By Jordan Lemm –
Huddersfield’s own social enterprises, Positive Stepz and Young Kings Academy, joined together on Monday in the 3M Buckley University building to run a session with some of the young people in Huddersfield, gaining an insight into the stocks and shares market.
The afternoon was focused on the importance of stocks and shares and helped share some understanding into what investing in businesses looks like.
The event was designed to provide young people with the essential financial skills and mindsets to help them in the future.
The session, organised during the school’s half-term, was run by the Inspirational Learning Group and set the young people with the ‘Stocks and Shares Challenge’ where the members of the group were given a fictitious £10,000 to invest into businesses of their making.
The “Real world”
Speaking with Positive Stepz founder Kim Bedeau-White, the afternoon was organised as “a consultation we (Positive Stepz) conducted during the pandemic revealed that young people wanted to understand money more and develop their skills around investing”.
With Kim further addressing that the aim of the event was to “improve the financial literacy skills of young people and to teach them that what they learn at school can be applied to the real world”.
Positive Stepz was founded in 2018 in response to the national youth work cuts and the recent rise in youth violence. The community organisation provides activities and events to bring young people together.
Throughout the afternoon, the group spent their time learning about what makes a good investment and what not to invest in before putting together a presentation on their business creation, showing how much profit they had made through each of their investment choices.
The challenge became a competition between each of the young people, with aims to provide them with financial education but also add an element of fun to the session, with prizes being up for grabs for the group that made the highest profit.
“Somebody who believes in them”
Morris Adams, the co-ordinator for Young Kings Academy, gave a brief explanation on why the Young Kings Academy does what it does, explaining the programme “focuses on mentoring young black males based in the HD2 area”.
A group of people who he described as “needing focus and guidance on setting achievable goals, needing a place they can work through issues in the community, with somebody who believes in them”.
The group does this by organising events such as the Stocks and Shares Challenge and trips away during the summer holidays to keep young people engaged during their time off. Throughout these meetings, members have access to one-to-one mentoring as well as group sessions.
The leader of the session Liam Brooks, who works for the Inspirational Learning Group, says his role working across the UK helps young people “gain leadership skills, and understand the importance of time management,” adding that he helps with the “progression into the world of work and provides opportunities to understand what the stock market is in the crypto world”.
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