Motiv8 was an 3-year Academy FM project funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation. It aimed to improve the speaking and listening skills of unemployed local teenagers, and set them on the path to finding a job. The Paul Hamlyn Foundation are a major funder with prior experience of working with Community Radio stations. The project was a great success with 65% of young people going into training or employment - a high number considering the difficult backgrounds of many of the young people involved, and a testament to their hard work and the format of the project. It won a Silver award for Community Development in the 2016 Community Radio Awards.

Youth unemployment is a problem in Folkestone. At Academy FM, we’ve met many people from local business who say that some young people don’t come across well and have poor communication skills. This project aimed to tackle these issues in a creative manner, using radio production as a tool to teach wider skills in speaking and listening and finding work.

The Motiv8 project worked with 16-19 year-olds. They come to us on courses lasting 4 weeks, for 15 hours a week. We taught them how to do radio interviews, with the goal being that they interview someone from the local business community as well as gaining qualifications in Employability. They found out about local companies, the people they employ, the skills and qualifications required, and what to do to get a job. We matched students with business interviewees, and many of our students found jobs directly as a result of this.

The project helped young people in a very different way to how organisations like the JobCentre work. We focused on improving their speaking and listening skills and used the strengths of our radio station to help them research local employers’ requirements, interview employers, and assist them in getting direct advice from local employers.