On the 11th October the Digital Youth Academy (DYA) had its official launch at the House of Lords, hosted by Lord Jim Knight.
The mission we share with businesses, colleges and wonderful networks such as BNI is to connect two fabulous resources that we have in the UK – our Business Community and our Born Digital Youths, so that together we can innovate, thrive, grow and understand the social culture of the online world for business.
It was in March 2011 that I began this journey. Having built the world’s first social network for business people in 1998, Ecademy, I decided that my next journey, having sold Ecademy, was to build a place for our Born Digital Generation to share their aspirations and gain qualifications. 2011 was exciting for me. I gained the right investors with connections into the world of Apprenticeship funding and qualifications and established a brilliant team who 
would feel as passionate as I do about business, social media and our youths. It also included finding people like Tim Cook and Charlie Lawson who lead BNI Europe who are willing to share in our Challenge 1000 Campaign to get 1000 young people into work, to help them innovate and ‘go social’. Once achieved, we will increase this number for sure!
So how are we getting on?
Our team is based in Derby and they are doing an incredible job of licensing Colleges to ensure we have the delivery partners for this programme.
We now have the following Colleges licensed to supply you with a Digital assistant:
- North Hertfordshire College
- Guildford College
- Liverpool Community College
- Middlesbrough College
- Peterborough Regional College
- New College Nottingham
Each College has an Employer Engagement Team to help you find the right young person to work within your business.
We provide information HERE: www.digitalyouthacademy.com/employer for you to read about what it means to take on a Digital Assistant.
At the end of their Apprenticeship we are confident that your Digital Assistant will enable you to have a stronger presence on social networking channels. Your organisation will be blogging, tweeting, listening, sharing and posting videos. They will be a great asset to you, helping you to innovate and learn the digital world.
I write this Blog to formally thank BNI Europe, Tim, Charlie and their team for getting behind this worthwhile plan to assist businesses in their quest for innovation and to help our Born Digital Youths to be heard and appreciated for their born digital skills.
If you would like to know more about this, please visit the DYA’s website and pledge your interest in taking on a Social Digital Apprentice.
Click HERE to register: www.digitalyouthacademy.com/employer .
Penny Power has dedicated her life for the past 13 years to the potential of the internet and digital tools for SME’s by helping them connect through and understand the ‘social web’. In 1998 Penny founded Ecademy, the UK’s first social network for business. 
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Penny – thanks for posting – it’s a pleasure to be involved. The Digital Youth Academy is a fantastic concept, both from the point of view of young, talented people that want to find their way in a tough jobs market, and for SMEs up and down the country who can grow their businesses further in the fast developing digital world.
Charlie
It’s a great thing to know that there are Colleges which are licensed to supply digital assistant. I have been looking forward to know more about them. Thank you for the links that you have provided.