Throughout November the Club’s Charity, City in the Community (CITC) is celebrating their employability work.

As part of the celebration, Tom, a City Careers participant showed Manchester City’s Kerstin Casparij how to make a barista style coffee.

After making a cup of coffee, Kerstin sat down with Tom to learn more about how the City Careers programme works and how he gained through his time on the City Careers programme.

Discussing his time on the course, Tom said: “It was through City in the Community I actually got the barista job.

“I started with the Princes’ Trust, through that I got the opportunity to join the City Careers programme, where they helped set me up on work experience that helped me get my job now.”

City Careers is an eight-week employability programme, working in areas of deprivation to provide health and education benefits, with the aim of supporting young people in education and employment.

Throughout the course, participants work with CITC staff and external partners, on a series of employability workshops, with a focus on developing soft skills such as CV and cover letter writing, interview practice and how to approach job interviews.

There is also the opportunity to gain qualifications, such as Level 2 Community Sports Leadership, First Aid Qualification, as well as Food Hygiene and Sale2Site Online CSCS qualifications.

Since September 2022 to August 2023 649 qualifications were awarded to participants on CITC employability courses.

11+ Education Officer, Oliver Murphy said: “Tom is a perfect example of someone who embodies City Careers and CITC. Throughout his time on City Careers, he has transformed his self-belief, leadership, and confidence. His caring and positive attitude to all he meets through the community is infectious and has inspired others to follow in his footsteps.

To sign up to the next City Careers cohort or for more information contact [email protected].

City in the Community would like to thank SimTrava, a franchise business that operates 40 branches of Costa Coffee across the North, for helping to provide Tom with work placement opportunities in their partner coffee shops.

Throughout November CITC are celebrating their Healthy Futures programmes, so keep-an-eye out across their social media channels for more.

If you would like to support CITC and its work, you can this Christmas through Manchester City’s ‘The Greatest Season of All’ campaign.

For every purchase a fan makes for a range of selected Christmas retail clothing items, available online and in the City Store, the Club will donate £5 to its charity, City in the Community.

Fans can also make additional donations at the tills in the stadium store, when checking out during their purchase journey for match tickets and via the charity’s new monthly Prize Draw www.mancity.com/citcprizedraw.

City in the Community empowers healthier lives with city youth through football. To find out more, visit www.mancity.com/CITC or follow the charity on social media @CITCmancity.