We’re excited to announce that we have been awarded a three-year funding partnership with the DHL UK Foundation. Three annual grants of £200,000 each will enable more than 200 young people to be trained on our award-winning Spear Programme.  

Spear works with young people facing barriers to employment, such as growing up in poverty, to help them get a job or into education or training. The programme is delivered through 18 centres around the UK and is one of the country’s best-evidenced employability programmes; 75% of those who finish Spear are in a job or education a year later.

Two new centres have recently launched and will be welcoming their first cohort of trainees this autumn – St Helens in Merseyside, and York. 

The grant – £200,000 a year, over three years – comes at a crucial time. Currently, 1 in 8 young people aged 16-24 are not in employment, education or training (NEET) in the UK. This figure has been growing since the end of 2021, when it was around 1 in 10. 

Our CEO, Iona Ledwidge, said: “The need for intervention to support young people who aren’t in work or education has never been greater.  

“They have enormous potential to thrive, but they can only do this with the right support. This grant enables us to offer that support to hundreds more, and to help them unlock their potential.” 

Caroline Courtois, CEO of the DHL UK Foundation, said: “We are incredibly excited about our new partnership with Resurgo. We share a strong belief in our partnership’s ability to help young people re-engage positively with employment, and we are committed to achieving and demonstrating meaningful impact together. 

“We look forward to supporting Resurgo in their growth, enabling them to reach more young people at a critical time when the number of those not in education, employment, or training is at levels not seen for a decade. This partnership is an opportunity for collaboration and mutual learning to create lasting change for underserved young people.”  

The grant will be used to help young people like Princess.  

Princess studied an animal management BTEC at college, but after finishing it she couldn’t find a job. The Jobcentre referred her to Spear, where she got coaching and support to apply for a job in healthcare.  

Princess has been working as a healthcare assistant in a London hospital since 2023 and is now applying to study for a degree in radiography.     

She said: “Spear is one of the best things to happen to me. My confidence is different – I’m a new person. Me in 2022 would never have imagined me doing this job.”