Passport to Change

 

We’re passionate about empowering the next generation in our communities to reach their potential. That’s why through Passport to Change, we’ve pledged £2.5 million over five years to support STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) initiatives with grants, sponsorships and investments. Working closely with our new charity partners, our community programme aims to inspire and empower young people from all corners of society to engage with STEM education and build career skills for the future in science, technology, engineering and maths.

 

Designed to empower the next generation to fulfil their potential through education, our ambition is to grow its presence across destinations, encourage social mobility and close the difference between the majority and minority groups, creating opportunities to address inequity in educational learning. 

“At Virgin Atlantic, our purpose is to empower everyone to take on the world and our vision is to be the world’s most loved travel company. To achieve both, we must invest in the hearts and minds of young people who will define our future."

 

“Our Passport to Change programme is how we at Virgin Atlantic use our business as a force for good, through our communities, our people, and our partners. "

 

“We know there is a huge gender gap in STEM, and that young people from disadvantaged backgrounds are disproportionately impacted. By working with our incredible new charity partners Speakers for Schools, The Smallpeice Trust and UK for UNHCR, we can reach, educate and empower young people from all parts of society to engage with STEM education, driving real change in the communities where we work and where we fly.”

Estelle Hollingsworth
Chief People Officer

Our partners

We’ve teamed up with Speakers for schools, aiming to end educational inequality and level the playing field for all young people. Through our year-long programme young people from our three partner schools will see the entire breadth of the aviation industry.

Working with UNHCR throughout 2021 and 2022, we will support 2,000 young refugees in Delhi, many of whom have sought refuge from Afghanistan, with an accelerated learning programme before expanding the partnership to support university STEM scholarships for refugees around the world.

Partnering up with STEM-based education expert, The Smallpiece Trust, we will focus on increasing engagement of STEM subjects, in particular engineering. We’ll do this through sponsoring scholars in The Smallpiece Trust’s Arkwright Scholarship programme as well as sponsoring a four-day residential programme in 2022, to explore the world of STEM.

Why STEM?

 

As the working world changes, STEM and technical skills are becoming more important than ever. But there’s a shortage of young people studying subjects that will help develop them, especially in economically deprived areas. There’s also a gender imbalance, with far fewer girls choosing to study STEM subjects than boys. We want the careers of the future to be open to all young people, regardless of their gender, race, or economic status.

At Virgin Atlantic we use these skills every day – no matter what job we do. It’s not only our incredible finance teams, pilots, engineers and IT wizards – it’s our sales and marketing pros, fabulous cabin crew and our airports teams. We all use STEM-related skills every day that young people need, skills like problem-solving, critical thinking, creativity, and action-planning.

Our schools

 

We’re proud to partner with three schools in our communities of Crawley (where our head office is located), Swansea (where our Customer Centre is located) and Atlanta (where our North America team is based).

Crawley, England

Located close to our HQ in Crawley; Thomas Bennett Community College is a secondary school with academy status for pupils aged 11 to 19. 

Swansea, Wales

A thriving community focused secondary school that serves a considerable area in and around Swansea; where our Contact Centre is also based. 

Atlanta, USA

Luther J Price Middle School is located in Atlanta, hub to our joint venture partner, Delta Air Lines. They are part of the Purpose Built Schools Atlanta organisation with students attending from grades 6-8. 

Our impact

 

We’re proud to partner with three schools in our communities of Crawley (where our head office is located), Swansea (where our Customer Centre is located) and Atlanta (where our North America team is based).

£29.2M

The estimated benefit that our Passport to Change programme will have on our local UK communities, over the lifetime of the young people that have utilised our programme.

2672

The number of young people reached directly through our programme

2000

The number of refugees in Delhi that will be given access to education through kits, digital learning, uniform and learning materials

100

The number of people that will take part in meaningful skills-based volunteering opportunities in the UK, US & Delhi.

Donate your Virgin Points

To help us continue to make a difference in the communities we serve, you can donate your Virgin Points. If you would like to do this please contact Virgin Red for further assistance. Thank you in advance for your generosity.