New teaching kitchen opens to boost life skills and job opportunities for East Birmingham young people
A pioneering new teaching kitchen designed to equip young people in East Birmingham with essential life skills, confidence and pathways into employment has opened at the Pitch 2 Progress youth campus at Green Lane Playing Fields in Bordesley Green.
Made possible thanks to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s Better Youth Spaces Fund, the new kitchen will allow Pitch 2 Progress to expand its successful Cooking 2 Connect programme.
Funding for Cooking 2 Connect was provided by Clarion Futures through its Making a Difference Fund created to mark the housing association’s 125th anniversary. This special grant programme was developed to support community‑led projects that bring people together, enhance local pride and improve wellbeing – values that sit at the heart of the work of Pitch 2 Progress.
Cooking 2 Connect helps young people gain practical cooking skills, understand budgeting, gain teamwork experience and explore opportunities in hospitality and catering. It was developed after young people attending the Pitch 2 Progress youth campus shared that they had limited access to cooking facilities and opportunities to learn essential life skills at home.
The pilot showed immediate impact, with young participants gaining confidence whilef preparing nutritious meals for local residents experiencing food insecurity or isolation. Demand from young people and the community highlighted the need for a permanent, fully equipped kitchen, now made possible through government investment.
During youth programme hours, the new kitchen will operate as a teaching and training space, offering hands on experience in cooking, menu planning, budgeting and event promotion. Outside these hours, it will become a community social kitchen providing affordable meals, helping create a sustainable income stream that directly supports youth provision.
Alongside the new kitchen, Pitch 2 Progress is also launching the IEET (In Employment, Education, and Training) programme, a three month paid employment pathway giving young people real world experience in food preparation, customer service, marketing, budgeting and catering.
Pitch 2 Progress delivers year-round programmes through sport, leadership, wellbeing, mentoring and employability support, creating safe spaces and positive pathways for young people and families.
Shabana Mahmood MP, Home Secretary and MP for Birmingham Ladywood, said: “Projects like this play an important role in giving young people safe spaces to build confidence, learn practical skills, and explore new opportunities. It’s clear that the team here, along with partners such as Clarion Futures, are making a positive difference for young people in East Birmingham, and I’m pleased to see the commitment shown to supporting the local community.”
Obayed Hussain, Strategic Director of Pitch 2 Progress, said: “I’m incredibly proud of what this project represents for our young people. Cooking 2 Connect began as a simple idea to help young people learn essential skills, and it has grown into a transformative programme with real opportunities, paid placements, and long term sustainability. We are grateful to Clarion Futures for backing the early pilot and to the Better Youth Spaces Fund for enabling us to bring this vision to life.”
Phil Miles, Director of Clarion Futures, said: “This project is a great example of what happens when communities and partners work together with a shared purpose. Supporting the early stages of Cooking 2 Connect has been incredibly worthwhile, and it’s inspiring to see Pitch 2 Progress take the programme to the next level with this new kitchen.”
The new kitchen marks a significant step forward for Pitch 2 Progress, transforming a small-scale pilot into a sustainable, community driven programme that delivers life skills, social enterprise, and employment opportunities for local young people.
To find out more about the support and activities available through Pitch 2 Progress, visit www.pitch2progress.co.uk.