Big Lottery launch Talent Match

The Big Lottery Fund is today (Tuesday) launching Talent Match, an ambitious £100 million investment aimed at tackling youth unemployment in areas of England hardest hit by the economic downturn.

The ACEVO Commission on Youth Unemployment has estimated that the issue will cost £10.7bn in lost output during 2012 alone.

With this in mind, The Big Lottery Fund, which distributes good causes money on behalf of the National Lottery, has been working with young people themselves to plan ways of helping thousands of others just like them to lead fulfilling lives through employment and training.

Their hard work and research has lead to Talent Match, an investment that will target 21 hotspots across England where those aged 18-24 are finding it hardest to secure jobs or training opportunities.

Talent Match will put charities at the heart of local partnerships established between local councils, charities, employers, and colleges to work up proposals on how they will best use lottery funding to help match the talents of young people in their hotspot with skills and opportunity of the future.

Nat Sloane, England Chair of the Big Lottery Fund, said: “The Big Lottery Fund has a long history of investing in young people but this is one of the most ambitious programmes we have undertaken.

“With the help of our young advisors, Talent Match can have a huge impact on the youth unemployment problem threatening to consign a generation of people to the career scrapheap when they have so much to offer.

“I am positive that Talent Match, and what we learn from it, will provide the evidence the country needs to help many more young people more effectively in the future.”

Jenna Young, 22, is from Knowsley near Liverpool and has been working as a member of BIG’s Young People Investment Team. She said: “I can’t wait to see Talent Match up and running and I’m proud to have been part of it. I’m looking forward to going on Twitter or Facebook and seeing all sorts of great stories about how people have found jobs or training opportunities thanks to a lottery scheme that young people have created.”

Further Information

• Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 020 7211 1888
• Out of hours media contact: 07867 500 572
• Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available on the website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
• Ask BIG a question here: https://ask.biglotteryfund.org.uk
• Follow BIG on Twitter: www.twitter.com/BigLotteryFund #BIGlf
• Find BIG on facebook: www.facebook.com/BigLotteryFund