ITV Shines a Light on The Rigby Foundation and Generation UK

We’re proud to celebrate an impressive milestone; one year into our partnership with Generation UK, over 100 young people from the West Midlands have been supported via specialised boot camps to get closer to securing their dream jobs and now, the story is reaching national audiences.

Last week, ITV News featured the journey of Deanna, a graduate of the programme who, after applying for over 1,200 jobs with no success, found her breakthrough through Generation UK’s Data Engineer bootcamp. With wrap-around support and industry mentoring, including an invaluable employability day delivered by SCC, Deanna is now thriving as a Junior Python Developer. A testament to what happens when potential meets opportunity.

Deanna said: “The course set up by Generation UK instilled hope that I would be able to get a job in the field I was passionate about and had trained for.

“Following a tough period faced with rejection after rejection and my mental health being negatively affected, the bootcamp and wrap-around support helped me to land my amazing role at my employer. I am excited to see where my career takes me.”

At The Rigby Foundation, we’re committed to tackling youth unemployment and social mobility head-on. Our £600,000 investment over three years is helping Generation UK deliver life-changing bootcamps in cloud and data engineering, green energy, and health and social care, right here in the West Midlands, where youth unemployment remains double the national average.

We believe that Deanna’s story is just the beginning.