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Mission EmployAble

We train young adults with learning disability to help them into paid employment and to lead fulfilled lives in their community

About Mission EmployAble


Tags: Disability support Youth development & mentoring Learning disabilities Health & Medical Neurodiversity Children & Education

Mission EmployAble (ME) is an educational charity established in 2018, based on the Hertfordshire / Buckinghamshire border in Chorleywood. ME’s aim is to bridge the gap between education and employment, reducing levels of unemployment among young adults with learning disabilities (LD). Information description.

ME offers supported internships to train young people between 19-25 with LD in practical ways to enable them to find paid employment after. A supported internship is a nationally recognised yearlong training scheme aimed at LD which combines work experience with classroom taught functional skills. (Maths, English, employability skills). There is a recognised shortage these placements with only 1600 placements across the country at last count. ME will offer 20-25 year on year once fully operational.

ME’s work experience and training facility is a 30-cover café and gift shop located inside a newly built Cricket pavilion on Chorleywood common. Trainees undertake 16 hours of on-the-job training per week in the café, and 4 hours of functional skills. All trainees will come from the local area, will have an Education Health and Care Plan and moderate LD such as Autism Spectrum Disorder, Down Syndrome, and Cerebral Palsy. Once trainees have completed the training ME will support them to find paid employment in their local area and continue to support both them and their employer to ensure a long-term placement. Finding the right employment for the individual trainees is crucial and partnership with local employers is vital.

Your Impact

We are in our second year of training now. We ran a pilot project last year whilst our cafe was being built. We had 6 interns. Four of those interns are in paid employment and two are doing further college courses - one to be an electrician. We have 10 interns on the programme this year and hope to have a minimum of 75% in long term paid employment within 6 months of finishing the course. All students have reported increased confidence and independence and we had 100% attendance and completion of the course last year.