Giving Young People Skills to Rebound and Rise
Barclays launched a three year partnership with Good Shepherd Services to create the Rebound program
Worldwide, 73.3 million1 young people are unemployed, posing a significant threat to the economic vibrancy of our global society. Across the US, the 14%2 youth unemployment rate remains significantly higher than the 5%3 unemployment rate of the general population.
To help address this issue and ensure that the next generation is skilled to contribute to the workforce, in 2014 Barclays launched a three year partnership with Good Shepherd Services to create the Rebound program based in Brooklyn, New York.
Rebound uses basketball as the impetus to deliver financial literacy skills, employment workshops, one-on-one mentoring, and personal development plans to 17-24 year olds. The program operates in two hubs in East New York and Red Hook, communities where 1 in 4 young people are out of school or work.
To date, of the 125 young people who have participated in the Rebound program, 76% have received financial skills training, 88% have participated in life skills training, and 9 out of 10 have achieved employment or accessed education as a result.
On March 13, to honor the successes of Rebound participants, graduates were recognised on the floor of Barclays Center before a Brooklyn Nets game. The video above was played during the ceremony to provide Brooklyn Nets fans with an overview of the program and highlight its participants that evening.
The success of the Rebound participants and this program are vital to ensuring that we can all achieve our future ambitions in life and business. Visit our Citizenship section to learn about other employability programs we've implemented to address this issue and promote the growth of our global communities.
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1 International Labour Organization, Global Employment Trends for Youth 2015
2 World Bank 2011-2015; share of the labor force ages 15-24 without work but available for and seeking employment
3 US Bureau of Labor Statistics, March 2016
