Drive Forward Foundation
Project summary
Drive Forward Foundation (DFF) were awarded a grant from Youth Futures Foundation (YFF) to deliver the ‘Supporting Care Leavers into Employment’ programme to 200 young people, aged 16-24 in London who were not in employment, education or training (NEET), or at risk of becoming NEET.
The support delivered as part of the ‘Supporting Care Leavers into Employment’ programme was designed to be individualised to the needs of each young person. The type of support on offer included: one-to-one support from a career specialist, mentoring, networking opportunities, skills workshops, social events, and counselling.
YFF wanted to understand how the programme was delivered, the outcomes that participants achieved, and the mechanisms through which these outcomes were achieved. Alongside this, YFF also wanted to understand whether the ‘Supporting Care Leavers into Employment’ would be suitable for an impact evaluation (i.e. a randomised controlled trial or quasi-experimental design). King’s College London were awarded an evaluation grant to answer these questions.
There were three strands to the evaluation:
- A mobilisation / design phase to understand the programme’s theory of change and young people’s participant journeys; and to explore the extent to which existing evidence supported DFF’s approach;
- A programme evaluation to explore how, and whether, the programme works in achieving its desired impacts;
- An impact feasibility study to explore options for future impact evaluation.
The evaluation drew on evidence from:
- Management Information
- Observations
- Surveys and interviews with programme participants
- Interviews with DFF staff
Evaluation conclusions
The ‘Supporting Care Leavers into Employment’ programme delivered support to 236 young people across the grant period and was successful in reaching the intended audience for the programme. The programme was broadly delivered as intended.
The mechanisms set out on the Theory of Change were seen as plausible by staff and participants. The elements of the programme which were considered most impactful included the one-to-one sessions with career specialists; the opportunities to build sector connections and access ring-fenced opportunities; and access to counselling.
Data limitations restricted the analysis that could be done in relation to the connection between engaging with DFF and participants achieving the outcomes outlined in the Theory of Change. However, there were signs of promise – particularly with regards to the number of participants who were in education, employment or training following participation in the programme.
Based on the findings from the feasibility study, YFF decided that the ‘Supporting Care Leavers into Employment’ programme was suitable to take forward an impact evaluation; and all parties are now working together to mobilise an RCT.