Spark Change Interim Report

Spark Change is a programme funded by the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) and five Local Authorities (funding matched the ESIF). It aims to provide tailored support for young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) to progress into employment or education. The programme is offered in London (Bexley, Brent, Harrow, Hackney, and Havering) for young people aged 16 to 24 that are NEET and young people aged 15 to 18 that are At Risk. Overall, this programme is dedicated to improving young people's wellbeing, education, and employment opportunities. To ensure young people receive tailored support, each young person will go through a Triage and Assessment process using Prospect’s Resilience Compass, Key Life areas, Risk Assessment, Specialist Assessments, and Identify Priorities assessment. This will identify suitable support with the three main types of support:

• Spark Change Me which focuses on mental health, self-esteem and volunteering opportunities through Cognitive Behavioural Mentoring (CBM) ;
• Spark Change Future focuses on accredited courses and qualifications, self-employment support, and employer engagement through 12-week supported internships.

This interim report presents preliminary results from the research evaluating the Spark Change programme (July 2022 to January 2023) and the impact of the two above mentioned routes. The evaluation is mixed methods, using both quantitative and qualitative data collection. The quantitative data presented in this report were gathered through an online questionnaire that captured the responses of the programme participant. In total, 38 questionnaires were collected, with 21 respondents participating to the 12-week supported internships, 16 participating in CBM, and one participating in both. The participants were asked to answer the questionnaire twice, for the first time at the beginning of their participation in the programme and for the second time in the end. Among the participants of the supported internship, 15 did the questionnaire for the first time and six for the second. Whilst, among the CBM participants, 14 did it for the first time and two for the second. One respondent participated in both programme and did the questionnaire just the first time. The qualitative data presented in this report consists of nine semi-structured interviews, five related to the 12 weeks supported internships route (one delivery partner and four programme participants) and four related to CBM (one delivery partner and three programme participants), focused on the needs of programme participants and the programme performance.