New funding worth £600,000 has been donated with the aim of supporting at least 300 young people into tech careers in the West Midlands.
The capital will be administered by charity Generation º£½ÇÊÓƵ after it was awarded a grant by The Rigby Foundation.
Youth unemployment is said to be double the national average in Walsall, Wolverhampton and Birmingham and the West Midlands has more than 130,000 people currently unemployed. Of that number, just under 21,000 are aged 16 to 24.
The foundation is the charitable arm of the West Midlands-based Rigby family which owns businesses such as Birmingham IT services provider SCC, a tech investment arm and real estate including Coventry Airport and several hotels.
Generation º£½ÇÊÓƵ is a Surrey-based charity that supports people across the country, working with the Department for Education on its Skills Bootcamp programme.
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The aim is to address persistent unemployment and unmet employer demand in key growth sectors like tech, particularly among people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
The charity delivers skills bootcamps in fields such as data engineering and analysis, cyber security, cloud engineering and IT support and also works with employers to place candidates into jobs.
In addition, SCC will support young people on the new programme by bringing staff in to volunteer at Generation º£½ÇÊÓƵ, provide equipment and host mentoring and skills events.
The donation by The Rigby Foundation, which was founded in 1992, will support the charity's work specifically in the West Midlands over the next three years.
Next year marks the 50th anniversary since Sir Peter Rigby founded the group with a £2,000 investment and the firm said it now wanted to put social mobility at the heart of its charitable work.
The award by The Rigby Foundation follows on swiftly from the announcement by West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker of which is aiming to create 20,000 learning and work opportunities in the region.
Steve Rigby, Sir Peter's son and chairman of The Rigby Foundation, said: "As a family with close personal and business connections to the West Midlands, we want to see more young people in our region gain the education and skills they need to secure life-changing, well-paid employment.
"We are a community-focused family and want to play our part in giving our home region's young people the opportunity to make a successful life for themselves.
"I am also urging other business leaders in the region to get behind the mayor's initiative, whether by offering training, work placements or apprenticeships.
"By all working together, we can achieve great things and bring about much-needed change.
"This is the first year of a three-year, long-term partnership with Generation º£½ÇÊÓƵ, equipping young people with skills that are in high demand from West Midlands-based businesses."
Generation º£½ÇÊÓƵ's chief executive Michael Houlihan said: "It is an honour to have The Rigby Foundation on board.
"We have been active in the West Midlands since 2020 but this funding means we can really grow in the region and will be able to help young adults secure well-paid and skilled professions where there is a real need such as in technology and the green retrofit sector."
