The successful work of The Challenger Trust is needed now more than ever. One in five young people in the UK is not in education, employment or training at great personal cost to them and society. Research shows that young people who have long periods where they are not taking part in productive activity earn less throughout the rest of their life and are more likely to find themselves in a downward spiral that can include homelessness, antisocial behavior or crime.

Young people not in education, employment or training are disproportionately likely to have experienced problems owing to issues such as special educational needs, poor attainment at school, health problems and disabilities. Many suffer from ‘multiple disadvantage’, affected by more than one of these issues at the same time.

• Despite Government initiatives, the actual number of children at risk of being classed as ‘not in employment, education or training’ (NEET) has failed to decline.
• While the UK average figure looks bleak, it gets worse as many areas fall well outside the NEET target of 10%, even this is one of the worst in Europe!
• Nearly one million young people aged between 16 and 25 are now outside employment, education or training

Social trends in the UK show that many young people are not engaging with the education system and embark on destructive paths through life, turning to truancy, crime and drug-taking. Tackling these issues early is key to stopping the snowball effect. The Challenger Trust helps these disaffected young people to re-engage with the education system through our innovative projects which give them alternative paths to success, benefiting the school community, wider communities and society at large.

We work with children as young as 8 to prevent them from becoming NEET by helping them reach their potential outside of the classroom environment, to give them the confidence and motivation to broaden their horizons and aspirations, and make positive choices in their lives. Outdoor Education has long been proved to achieve these aims, and is fully supported by the government in the Manifesto for Outdoor Education.

Unfortunately, there are many more young people at risk of social or economic exclusion than we currently have funds to reach. Can you help?