NEW YOUTH INITIATIVE: Youth Employment mentors Breda Dowling, Tralee, Louise Kiely, Killarney and Michelle Rowan Listowel, pictured at the KDYS in in Killarney. Photo: Sally MacMonagle

A new Youth Employability Initiative targeting 16 – 18-year-olds, who are not in employment, education or training, has been launched in Kerry.          

The Youth Employability Initiative (YEI) was established in order to improve the employability skills of young people who are at risk of being furthest from the labour market.

Within the KDYS, this initiative has been split into three projects, which are located in Killarney, Tralee and Listowel, funded by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs (DCYA) and administered through Kerry ETB.

The purpose of this programme is to work with young people, in order to assist them in ascertaining and developing an array of skills which will both increase and improve their level of opportunity for future employment. This piece of work will be carried out on both a one-one basis with the young person and also in a group setting, where appropriate, and will be tailored to the needs of each individual participant.

The criteria for this programme are as follows: the young person must be between the ages of 16 and 18-years-old, live within the relevant catchment area i.e. Killarney, Tralee or Listowel, and must not currently be in education, training or employment. Our purpose is to ‘engage the disconnected’.

The contact details of each YEI mentor are as follows: Louise Kiely (Killarney) Tel: 085 8720362 or email: louisekiely@kdys.ie, Breda Dowling (Tralee) Tel: 087 7380559 or email: bredadowling@kdys.ie, Michelle Rowan (Listowel) Tel: 085 7875120 or email: michellerowan@kdys.ie.