarke, said: “Across the country millions of young people depend on charities for support, but increased demand combined with chronic underfunding means many are missing out on building essential skills. As a business, we ultimately benefit when young people are better prepared to enter the workforce. So we feel investing our resources in our local communities to help young people develop their digital skills, which will set them up for the future, is the right thing to do.”
Vicky Chenery, Head of Partnerships and Philanthropy at UK Youth, said: “We are delighted to have selected the 20 grantees that will benefit from Osborne Clarke’s grant funding. This multi-year funding will allow these organisations to make a long-term, sustainable improvement to their digital offering and access to technology for the young people that they serve, providing life-changing support to the young people that need it most at a critical time.”
Our thanks go to UK Youth and Osbourne Clark for championing and funding this important cause.
Notes
1 The changing nature of work and skills in the digital age, European Union
About UK Youth
UK Youth is a leading charity with a vision that all young people are equipped to thrive and empowered to contribute at every stage of their lives. With an open network of over 8000 youth organisations and nation partners, we are focused on unlocking youth work as the catalyst of change that is needed now more than ever.
UK Youth’s new 2025 strategy, “Unlocking Youth Work” outlines a bold ambition to impact young lives by unlocking youth work as a catalyst for change. We will work in partnership to build a cross-sector movement, creating a society that understands, champions, and delivers effective youth work for all. UK Youth is a multi-faceted organisation that operates at a national scale across the UK. We have influence as a sector supporting infrastructure body, a direct delivery partner and a campaigner for social change. ukyouth.org
About Osborne Clarke
Osborne Clarke is a future-focused international legal practice with 300 Partners and
1,000 talented lawyers across 26 global locations. We’re widely recognised for our award-winning culture, responsible business practices and commitment to diversity and inclusion. We help our clients successfully tackle the issues they’re facing today and prepare for tomorrow. We provide a three-dimensional approach, combining outstanding legal expertise, in-depth sector knowledge and transformational insight on the global drivers of change that are having the biggest impact on our clients’ businesses: decarbonisation, digitalisation and urban dynamics. osborneclarke.com
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