![\"Emmanuel](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/13_10_25-youth-plan-event-2.jpg\")
<\/p>\nEmmanuel Boamah has succeeded in overcoming his own challenges in life to land a rewarding career working with young people in Walsall.<\/p>\n
Emmanuel, aged 19, spent three years in the care system and is now working as a Youth Participation Apprentice for Walsall Council.<\/p>\n
The opportunity has come as part of a \u00a35m Youth Guarantee Trailblazer region-wide scheme led by the West Midlands Mayor, Richard Parker, to support more young people into jobs.<\/p>\n
The scheme will help hundreds of young people, like Emmanuel, aged between 18-21 and who are not in education, employment or training (NEET), by giving them paid work opportunities to develop skills for life.<\/p>\n
Emmanuel\u2019s apprenticeship involves him working closely with young people at Walsall Council\u2019s newly established youth hub provision in the town centre, Our Place. He is supported and coached by trained youth workers to develop his skills, while he helps other young people tackle challenges in their own lives.<\/p>\n
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Emmanuel Boamah, Youth Participation Apprentice with West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker at Our Place, Walsall<\/p>\n
Emmanuel, from Bloxwich in Walsall, went into care aged 15 and says he was never sure what he wanted to do in life.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing in care doesn\u2019t offer much stability so I wanted to create my own,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe structure of learning in school wasn\u2019t quite right for me and alongside working through some mental health challenges I didn\u2019t know what I should do when I left.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing an apprentice offers me the stability I need. It builds on the strengths I have and gives me the opportunity to help others that might be in a similar position to what I was in.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know now what career direction I want to go in. I\u2019m excited and looking forward to supporting others to overcome the challenges they face and get into their dream career.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy advice to other young people is it\u2019s not about the things that go wrong in your life \u2013 it\u2019s about what you do afterwards. And never waste a conversation, make links \u2013 you never know what opportunity might come up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Richard Parker, Mayor of the West Midlands, met Emmanuel at the launch of the youth trailblazer scheme at Our Place.<\/p>\n
The Mayor said: \u201cTogether, we\u2019re giving young people the skills and opportunities they need to get started in an exciting career and set themselves up for life.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI want every young person to have the chance to reach their potential and enjoy a fulfilling and rewarding career \u2013 that\u2019s at the heart of my \u2018Jobs for Everyone\u2019 mission.<\/p>\n
\u201cWalsall is leading the way with this trailblazer programme. It\u2019s by connecting young people like Emmanuel to local jobs and training opportunities in this way that we can change lives for the better.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The West Midlands is one of eight national trailblazer areas, and the Mayor officially launched the scheme at Our Place, where Emmanuel is based.<\/p>\n
![\"Mayor](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/13_10_25-youth-plan-event-34.jpg\")
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Mayor Richard Parker at the launch of the youth trailblazer scheme at Walsall\u2019s town centre youth hub, Our Place<\/p>\n
Supported by the WMCA, Walsall Council is working with local organisations to provide opportunities for young people to engage and access employment opportunities across sectors including creative media, construction, digital, and coaching and mentoring.<\/p>\n
Cllr Mark Statham, portfolio holder for Children\u2019s, Education and Lifelong Learning at Walsall Council, said: \u201cWe\u2019re very proud of Emmanuel and what he has achieved by his own merit. His apprenticeship will offer him so many opportunities to develop knowledge and skills that will stay with him for life, and he is also a shining role model and inspiration to many of the young people he will meet in the course of his work. This is a real-life example of why we welcome the trailblazer programme and the pathways it will open for hundreds of local 18\u201321-year-olds in Walsall.\u201d<\/p>\n
Youth unemployment is double the national average in some areas of the West Midlands including Walsall, Wolverhampton, and Birmingham, with around 29,000 young people classed as unemployed across the region.<\/p>\n