Huddersfield-based community organisation Conscious Youth has benefitted from a significant financial donation and partnership with Amazon’s affinity group for black employees to continue their ongoing work in the Kirklees region.

Initially forming the partnership at the end of 2020, Conscious Youth’s work in the local community has now been supported by a cash donation of £38,000 which forms part of a larger partnership moving forward between the organisation and Amazon’s Black Employee Network (BEN). 

The new partnership offers a range of new opportunities for Conscious Youth including Amazon employees running workshops, providing office space for events, entrepreneur workshops to empower future sellers, and also providing access to technology education programmes such as AWS Educate and Amazon Future Engineer.

Aisha Suleiman, chair of Amazon’s Black Employee Network (BEN), said: “Conscious Youth has proven that their model and approach to community engagement is hugely successful, so we’re delighted to further support their work – particularly at a time when communities are facing a new set of challenges during the COVID-19 crisis.”

Serena Johnson and Sophie Simpson, co-founders of Conscious Youth, have been working across Kirklees since 2016 to reach young people in their community and founded the organisation in light of youth services cut back in the local area. 

The organisation’s approach is to start conversations with young people about their skills and passions, before developing a plan around those conversations and working with young people to help them achieve their goals.

Commenting on the new partnership with tech giant Amazon, director of operations Sophie Simpson said: “Engaging with an organisation like Amazon is so valuable because they can provide the skills, experience, role models and inspiration for many young people, not just to think big but to understand the practical steps to achieve those ambitions.

“Ultimately we want to address the shortfall of young black role models in areas such as government, technology and innovation – that’s a responsibility we take seriously.

“Both Amazon and the Black Employee Network can play a vital role in changing the way we think about success, community and black achievement in this country.”

To find out more about the new partnership click HERE.