A SCHEME that has made dozens of youngsters ready for the workplace could be introduced across the region.

Nordic Pioneer said its Urban Blitz training scheme has proved so successful in Darlington it hopes to run similar enterprises across the Tees Valley.

Nordic is a specialist cleaning company based in Darlington that operates nationwide.

For the past few months it has been working with agencies to provide training to youngsters.

Forty-eight youngsters aged 16 to 24 have taken part in a 15-week course, and another 48 are being trained.

The apprentices are taught how to carry out cleaning tasks, including graffiti removal and environmental maintenance and receive an NVQ.

Ray Brown, head of training development at Nordic, said they emerged with work experience and new social skills.

He said: “We have now got 40-plus young people who are By David Roberts david.roberts@nne.co.uk work ready and used to work and are quite happy to work hard.

“It is a great risk employing 48 young people, but they have been a credit to themselves and we would like to see them go on to other opportunities.

“We have seen them grow in confidence and stand up and do things like presentations.”

The company is also keen to give youngsters who have fallen foul of the law a second chance and some of the youngsters have been referred to Nordic by youth offending teams and probation officials.

However, Mr Brown said they all received overwhelmingly positive testimonies from everyone they have worked with.

The Urban Blitz teams work alongside Darlington Borough Council Street Scene team to find areas the council’s workers would not be involved with.

Throughout the recent snowy weather, the youngsters have cleared paths around old people’s homes and St Teresa’s Hospice and even helped give first aid to an elderly lady who had fallen in the town centre.

Diane Shakespeare, deputy managing director at Nordic, said: “We are a business with a social conscience and this is something we have been passionate about for a long time.”

Darlington College principal Tim Grant said: “I am delighted that the work we are doing with Nordic Pioneer is not only helping young people gain a valuable qualification with work experience, but also helping the community.”