Entries open for Mitie London Revolution cycle ride to support apprenticeships and jobs in capital
Mitie, one of the UK’s largest employers, is backing a campaign to boost training and jobs for unemployed adults by taking on 12 apprentices and raising £50,000 for City Gateway.
City Gateway helps NEET young people and women in London, offering training, mentoring and opportunities for apprenticeships with leading companies.
Mitie is supporting the organisation by sponsoring the Mitie London Revolution cycle challenge – which will see up to 2,500 cyclists ride 180 miles around the capital over two days – and nominating City Gateway as its charity partner.
Over 350 Mitie people will take part, either as riders or volunteers, in the cycle ride which is being organised by Threshold Sports, led by double Olympic rowing champion James Cracknell.
The route takes in iconic landmarks such as Tower Bridge, sections of the London 2012 cycling road race course and scenic back roads.
Mitie’s partnership with City Gateway is part of its support for the Evening Standard’s Ladder for London campaign which helps unemployed young adults into work through paid apprenticeships.
Ruby McGregor-Smith CBE, chief executive of Mitie, said: “Providing people of all backgrounds opportunities to maximize their potential is one of our core values.
"It is very important that companies like Mitie, which employ so many, do what they can to help young unemployed people get the skills and opportunities they need.
“Mitie already has several long running apprentice schemes and we look forward to partnering closely with City Gateway to help young adults kick start their lives and secure employment.”
With one in four young Londoners currently unemployed, workplace opportunities provide a sustainable start for young people as well as help secure the future of companies like Mitie.
Eddie Stride, City Gateway CEO, said:
“City Gateway is delighted to be partnering with Mitie to create 12 life changing apprenticeship opportunities. We are also very grateful for Mitie’s financial support for the critical work we do supporting young people into employment and positive futures. Partnerships like this can start to make a real difference to youth unemployment in our city!”
Mitie is a FTSE 250 employer with over 70,000 people in the UK and Europe and recognises the value of health promotion in mitigating both the human and business cost of ill-health. The campaign will also provide resources and incentives for Mitie people to think more about their individual physical and mental health.
Led by double Olympic champion James Cracknell, Threshold Sports design and deliver challenging events that push participants to perform at their very best.
Its track record includes the Deloitte Ride Across Britain, now entering its 4th year, and the Sport Relief challenges: Walliams vs The Thames, and John Bishop’s Week of Hell.
James Cracknell said: “We’re delighted to have Mitie on-board as title sponsor and it’s great that they’ve chosen to support City Gateway.
“Community involvement is at the heart of the Ride and City Gateway will be a key part of the event, alongside other social enterprise organisations we will be working closely with, such as Bikeworks who will provide our mechanics.
“The Mitie London Revolution embodies the Threshold mantra, “More Is In You” and our aim is to encourage a wide audience – from elite cyclists to novices – to step up and take on the 180 mile challenge around the capital.”
Overnight places on the Mitie London Revolution are nearly sold out, but there are plenty of one and two day places still available to the public. To find out more and book your space on the startline visit: www.london-revolution.com
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For further information, contact:
Bell Pottinger
Rebecca Lloyd Wright
D: +44 (0)20 7861 2499
E: rlloydwright@bell-pottinger.co.uk
Juliet Chaplin
D: +44 (0)20 7861 2521
E: jchaplin@bell-pottinger.co.uk
Notes for editors
About Mitie
We’re the strategic outsourcing company. What does that mean in practice? We manage facilities, energy and properties for our clients across the UK and beyond.
We work with our clients in three ways; some take full advantage of our whole range of expertise, others may only need one aspect of what we do:
+ Strategy and consultancy
+ Facilities and energy management
+ Service delivery
Our strategic input can add value at the highest level by helping clients to manage their assets, while our practical management expertise can save customers money and reduce their carbon emissions. We work with a vast number of clients in every industry across both the public and private sectors and deliver the broadest range of services that can be found in one place: from integrated facilities management to engineering maintenance to lifecycle energy management and much more.
There’s a lot more to Mitie than you probably think. We’re a big company with big ambitions – a leading FTSE 250 support services business, with more than 70,000 people, revenues of £2.0bn, and a reputation for being the best.
About City Gateway
City Gateway was set up in 1999 by a group of city workers involved in local churches to bring hope to the local community of Tower Hamlets who hadn't benefited from the areas wider economic development. City Gateway helps the hardest to reach and most excluded NEET (not in education employment or training) young people and women overcome obstacles such as poor language levels, limited aspirations and low skill levels by connecting with, engaging and training them and providing them with the skills and opportunities to enter into work.
Over 90% of City Gateway apprentices successfully complete their apprenticeships, 14.4% above the national average in 2010-2011. City Gateway run a youth centre, youth training and employment projects, a women's project and children's and families work alongside a number of social enterprises to create work experience and employment opportunities for local people.
About Ladder for London
The Evening Standard and City Gateway’s Ladder for London campaign helps unemployed young adults into work through paid apprenticeships by appealing to companies large, medium and small to take on an apprentice and help get young London, aged 16-24 into work. To date over 200 companies have pledged 627 apprenticeship placements, with the first hundred starting in the first 100 days of the campaign.
www.standard.co.uk/staticpage/londonladder/
About Threshold Sports
Threshold Sports is a thriving sports marketing agency founded by three old friends: James Cracknell, Julian Mack and Charlie Beauchamp. Their first event was Deloitte Ride Across Britain which is entering its 4th year and is recognised as the gold standard in event delivery over the challenging John O’Groats to Land’s End route. They also act as the sports marketing agency for clients such as Science in Sport, BP, Nokia, Atos Origin, Standard Life and more.
For further information please contact:
Hugo Pettit, Marketing Executive, Threshold Sports
T: +44 (0)207 5577 820
E: hugo.pettit@thresholdsports.co.uk
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