We are delighted to announce that we have entered a three-year partnership with Dallaglio RugbyWorks to be the founding partner in the West Midlands of Lawrence Dallaglio's charity to support young people into sustained education, employment or training.
The launch of the programme in the West Midlands was held at the City of Birmingham School, the largest Alternative Provision school in the country with over 200 young people in Key Stage 4. Head Teacher Steve Howell hosted Lawrence Dallaglio, CEO Rachel Roxburgh and BNP Paribas Personal Finance CEO Stephen Hunt at a Dallaglio RugbyWorks session, which was typical of the sessions delivered in the seven schools across the region on a weekly basis.
Following this, Lawrence Dallaglio and the West Midlands Dallaglio RugbyWorks team visited the Solihull based head office of BNP Paribas Personal Finance to announce the launch to colleagues and guests from across the region.
Lawrence Dallaglio OBE, said:
‘I am extremely grateful to BNP Paribas for supporting our work in the West Midlands for the next three years. Young people on our Dallaglio RugbyWorks programme are three times more likely to pass Maths & English Level 2 and twice as likely to still be in education, employment or training 12 months after leaving school. I am looking forward to working in partnership with BNP Paribas in the West Midlands to extend this important work and help young people here achieve their full potential.’
BNP Paribas Personal Finance CEO Stephen Hunt, said: "For us, it's all about making a positive, local impact. As a prominent organisation in the region - the BNP Paribas Group has four businesses and employs more than 1,000 people - we saw the transformative role we could play in helping Dallaglio RugbyWorks launch its support and development network in the West Midlands. Over the next three years, we want to lead the charge to get other organisations on board to help Dallaglio RugbyWorks double the amount of young people it can help. Dallaglio RugbyWorks' unique approach gives teenagers a second chance in life, and we are honoured to be a part of it".
The demand for the work of Dallaglio RugbyWorks in the West Midlands has already proved incredibly strong. In the 2016/2017 year there were 6,385 permanent exclusions from state funded secondary schools. The West Midlands accounts for 915 (14.3%) of these exclusions and has the highest level of young people not in education, employment or training in the country.
BNP Paribas and Dallaglio RugbyWorks will work together to help get other organisations in the West Midlands on board to raise funds to expand the programme and create employability opportunities for the teenagers on the programme.
To get involved and support activity in the West Midlands visit https://www.dallagliorugbyworks.com/