Discover The Prince’s Trust Morgan Stanley Center, opening in East London as a dedicated resource to help disadvantaged youth get back on their feet.
“Youth is wasted on the young,” Oscar Wilde famously said. Maybe that’s because so many lack opportunities to realize their potential.
Around 1-in-5 young people in the UK are jobless, out of school and untrained; youth unemployment costs the UK economy £10 million a day in lost productivity, and youth crime costs £1 billion every year, according to the Prince’s Trust, the UK’s leading youth organization.
Since its founding in 1976 by His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, the Prince’s Trust has been providing disadvantaged youth with practical and financial support. Every year, the Trust helps tens of thousands between the ages of 13 and 30—some of whom have dropped out of school, been in custodial care, are long-term unemployed or have been in trouble with the law—rebuild their lives.
The newly opened Prince’s Trust Morgan Stanley Center in London’s Poplar neighborhood is a key part of that effort. Over the past two years, Morgan Stanley and its employees raised £1.5 million ($2.3 million) for the new center, which was officially opened by The Prince of Wales on May 13, 2015. The new Center will become a flagship to anchor the Trust’s work in East London, where youth unemployment has soared.
Morgan Stanley offered the best of its expertise. Teams from it Research and Property Management divisions helped the Trust identify the best location for the new Center. They also built a template for sourcing future Trust locations, and provided negotiating and property management advice.
The firm even exceeded its original £1 million fundraising target, which allowed for a larger facility with multifunctional spaces, a dedicated outreach function and a community hub. More than 700 Morgan Stanley employees have volunteered with the Trust, mentoring young people and helping them return to school, get training and develop the skills and confidence to find jobs and build long-term careers.
“Morgan Stanley and its employees have been proud to partner with the Prince’s Trust for the past two years to create this lasting legacy for future generations of young people in East London,” said Colm Kelleher, President of Institutional Securities and CEO of Morgan Stanley International. “We look forward to continuing to work alongside the Prince’s Trust through employee engagement and volunteering opportunities.”
The new Center is situated a little more than a mile from Morgan Stanley’s London offices. It is an example of the firm’s commitment to giving back to the communities in which it is rooted. Earlier this year, Morgan Stanley launched Healthy London, also anchored in Poplar as part of its growing Healthy Cities initiative, which partners with, and brings together local charities to offer parents and carers better access to wellness, nutrition and play resources vital for children to get a healthy start in life.
