Cancelled careers initiative to return

Sunderland’s trailblazing careers initiative is to be cancelled this year in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.

But organisers of Work Discovery Week have vowed it will return in 2021 in a new format which will see it become “bigger and better” than before.

This year’s event was already being scaled down to a one-day event on June 22, and more than 1,000 young people were expected to attend, supported by Work Discovery Sunderland’s regular programme of sector days.

But now the decision has been made not to move forward at all for 2020 and instead concentrate on a new look event for next year.

John Green, co-chair of Work Discovery Sunderland, said: “Although we don’t know at the moment where everything will be by June, an event like this requires a huge amount of planning plus it requires us to work closely with key businesses.

“With the current climate this simply isn’t practicable to do so we have decided to put the whole programme on hold, but hopefully businesses will support us once we are ready to start again.”

Work Discovery Sunderland has seen more than 6,000 young people involved in activities since its launch seven years ago.

Over the years, the programme has been supported by scores of businesses from all sectors, who have given young people valuable information and experience so they could make informed decisions about their future employment.

“We would like to thank everyone who has supported Work Discovery Sunderland and we look forward to working closely together in the future,” said John.