Grid for Good, now in its second year, has been delivering a positive impact to socio-economically disadvantaged young people. This flagship programme, led by National Grid, sees us working with (now) five of our supply-chain partners to provide training and employment opportunities for young people.
We continue to work closely with our charity partners to access a diverse range of talented young people who continue to support our ongoing goals to reach net zero. And we have now also joined up with our energy industry partners to help deliver the Grid for Good programme.
Grid for Good continues to support underserved young people, aged 16-25, who come from disadvantaged backgrounds. Our charity partners seek out the young people who can benefit from Grid for Good.
To date we’ve already helped over 3000 young people and have over 1000 National Grid employees registered as volunteers. But we want to do more. Our goals are to deliver:
In 2021, a year where the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated circumstances for many, programmes like Grid for Good have been more important than ever in helping young talent access and explore the energy sector. Discover some of the brilliant results we achieved in our first year, plus our plans for 2022.
Find out moreUnemployment and social exclusion amongst young people existed before the Covid-19 pandemic, but the economic downturn in the UK and US has seen youth unemployment double, pushing young people even further away from the job market. Many signs are indicating it will get far worse. Now more than ever we need to show support for our communities the US and the UK and Grid for Good is coordinating action to help give young people hope of meaningful employment.
Climate change is the biggest challenge facing our generation and it has led to a transformative era in the energy industry. This has opened up a wealth of opportunities for people of all backgrounds to play a part in helping us to find cleaner ways to power our lives. In the UK alone our industry needs to recruit for 400,000 jobs between now and 2050 and the situation is likely to be similar in the US. There’s never been a more exciting time to work in the energy industry and there’s never been a greater need to train up a more diverse pool of talented young people to help us innovate to reach net zero.
We also need to more directly address our need for a more diverse workplace with the talent to help us tackle the global net zero challenge.
We are actively seeking other businesses and charities to join up to become part of the Grid for Good programme. Find out more below.
Maryam fled from her home ending up as a refugee in the UK. She was living in the YMCA in Birmingham, searching for a job when a chance meeting with the Grid for Good team led to an opportunity at National Grid. Her hard work and enthusiasm meant that she was ultimately offered her dream job.
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