A WEST Belfast woman is encouraging others to get involved in a youth empowerment programme after it helped her access her dream job.
Cori Conlon, from Ballymurphy first got involved with Youth Action NI as she lacked confidence and found it difficult to make friends.
Today, Cori is a fully qualified Technical Theatre Assistant and spoke about how Youth Action helped her on her journey to employment
“After graduation, I struggled to find a job as I had no paid work experience on my CV, mainly because of Covid," she said.
"Youth Action gave me the break I needed – through the paid work placement scheme which has led to me securing a full-time job in Technical Theatre – my dream job!
“My hope now is to support other young people like myself, especially young women the way I was supported by Youth Action – to have hope, aspirations, confidence and to gain the skills and experience so that they can also land their dream job.”
The Youth Empowered programme will support 2,000 young people from across the island of Ireland into employment or training.
Now in its sixth year, the programme, aimed at primarily at young women and marginalised young people, has reached over 5,500 young people across Ireland to date.
The partnership brings together business and the voluntary sector in support of the government’s ambitions to drive economic recovery and support young people in their journey to employment.
This year, there are six new grants available to Youth Action member groups to support young women’s learning needs through training, qualifications, employability skills to support their employment prospects.
For details on any of the initiatives supported by #YouthEmpowed visit the #YouthEmpowered Digital Hub here or contact Youth Action NI.