Through the Manchester’s Rising Stars Fund, we have awarded Skytani the funds needed to complete her college course in travel & tourism
Skytani is a teenager who is going through some big changes in her life, experiencing being a mother for the first time to a wonderful 11-month-old daughter, and moving in to her first home with her partner – all at the age of 19!
She is starting a new college course in travel & tourism, an industry that is no doubt going to explode again when we’re completely out of the struggles the pandemic has caused and is still causing. By the time Skytani finishes her course she’ll be ready to enter a career that she’ll have worked so hard for.
Skytani applied to the fund for £70 to purchase the uniform that her college course requires. As you can imagine, being on Universal Credit with a young family having just moved into a home means finances are tight. She applied for a bursary from college to purchase the uniform but unfortunately it was declined. This may seem like a very small amount of money, but it goes to show how many barriers to young people in Manchester are purely financial, and may have stopped or severely hindered them progressing in opportunities.
This application was supported by Manchester’s Leaving Care Service, who we’ve worked with multiple times since we first piloted the Rising Stars Fund, and we’re delighted again to have supported a Manchester Care Leaver when these young people are often the most deprived of financial stability and social connections to obtain employment or learning opportunities.
In her own words:
“Thank you to We Love Manchester for giving me the chance to go to college with the support they gave me, this means so much. I can’t wait to start my course.”
We Love MCR loves Skytani, we can’t wait to see her progress on her journey and we wish the best to her young family!