LOCAL charity, Young Melksham, is this year launching a new mentoring programme for young people.
The ‘4Youth Mentoring’ project will provide mentoring from trained volunteers from the local business and domestic community to help aid young people with the transition from their senior years of school, into employment.
The project received the backing of the Melksham Area Board at their meeting last month – £4,950 was awarded towards the cost of the project.
At the meeting, chair of the board of trustees at Young Melksham, Jon Hubbard – who also sits on the area board as a Wiltshire Councillor and abstained from the vote to award the grant – said that he was “really excited” by the project.
Cllr Hubbard said, “There is growing evidence of young people that with some help, support and encouragement could really increase their aspirations of what they think they are capable of achieving, and are able to achieve.”
Cllr Hubbard explained that the project will employ two people to support it – one person will be tasked with approaching local businesses to discuss how “middle and senior management” could volunteer their time to be trained as mentors.
A second person – a pastoral worker – will run drop-in sessions at the Canberra Centre for young people, offering support “particularly around alcohol and drug abuse” issues.
The service will extend the level of support currently offered by Young Melksham and will “bring it close” to the level of support that was being offered when the Canberra Centre was run by Wiltshire Council.
