Project Description

I-Aspire provides long-term 1-to-1 support to Lewisham, Greenwich and Bromley care leavers, who are NEET and have a history of disengagement with mainstream provision, to support then to gain and sustain ETE opportunities.

I-Aspire is a social impact bond delivered through a partnership between the 3 Boroughs and Depaul.

Depaul’s Progression Coaches and specialist ETE Advisor are co-located in local authority Leaving Care Teams and work together with Personal Advisors and Social Workers to engage with and support young people. This support comes in the form of the Progression Coaches co-ordinating and advocating for young people to help address any existing barriers to ETE, identifying opportunities and supporting them to access these, and helping young people to sustain ETE opportunities. The nature and intensity of this support is tailored to the needs of each individual young person.

Since its inception in late 2018, the first phase of the I-Aspire programme has focused on identifying a cohort of young people to take part, doing the initial work to engage with these young people and building relationships with children’s services teams and local ETE providers. Since September 2019, the I-Aspire team have been fully focused on delivering support to these young people with the aim of moving forward in ETE. I-Aspire has also linked with the Care Leaver’s Covenant team, to tailor opportunities to meet the needs of I-Aspire young people

Evaluation

DfE funded independent evaluation will be published in 2020.