CXK Secures National Lottery Community Fund Investment for New Youth-Led Hastings Programme

Pathways for Progression is a 3-year youth-led programme designed to support at least 300 young people in Hastings aged 15–18 who face barriers to education, employment or training. The programme will work alongside young people, employers, schools and local partners to improve access to opportunities and help create clearer, more inclusive routes into work, training and learning.

The programme has been developed in response to findings from a youth-led research and systems-mapping project delivered by CXK from 2023 to 2024. The project engaged more than 450 young people across Hastings and identified a range of barriers affecting young people’s transitions into employment and training, including limited youth voice in decision-making, unclear pathways into work, inconsistent post-16 transition support, and barriers experienced by neurodivergent young people and those with SEND when accessing employment and training opportunities.

Pathways for Progression will build on this work by placing young people at the centre of decision-making through paid Youth Leader roles and Youth Working Groups, ensuring activities and solutions are shaped by lived experience. Over 3 years, young people will work alongside employers, schools and local partners to help shape more inclusive pathways into education, employment and training. Activities will include creating youth-led career maps that showcase opportunities in Hastings' key sectors, designing employability resources and workshops, developing opportunities for young people to engage directly with employers, and influencing local decision-making through representation on boards and forums.

The programme will also work with employers to promote more inclusive recruitment practices, including support for neurodivergent and SEND young people, while creating safe spaces where young people can build confidence, explore career options and help shape the services and opportunities available to them.

Pauline Smith, CEO at CXK, said: “Through our previous project, young people in Hastings told us clearly about the barriers they face when moving into education, employment and training - particularly around confidence, accessibility, representation and understanding the opportunities available to them.
Pathways for Progression has been developed directly in response to those experiences. By supporting young people to influence local decision-making, work alongside employers and schools, and help design practical solutions, we want to create pathways that are more inclusive, accessible and reflective of the aspirations of young people in Hastings.
We are delighted to have secured support from The National Lottery Community Fund to deliver this important work and to ensure young people’s voices play a central role in shaping local opportunities.”

The programme will launch later this year.