City youngsters discover their common purpose

A global charity helping 'unearth the leaders of tomorrow' brought together dozens of bright-minded Sunderland youngsters last week [16-17 April] to help sharpen their leadership skills.

The Sunderland60 programme, led by Common Purpose, saw 50 18-25-year-olds spend one day based at City Hall and one day working from the University's Hope Street Xchange to learn more about leadership and how they can help shape the future of society and work.

The event - which was sponsored by Sunderland City Council, Gentoo, NWG Living Water, South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Sunderland - marked the third consecutive year it has taken place in the city.

Young people from those and a variety of other organisations, including ScS, Nissan, Together for Children, Just Eat, Esh Construction and Northumbrian Water were among those to take part.

As well as developing their leadership skills, the youngsters got the chance to learn more about Sunderland's ongoing development, its plan to work towards carbon neutrality by 2040 and to hear about its Smart Creative City ambitions..

Evelyn Craig, project manager at Common Purpose, said: "The legacy programme allows us to bring together young people and help them think about what their legacy for the future of Sunderland is and how they can be involved in it.

"We've worked with Sunderland City Council for a couple of years now and we are delighted that they have continued to support the programme. Every year we see more and more employers and young people applying to get involved and this year we've again been blown away by the discussions held and the presentations delivered by those involved.

"It's been great seeing them continue to grow in confidence over the course of the two days and we have no doubt they will all go on to achieve great things as they progress in each of their respective careers."

At the end of the programme, all the youngsters were given an opportunity to present their thoughts on how they could apply what they had learned to their own professional careers and receive feedback from industry leaders and peers.

Owen Roberts, an advisor at ScS, said: "I'm hoping to become a team leader where I work so, having been unsuccessful in a couple of interviews, I decided to sign up to the course to gain the leadership skills and experience that will help me next time around.

"We've been learning all about the importance of respecting different opinions and how best to deal with them, and how to work better in teams, so it's been really useful. They're so important, events like this, as they allow people like us to get the leadership skills we need and meet others who are also in the early stages of their careers but are hoping to progress."

Patrick Melia, chief executive of Sunderland City Council, gave a speech at the event and facilitated a live question and answer session with the youngsters.

He said: "It was great to join the Common Purpose programme and hear the young people share their thoughts on the city, its issues and the journey it is on, and how they can play an important part in shaping it, not just in their own lives, but by creating a legacy for their children and grandchildren.

"They were all so enthused and shared some great insights into how we can better engage with young people and help them play a role in the city's future, both as individuals and as part of the community. It was really inspirational. We faced some really challenging questions as they were such a thoughtful group, and we were really impressed by what we heard."