Career Matters is a social enterprise which exists to improve access to career development opportunities for all. Their focus is on ‘lived experience’ communities including care experience and those with experience of criminal justice system- communities who face a cliff edge of care when they leave. 10,000 young people leave care every year and their progression into training and employment is extremely low. Only 17% gain 5 GCSES, only 2% go into apprenticeships. 27% of people in the criminal justice system are care experienced. A new, integrated solution is needed to meet their needs.
Thrive provides guided support for communities most removed from traditional pathways into education, employment and training. It connects communities with employers to support inclusive recruitment practices and improve vocational outcomes and career opportunities.
Thrive was co-designed and co-produced with people with lived experience of care and criminal justice to improve the confidence and motivation of individuals who face complex barriers to progression into learning and work.
Thrive Community 2022 aims to further develop the Thrive platform to broaden the hybrid approach with a range of delivery partners across the NHS, Local Authorities, secure settings and within the community to enable the scaling of support through an ecosystem approach. The aim is to evidence the effectiveness of this way of working and to embed Thrive in mainstream service provision of organisations working with the target learners.