Jack Petchey Internship Programme
Supporting young talent and youth charities
Background to the programme
In 2018, the Jack Petchey Foundation launched a new paid internship programme (following on from a partnership with the Rank Foundation who have delivered a similar programme for many years). We offered grants to ten separate youth charities to enable them to fund a year-long internship placement. In 2019, we have doubled the size of the fund and we are offering year-long funded internships for 20 young people at 20 organisations based in London and Essex in the youth sector.
This programme is designed to give young people a flying start in the charitable sector. It aims to support dynamic young individuals in their first step towards being the sector’s future leaders. By giving charities the funding to recruit an intern, this programme gives organisations additional and valuable resource to help them achieve their mission offering expert support to their beneficiaries.
Youth charities across London and Essex apply for a grant to fund the recruitment of a new intern onto their team for a year placement. The Jack Petchey Foundation funds the salary costs and offers training bursaries for the interns, alongside a range of training and development opportunities for the interns and their managers.
Interested in our 2020/2021 internships? Keep an eye on this page, we shall update it as soon as we have the launch date.
In the meantime, want to know more? Click here to read first-hand accounts of our interns’ experiences in their different placements.
2019-20 Interns
Here you can find out about this year's interns and the organisations they work at.
Elysia – Half Moon
Half Moon is a specialist young people’s theatre based in Tower Hamlets for anyone aged 0-18 (up to 25 for disabled young people). They use drama as a tool for learning and engaging with young people through their extensive Creative Learning programme at the theatre, in local youth and community settings and schools. Elysia recently finished her BA English and Drama and is excited to take up her first full-time role in the charitable sector. Her role varies from assisting young people on their work experience placement to assisting with the management of ongoing and brand new projects.
Leah – Tender
Tender works to prevent domestic & sexual violence in the lives of young people using drama and the creative arts throughout London and the UK. Tender works to reach as many young people as possible by bringing projects to a range of settings including schools, youth centres, youth offending teams and hostels among others. Leah has taken on the position of Education Intern with Tender, assisting the education team on their work with primary, secondary, SEND and PRU settings in London. Leah is enjoying her work at Tender and looking forward to doing more within the role, especially as drama is her area of specialism.
Chris – Essex Youthbuild
Founded in 2005, Essex Youthbuild is a Chelmsford-based charity specialising in helping young people aged 14-19 from across Essex gain vocational qualifications and skills in construction and move on to the next positive step in their lives. Young people learn skills in bricklaying, carpentry and maintenance, gain qualifications in functional skills and get help applying for college, apprenticeships and jobs. Chris Pagan is a recent business graduate from nearby Anglia Ruskin University and has joined Essex Youthbuild as Project Management Assistant. Chris’ work involves helping research, design, seek funding for and implement new projects that will benefit Youthbuild’s young people.
Caitlin – Literacy Pirates
Literacy Pirates provide an after school, year-long programme to improve the reading, writing, confidence and perseverance of children who are falling behind at school and have less advantages; so they can achieve at school and beyond. Caitlin's role is multifaceted and spans across three departments; Education, Operations and Fundraising. This involves supporting the delivery of their daily Learning Programme, developing their social media and campaigns work, stewarding and motivating community fundraisers and assisting in the management of the office and building.
Adrian – Breaking Barriers
Breaking Barriers supports refugees in finding meaningful work, by offering bespoke and flexible employment support in direct partnership with corporate partners. Through a number of programmes, including English language support and vocational workshops, Breaking Barriers clients benefit from sector expertise and employee mentorship. Adrian joined Breaking Barriers as an Employer Engagement Officer, working with the Partnerships team to build sustainable and meaningful partnerships with the private sector. Having completed a BA in International Relations and after living in Latin America for a number of years, Adrian is determined to build-on his experiences to benefit those in need here in the UK.
Oshea – Masbro Youth Club
Masbro Youth Club is a part of the Urban Partnership Group, comprised of community programmes that support and provide opportunities for the local community in Hammersmith & Fulham. The Youth Programme is aimed at 11-19 year olds and provides an exciting, interesting and informative array of term-time and half-term projects and programmes based around its motto of ‘Achieve’ ‘Contribute’ and ‘Enjoy’. Oshea has made a seamless transition into his role from been a Junior Youth Worker at Masbro Youth Club for the last year. His work is centred around shadowing and supporting the Youth & Community Manager and Building Operations Manager, taking on tasks and project work while learning the intricacies of their roles in order to develop himself with the hope of a long-term role at Masbro Centre.
Matthew – The Winch
The Winch is a dynamic children and young person's charity in Swiss Cottage, Camden. Their vision is for North Camden to be a place where all young people thrive, regardless of circumstances. Matthew will be bringing great passion and energy to his role. He will take on some exciting and meaningful work. Over the next year, Matthew will be supported in growing opportunities for young people to shape the Winch's approach in how they work, and to lead in developing the Winch's social media and improve how they tell their story.
