Young people from east London attended an event run by a charity headed by Prince Charles to tackle youth unemployment.
The “What’s Stopping You?” event, held by the Prince’s Trust at its head office with support from Barclays, sought to find a solution to the problem.
Chelsea Murray Clarke, 23, a graduate from Tower Hamlets, has applied for hundreds of jobs but failed to secure an interview.
Chelsea is on the 12-week Prince’s Trust Team programme that gives young people advice on CV writing, interview techniques and other support to find work.
She said: “It was great to meet councillors and people in the community to know that they are listening to the barriers facing young people in east London.”
More than one in four young people in Newham are struggling to find a job – a total of 27 per cent - while in Tower Hamlets 21 per cent are struggling, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Afsana Benozir, 21, from Tower Hamlets, was unemployed for nearly three years after leaving school.
She said: “I had lost all confidence in myself. It felt like all of my hopes for the future had been sucked away.”
Afsana said the Prince’s Trust’s support has meant she will now study medicine with plans to become a doctor.
She said: “Hand on heart, I don’t think I would be here today if it wasn’t for the Prince’s Trust.”
Dermot Finch, a director of the Prince’s Trust, said youth unemployment is a worrying issue in east London and that young people need all the support they can get to help them find work.
Cllr Shafiqul Haque, cabinet member in Tower Hamlets for jobs and skills, said: “We at Tower Hamlets Council are committed to helping young people fulfil their potential by finding work or professional opportunities and this event was a great way of helping to highlight the issues so we can work together and help young people overcome them.”
For more information visit www.princes-trust.org.uk.
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