You’ll see comments all over our lovely white-board wall from the launch of The Training Flat yesterday.  Over 40 guests joined us during the day to wish us well, learn more and discuss getting involved with this innovative project.  Next week we welcome eight young people for three days to develop their Tenancy & Independent Living Skills (TILS).  The launch is the end of the beginning and now we have to make a difference to young people’s lives that help them towards the future they want.  MustardTV came down today too.  You can see their short film of the launch here.

So today was spent getting The Training Flat spotless ready for tomorrow.  We’re welcoming over 50 guests from all sectors and corners of Norfolk.  We’ll be cutting the ribbon around midday and announcing that The Training Flat is open for business.  On a serious note, we now have to make this work.  It’s been a whirlwind getting everything ready.  We now have to reach young people from all walks of life to support and prepare them for adult life.  And someone has to pay for this potentially life-changing service.  We’re excited about the prospects and believe there’s no shortage of business.  We just have to reach it by being the best.  No pressure!

We really are nearly there.  In many ways it’s been more hard work than I realised and in other ways it’s just receding horizons.  As with most things I undertake I set myself a minimum goal, smashed it and then had to keep re-setting it.  For the launch of The Training Flat I had calmed myself with the prospect of achieving about 75% of what needed doing in time.  My justification for this low target was a good one.  When young people get their first flat, they too want everything looking fabulous immediately.  Every one of us that has moved house knows that this is not possible and best laid plans…  Some things can’t really be done until something else has been done first and sometimes it’s simply outside your control.  This has very much been the overwhelmingly positive experience with The Training Flat.  I can’t think of a more collegiate and collaborative experience that has brought so much positivity from so many well-meaning people.  If we undertake more of these in other towns and cities (and I very much hope we do), we’ve learnt a vast amount about what can be achieved, the time it really takes, the cost and power of asking for help.  Great lessons for our young people getting their first home.

We work with a broad spectrum of young people with dreams and aspirations like the rest of us.  Some want to earn a simple living, others have a specialist career in mind.  This autumn we want to work with a small group of sympathetic and like-minded employers to design short and supported work-tasters for our young people.  Many have never worked before and we want to be able to give them that opportunity in a real environment.  If you can help then we’d love to see you at our briefing on 11th October.  Get in touch for a chat.