Why we launched the Spear Programme in Brighton

Our vision

To transform the lives of up to 90 disadvantaged young people in Brighton per year giving them the support, skills and confidence they need to get into work (or re-enter education) and begin to build a future filled with hope.

Our Partnership with Resurgo Trust

Resurgo’s award-winning Spear programme launched in London in 2004 and is impacting the lives of hundreds of young people every year across eight London centres.

Working in Partnership with Resurgo and St Peter’s Brighton, we launched Spear Brighton in 2018, adopting the highly effective coaching model to help transform the lives of young people in our city.

Why do we need Spear in Brighton?

The need in Brighton is immense. Some parts of our city, in particularly Whitehawk and Moulsecoomb, rank amongst the poorest in our country, with the highest levels of child poverty and social housing.

Intergenerational poverty creates a cycle of unemployment and under achievement through lack of opportunities, support structures and self-belief (Source: UK Government Index of Multiple Deprivation.)

Employers report large gaps around soft skills, behaviours and general work readiness of young people in Brighton & Hove.

In fact, our city is in the top five reported areas in England with greatest skills’ gaps (Brighton & Hove City Council, 2016). Improving understanding of the working world, working attitudes and motivation appears equally as important as providing the required skills and educational achievements.

In a survey conducted by the UKCES it showed that employees in Brighton and Hove were much less prepared for work than elsewhere in the country.

It reported that 62% of 16 year olds going into work in Brighton and Hove were poorly or very poorly prepared v.s. the national average of 36%.