Students Celebrated at Empowerment Awards

People from Wrexham have gained qualifications aimed at further developing their employability skills by participating in specialist courses at Wrexham Glyndwr University.

Students have taken part in the Leadership and Management Awards and Wrexham Assembly Member, Lesley Griffiths had the honour of presenting the certificates to successful participants at the Wrexham Empowerment Awards ceremony, which took place at the University last Friday (18^th May).

The programme has been delivered in partnership between social enterprise, Empower – Be The Change and the Glyndwr Careers and Employability Service.  Participating students achieved a combination of the ILM-accredited Management of Volunteers Award and the Effective Team Members Award.  Through coaching and mentoring, the awards help the individual develop leadership skills that are relevant for education, employment and for positive growth in our communities.

The qualifications were delivered by Empower – Be The Change at the Wrexham campus and funded by ADOR Glyndwr, a Big Lottery project which supports students to gain appropriate skills, experience and confidence.

After presenting the certificates to students, Wrexham AM Lesley Griffiths said: “It’s clear the opportunities created by Wrexham Glyndwr and Empower – Be The Change are enabling students to learn valuable new skills and grow in confidence, ultimately helping them improve their employment prospects.”

“The partnership between Empower, the Glyndwr Careers and Employability Service and Big Lottery has proved to be successful and I would like to once again offer my congratulations to everyone involved.”

Head of Careers at Wrexham Glyndŵr University, Karen Lennox, said: “I’d like to thank Lucy Jones, our Work Experience Officer, and Jo Clay from Empower – Be The Change for all the work they did together in drawing up the programme that led to these awards, and Lesley for making time in her busy schedule to present the awards.

“I’d also like to congratulate all those who received an award. They are working to develop themselves and improve our wider community – something which is central to the work that our careers team, and our university, does.”

Social enterprise, Empower – Be The Change is moving from strength to strength.  Having recently secured funding from the Big Lottery, the enterprises’ founder, Jo Clay has outlined plans to recruit extra staff to expand delivery of its programmes.

Empower’s continued success has now seen Jo nominated for another honour – this time at the National Diversity Awards where the general public votes for their preferred winner.

People have until 1^st June to cast their votes for Jo and further details can be found on the National Diversity Awards website.

Lesley Griffiths AM added: “Jo’s venture has had a positive impact in Wrexham, helping many young people and adults grow in self-belief, gain qualifications and realise their potential.”

“I hope people can support Jo by casting their vote for her.”