By David Cohen

Copyright yahoo

When Alanis Hernandez was 17, she was taken on a school trip that would shape her future. It wasn’t your typical excursion — such as to the seaside or the Science Museum — but to a London law firm, and it changed what she imagined was possible for a Spanish-speaking teenager from the Dominican Republic.

Alanis had come to the UK aged 11 speaking no English. Living with her mum, she worked hard at her A-levels but didn’t expect to go to a top university.

But that visit to Wiggin law firm, organised by the charity MyBigCareer, changed all that.

Alanis said: “I was doing law A-level, so I was excited to go. Afterwards, MyBigCareer followed up and offered me one-to-one sessions with a mentor at Wiggin called Scott to help me with my exams and university applications. My dream was to become a detective and I was planning to apply to universities lower down the pecking order, but during the two-and-a-half-month mentoring process, Scott made me believe I could aim higher — so I applied to UCL as well.”

“My mentor saw the potential in me that I couldn’t see in myself”

Alanis Hernandez

Now 19 and about to enter her second year at UCL, Alanis buzzed with confidence and said: “Without my mentor, I would never have felt smart or confident enough to apply. In my early years, I was very shy — when they asked me to read in class, I would refuse for fear of looking stupid — and I hid myself away. My mentor saw the potential in me that I couldn’t see in myself — and he helped me raise my ambitions and sense of what was possible.”

MyBigCareer is one of four high-impact grassroots charities we have backed as part of our Destination Unknown campaign, which supports unemployed young Londoners into work. Alongside Steel Warriors, 20/20 Levels and Toucan Employment, each has received a £62,500 grant from the Standard’s Dispossessed Fund, which is administered by The London Community Foundation. A further £250,000 from the Dispossessed Fund has been pledged to fund employability programmes in London delivered by our campaign partner, The King’s Trust.

Destination Unknown in a nutshell

With one in six young Londoners unemployed, The Standard has joined forces with The King’s Trust to support unemployed young people into work or business. So far, £800,000 has been raised, with £450,000 going to King’s Trust programmes in London and £350,000 to six grassroots youth charities across the capital, including MyBigCareer. We are calling on corporations, foundations, philanthropists — and our readers — to donate. All funds raised will go to King’s Trust programmes in London.

Today we can announce a £100,000 donation from Deutsche Bank, which takes our total campaign funds raised to more than £800,000.

This new money will be deployed to augment our funding to the four grassroots groups mentioned above — and will also be used to support two more grassroots groups tackling youth unemployment in London: Art Against Knives and Urban MBA.

Urban MBA will use their grant to help 700 disadvantaged young Londoners in Hackney gain work in emerging industries, with a focus on entrepreneurial and digital skills. Art Against Knives will support 200 young people in Barnet to find employment or training.

Deutsche Bank’s CEO for the UK and Ireland, Vathany Vijayaratna, said, “Working at the grassroots level is fundamental to finding enduring solutions to challenging issues. We know how crucial education is as a tool to enrich lives, and since 2013, our education initiatives have reached over 6.5 million people in more than 28 countries. We firmly believe that the Standard’s Destination Unknown campaign will support young people who are disconnected from the traditional education system, helping them improve their confidence and learn skills that will help them enter the job market.”

Their donation follows a relationship with The London Community Foundation spanning two decades. A spokesperson added: “Young, bright, creative thinkers are everywhere in London, but for the one in six who are unemployed, being able to turn their ideas into enterprises or take their skills into the workplace is not always possible. We are immensely proud to support the Standard’s Dispossessed Fund to donate to grassroots charities to help alleviate some of the challenges facing disadvantaged young people across the capital and enable more to progress into work and training opportunities.”

In the case of MyBigCareer, their grant will help support 1,000 children — aged 16-18 in 15 schools —who receive free school meals to make a successful transition into employment. The money will fund 24 employer insight and skills days with their five corporate partners — like the one Alanis attended at Wiggin — as well as work readiness workshops for 100 students.

“The mentor made what seemed inaccessible become accessible to me”

Alanis Hernandez

CEO, Laura Littlehales, said: “We were founded to address the huge gap between the career support offered to children in independent versus those in state schools. Our aim is to increase social mobility by helping young people who need it most. Since 2020, we’ve supported over 17,000 young people. It’s all about giving them access to the world of work and helping to expand their horizons — just like in Alanis’s case.”

Alanis, who lives in Hackney, said: “The mentor made what seemed inaccessible become accessible to me. My mum didn’t know the system here and couldn’t help, and the teacher had a whole class to attend to. Now I am doing my dream course — a BSc in Crime and Security Science – and I had a brilliant first year, passing all nine modules with five firsts and four 2.1s.”

She now wants to give back by helping MyBigCareer support others. “I want to be a mentor because I know how it feels to be overwhelmed — and how much difference a skilled mentor can make to someone who’s struggling like I was.

“One thing I learned from my mentor is to take risks and not worry about looking stupid.” She laughed. “I wish I could have told that to my younger self. My school days would have been so much happier.”

How your money can help

The first £25,000 of public donations will be match-funded so every £1 you give is doubled

£10 could help a young Londoner travel to a job interview

£20 could fund an hour of support from a trained youth worker

£50 could provide appropriate interview clothing

£90 could supply starter equipment, such as hairdressing kit for a salon apprenticeship

£150 could provide training and support through a King’s Trust course

£250 could enable a young person to attend a King’s Trust “Get Hired” event

Photography by Elliott Morgan. Visit kingstrust.org.uk/destination-unknown for more information or to donate

The King’s Trust has contributed £80,000 to help the Standard cover the costs of this appeal. This funding has been used to raise awareness of the Trust’s charitable work, helping it to transform young lives. The King’s Trust is a registered charity incorporated by Royal Charter in England and Wales (1079675) and Scotland (SC041198)