New West End Company

New West End Company has now forged stronger links with the local community and is in regular contact with the residents associations which serve the hinterland to the north and south of our District.  The Community Forum, which meets three times a year, is made up of the chairmen of these associations, together with representatives from the police and the local faith community.  This is an important communication channel to enable discussion and comment on NWEC’s aims and plans.  One theme discussed at the inaugural meeting of the Forum was the need for business to engage with local schools and young people with a view to increasing their understanding of the labour market and help them fulfil their potential.  We have therefore put together a programme which we encourage all our members to participate in in whichever way is best suited to their current CRS and other agendas.  Below are some of the current initiatives but this list is flexible and we welcome any other ideas you may have.

Schools

• Provision of guest speakers for formal sessions or class workshops on subjects specified by the school.  A recent example is where a member of the Marks & Spencer team spent an hour with a business studies class explaining the workings of a public limited company. 
• Employability sessions to help students write CVs, work on their presentation skills and improve their interview techniques
• Working one to one with students on coaching and mentoring schemes.

Unemployed young people

• Provision of one to two week mentoring programmes for groups of up to ten 18-24 year olds.  This would cover work experience, help with presentations skills, CV writing etc.  A pilot programme with John Lewis was very successful enabling three of the eight attendees to gain employment with other local companies.
• Individual work experience/internships working on a one to one basis with a member of the store/hotel team.  The length of this would be tailored to suit the individual business.
• Behind the scenes tours for small groups to enable them to get an idea of the variety of different jobs available followed by a question and answer session.  This is proving successful with the involvement of local hotels.

Bespoke activities

We are happy to talk to individual businesses who want to get involved with local organisations perhaps on a one off basis.  An example of this was Selfridges recently providing Christmas decorations for the Portman Early Learning Centre, a nursery school in a underprivileged area to the north of Westminster.

For further information and to discuss how you can be involved with this programme please call Sally Humphreys, Head of Partnerships, on 020 7462 0683 or e-mail sally.humphreys@newwestend.com