On the evening of March 10th at the East Wintergarden, Canary Wharf, local charity City Gateway will host its annual showcase, this year being extra special as it marks a decade of work with disengaged young people and women in the borough of Tower Hamlets.

The event will be headlined by Andy Burnham, Secretary of State for Media, Culture & Sport, and a feature from Sir Ian McKellen, a local resident who has twice supported hip hop Shakespeare events at the charity’s youth club. Guests at the event will include local business leaders, community representatives, service users and a wide range of supporters of the charity.

City Gateway was founded by local businesspeople who wanted to use their skills, and the resources of the companies and colleagues, to raise skill levels and empower individuals in a borough which, despite theoretically having two jobs for every resident, regularly has the highest unemployment rate in the county. City Gateway now works with over 20 large firms including Barclays, Reebok Leisure, Denton Wilde Sapte LLP, Deutsche Bank, Allen & Overy, Finsbury PR and the Canary Wharf Group.

Corporate volunteers are involved across City Gateway’s work; from painting centres & football tournaments, to mentoring schemes and office tours. At the top end of the progression chain, apprenticeship schemes see formerly NEET (“not in education, employment or training”) young people taking NVQ Level 2 qualifications alongside ongoing work placements in some of the busiest offices in the world.

City Gateway looks to connect with local women & disadvantaged young people, and runs programmes which engage them, train them and provide them with the skills and opportunities they need to enter the workplace. It run a women's project, a youth centre, a youth training facility and a social enterprise hub - offering disadvantaged individuals everything from community events & drop-in youth clubs through to apprenticeship schemes and the chance to develop their own business ideas.

-ENDS-

Notes for Press:
Anyone interested in finding out more about the charity’s work or putting together a news article or feature piece based around some of the case studies we have worked with is invited to attend the event on March 10th. Please RSVP to Jerry Daykin:

jerry@citygateway.org.uk
www.citygateway.org.uk