Expanding Employment Horizons for Young People in Care : An evaluation of York Cares' Bright Futures Project

The Bright Futures Project aims to support care-experienced young people across York to increase and improve their employment related skills, knowledge and opportunities. The project brings together York Cares (an employee volunteering charity), The City of York Council and leading local employers to deliver work experience and skills opportunities. The project offers a menu of options for young people. A small independent evaluation was carried out by researchers from the Department of Social Policy and Social Work at the University of York. Data was gathered from young people participating in the Bright Futures Project (n= 33) as well as from foster carers (n=5) and Employers (n=8) via evaluation interviews and surveys and a review of anonymised Bright Futures data. In addition, interviews and surveys were completed by staff from City of York Children’s Rights and Advocacy Service and the York Cares team (n= 5). In all, 51 stakeholders contributed data to the evaluation.