Turtle Dove Cambridge: supporting young women into work

Turtle Dove Cambridge was created to fill a gap in youth support work. With one very specific aim, Kate Nation founded Turtle Dove to improve the future of young women who are or are at risk of becoming unemployed through not having the confidence or experience to seek employment. This mission was driven by Kate’s first-hand experience in the youth sector where she saw the effects of a system where there are twice as many young women not currently searching for jobs compared to their male peers. She also wanted to create a safe, female-only space that offers these young women an opportunity to flourish away from the pressure of their male contemporaries, around whom research shows they often don’t perform to the best of their abilities. Having grown organically over the past few years, Kate has ambitious plans to drive this project forward – reaching more young women than before, offering them the opportunity to strengthen their self-confidence and work towards building successful futures. By providing them with opportunities in hospitality, working as part of a team and with a defined structure, these young women can gain invaluable life experience. Our team of young women help assist in small-scale events, working on and off site to help ensure the event runs smoothly We also host our own, usually intergenerational, community events where the young women can add value to the community as well as gaining further skills and experience. Events we work at range from charity fundraisers, private parties, conferences to weddings. Tasks we can assist with involve set up, serving catering, meet and greet, registration and clear away. The young women we work with are referred from various agencies such as the Cambridgeshire County Council Youth Support Team, Housing Providers and the Cambridge Women's Resource Centre. All are wanting to engage with a work like environment, improve in confidence and go on to go great things. We aim to provide this stepping stone.