Project to train young people expands online and across Fife

The Co-operative (ad)Venture Project, run as a partnership between the Co-operative College and Enable Works, also encourages participants to tackle issues in their communities.

The latter is a distinct part of ENABLE Scotland, with over 65 years experience of supporting people with disabilities and campaigning to build a more equal society.

The charity first started delivering employment support to people with learning disabilities in the 1980s.

Every year it supports more than 1500 people with training and skills to help them secure further education or employment.

Liam Flinn, project coordinator said: “Because we are now working online, we have opened up the project to the whole of Fife – and not just Kirkcaldy as we have previously done.

"The last project we ran saw young folk create the Kirkcaldy Kitchen which helped tackle the issue of homelessness in town. With the ongoing pandemic we have had to think outside of the box and look at different ways to deliver it.

https://www.fifetoday.co.uk/news/crime/kirkcaldy-woman-assaulted-two-police-officers-3038351

https://www.fifetoday.co.uk/news/people/over-400-pupils-self-isolate-one-fife-secondary-school-3039213

https://www.fifetoday.co.uk/news/crime/fife-man-who-failed-provide-breath-test-fined-and-banned-3038307

"We look at issues in our communities, and the youngsters came up with the idea of tackling accessibility among veterans and people with disabilities.

"We plan to create a series of videos that are virtual tours of long walks and places of interest, such as John Knox’s Pulpit, Dunfermline Abbey and the Forth Bridges and then share them with people in the community who have accessibility issues."

The group chose the subject as some in the group have disabilities themselves.

"They understand the needs of someone with a disability,” Liam added.

“The youngsters will do all of the research before I go on to do the filming. I’ll then guide them on how to edit the footage and add audio – it will all be done remotely to limit any travelling that they have to do during the pandemic.

"A lot of these youngsters are lost and don’t know what step to take after they leave school. The project is all about breaking down barriers, building confidence and preparing them for the next step of further education, employment, or other employability programmes.”

For more information please visit: Co-operative (ad) Venture Project

Thank you for reading this article on our free-to-read website. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.