Eleanor – Jack Petchey Foundation
Eleanor joined the team in September 2019 after finishing her degree in Multimedia Journalism. She is assisting the Communications and PR Team and her key role is to support celebrations for our fantastic 21st birthday in 2020.
Tariro – Unitas, Barnet Youth Zone
Unitas, Barnet Youth Zone is a newly opened youth provision for young people ages 8-19 or up to 25 for those with special needs and disabilities - a place in which members have somewhere to go, something to do and someone to talk to. Their Comms and Marketing Intern, Tariro has recently graduated in Pharmaceutical and Chemical Science at Kingston University and this is her first role working within the charity sector.
Meg – Regenerate
Regenerate is a community charity serving young people and their families in Roehampton and other housing estates in SW London helping transform lives and communities from the inside out. Meg is a recent graduate who is passionate about social causes such as poverty alleviation and education. She is now learning all about research, fundraising and youth work at Regenerate, alongside looking after a wide range of operational and financial aspects of the charity.
Georgia – Immediate Theatre
Immediate Theatre is a grassroots organisation based in Hackney. They work with young people, older generations and long-term unemployed people in Hackney and East London to ensure access for all to arts activities that break down barriers and engage people in debate. Georgia is their new Marketing & Administration Intern, supporting the management team on administration and strategic planning. She is leading on developing and maintaining Immediate Theatre's presence on social media and in the community to ensure that they are engaging their target client groups.
Zak – ThinkForward
ThinkForward is a programme which works with hard to reach young people in Tower Hamlets and Islington in London, Nottingham, and Kent. They run the only programme of its kind that works with young people for five years, starting when they are 13, in Year 9. It also offers young people a range of opportunities to connect with the world of work and transition support from school to work. Zak is their Programme Communications Officer and he will work to grow young people's involvement in their programme and develop ThinkForward's social media channels for young people, to increase their engagement and participation with the programme.
Thabita – Media Trust
Media Trust works in partnership with the media and creative industry to give marginalised groups a stronger voice. They do this by promoting capacity building for charities and empowering young people from diverse backgrounds to work in the industry, all through skills based volunteering. Thabita was a participant on one of Media Trust’s youth programmes and is now the alumni coordinator! As part of her internship, she's looking forward to asking a lot of questions and building a community with Media Trust’s alumni members.
Sam – Richard House Children's Hospice
Richard House Children's Hospice based in East London, provides palliative care to children with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions across London. They provide a wide range of support, from residential clinical care, to music therapy, to end of life care with pre and post bereavement support for all the family. Joining Richard House as a Fundraising Assistant, Sam will be working closely with the wider fundraising team and taking ownership of various projects, spanning multiple fundraising streams.
Max – Construction Youth Trust
Construction Youth Trust is a charity whose mission is to inspire and support young people to achieve their full career potential in the construction and built environment sector. Social mobility is key and they prioritise supporting young people from low income backgrounds, most likely to miss out on opportunities. Max holds a BSc in Politics and Economics and has a particular interest in providing opportunities for young people and removing the barriers they face. Max’s role sees him deliver a variety of sessions and programmes to young people as well as building stakeholder relationships in the communities he works in.
Anna – Young Women's Trust
Young Women’s Trust is a feminist organisation working to achieve economic justice for young women. The charity supports and represents young women aged 18-30, opening up opportunities by smashing career stereotypes; building a society that values the unpaid work women do; and creating respectful, equal workplaces. Anna works in both the Participation and Services Team. Being a young mother herself she is finding her work with Young Women’s Trust meaningful and insightful.
Josephine – Diana Award
The Diana Award's mission is to foster, develop and inspire positive change in the lives of young people. Set up in memory of Diana, Princess of Wales they focus their efforts on young people and change. Josephine joins them from Oxford Brookes University, where she was Vice-President of Societies Development. She is passionate about working within the third sector, specifically in the area of youth development and is keen to develop her fundraising experience. The Partnerships Officer role will give her opportunities to focus on engaging new and existing partners and assisting the team on development of key pieces of partnership work that increases their effectiveness and engagement of partners.
Molly – British Youth Council (BYC)
The British Youth Council believes that young people are agents of change. They believe that young people should be heard when decisions are made that affect their lives. As the national youth council for the UK, the British Youth Council provides opportunities for young people to be heard. With training and support through numerous programmes, young people across the UK are elevated and their voices heard in meaningful ways. Whilst studying for her masters degree in Law and Social Justice at the University of Leeds Molly became interested in working in the third sector. She took on a part-time internship in community fundraising alongside her studies and this led to an interest in fundraising as a career and she applied for her current role of Fundraising Intern at the British Youth Council. She feels her role and the Jack Petchey internship programme are really enjoyable and hugely beneficial to both her professional and personal development.