Utilita Live From the Drive-In is Supporting a Major UK Charity

The Prince’s Trust, the UK’s leading youth charity, has been chosen as the official charity for a programme of summer events, being held at 12 locations around the country.

People are being invited to make a £3 donation to the Prince’s Trust when they purchase tickets to any of the drive-in events.

Donations will go towards supporting and helping young people develop the confidence and skills they need to move into work, training and education. Utilita Live From the Drive-In is a series of live drive-in shows organised by Live Nation, bringing an exciting summer of live music, theatre and cinema events. In Bristol, the events will be held on the former Filton Airfield which is owned by YTL and being developed into a new neighbourhood called Brabazon.

The Prince’s Trust supports 11 to 30 year-olds who are unemployed, struggling at school and at risk of exclusion. Many of the young people helped by The Trust are in or leaving care, facing issues such as homelessness, mental health problems, or have been in trouble with the law. The charity works in partnership with other organisations to offer hundreds of free courses, grants and mentoring opportunities to inspire young people to build their confidence and start a career – or even their own business.

Young people across the UK are hit particularly hard by the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, being nearly two and half times more likely than any other working age group to be employed in a sector which had to shut down. The Prince’s Trust has been working tirelessly to support as many young people as they can during this time, but they need your help.

Olivia Jeffery, Corporate Partnerships Manager at The Prince’s Trust, said; “We know from  our recent research that more than a quarter of 16-to-25 year olds in the UK feel their future career prospects have already been damaged by the coronavirus pandemic, while 46 per cent say that finding a job now feels “impossible”. We cannot let them lose hope for the future and are determined to support them every step of the way.

“The Prince’s Trust has an army of youth support workers and mentors who are working around the clock to ensure that young people have somewhere to turn in this isolating, and difficult time. Due to COVID-19 and the introduction of social distancing measures, we’ve adapted the support we offer so it can be delivered over the phone, or through live chat and text service. We're committed to supporting young people, whatever they might need, whether they’re out of school, unemployed, self-employed or generally needing a confidence boost.”

To find out more about The Trust’s Young People in Lockdown research, and to download the report in full, click here.

87p of every £1 goes directly into The Trust’s work supporting young people.

The impact of your fundraising:

• £23 could give two young people the chance to speak to our helpline and get critical advice through phone calls and via our new online chat function.
• £55 could give a young person an online session with a youth worker to build their confidence, resilience, and motivation.
• £84 could give one unemployed young person the chance to access an online course, so they can re-engage with their community and develop critical employability skills for the future.
• £1,500 can help a young person to overcome unemployment and find work – our experienced staff and volunteers can provide employability content, connect them with live vacancies and provide online mentoring to help them secure a job.

Andrew Billingham, Managing Director of YTL Arena Complex, Bristol was recently appointed Chair for The Prince’s Trust South West Development Committee (SWDC), having previously held the title of vice-chair for four years. SWDC is one of eight regional committees across the UK and members meet around six times a year to help shape and deliver various fundraising initiatives.

Andrew said: “The South West Committee are working with Prince’s Trust executives from London to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 and continuing to support young people through these challenging times.

“The need to support young people is still there and adapting how we do that and changing the way fundraising can continue is vital.”

For young people in Bristol and the South West seeking support from The Prince’s Trust, please click here.

To buy tickets or for more information about Live at the Drive-In events, please visit livenation.co.uk.