Hannah Jones joins the Y Prentis Board

Hannah Jones, Youth Enterprise Manager at Monmouthshire County Council, has been appointed as a Board member for Y Prentis.

Following Cath Fallon’s decision to step down, Hannah has joined the Board from Monmouthshire County Council. As well as bringing a wealth of experience and knowledge from over 20 years’ of working at Monmouthshire County Council, Hannah is passionate about providing education, employment and training opportunities for young people and vulnerable adults, helping them to thrive and develop.

Hannah started working with Monmouthshire County Council’s Youth Service as a part-time coordinator for the young people’s centre in Chepstow, the first of its kind in Monmouthshire. It was from here she became full-time, taking the lead in developing three more centres in Monmouth, Caldicot and Abergavenny and supporting a team of youth workers. She then went on to work with the Youth Service, leading post 16 projects which focused on developing training and employment opportunities for young people who are NEET (not in education, employment or training). The award-winning Way into Work programme, jointly delivered by Monmouthshire Housing Association and funded by DWP, offered six-week employment courses with two weeks work placement.

Today, Hannah is the Youth Enterprise Manager at Monmouthshire County Council, driving the skills and employability agenda forward for the local authority. She recently wrote the apprenticeship, graduate and internship strategy which focuses on working with people services and creating new employment opportunities for young people and adults throughout Monmouthshire.

Hannah said: “I believe there needs to be a change in how we look at apprenticeships and showcase the value of them, working closely with communities, schools and colleges to address the underlying issues. Doing full-time further education isn’t an option for everyone, but apprenticeships give young people and adults the opportunity to learn on the job, gain work experience and develop their confidence while being exposed to the world of work. It can open up new doors for them to go on and have a successful career.

“I’m really looking forward to being a part of Y Prentis. It’ll be exciting, challenging and a very different experience for me, but I’m looking forward to learning more about the construction industry. I’m very familiar with work-based learning having worked with young people for a long time, so I’m looking forward to using my experience to help drive forward the scheme and raise its profile across Monmouthshire and the wider area.”

Darryl Williams, Programme Manager, said: “It’s great to be able to welcome Hannah to our Board. Her background and understanding of both skills and employability for young people will be a great asset to the group, and her community focused approach to apprenticeships will be valuable to contributing to the future success of the scheme.”

Find out more about our Board and what they do here.