LGBTI youth in Bulgaria and Lithuania face persistent discrimination and bullying in their teenage years resulting in school drop outs, low self-esteem, lack of motivation to continue post-secondary education, fear from potential harassment at the workplace, and underutilization of state-subsidized youth activation programs. The project “Connecting the Dots” aims to develop an integrated employability model for young people not in employment, education, or training (NEETs) from the LGBTI communities, which has two main pillars: strengthening young people’s employability skills and building a support network that will facilitate their first entry or re-entry into the labor market.

The coordinator of this project LGL together with the Lithuanian Diversity Charter Association and two partner organizations from Bulgaria – Bilitis and Glas foundations – will utilize a “connecting the dots” approach to motivate LGBTI NEETs to utilize existing pathways to employment, strengthen their technical as well as interpersonal skills, adaptability, commitment to continuous learning, resilience and conflict solving skills. At the same time, the partners will engage potential employers which value diversity and inclusion at the workplace, and create a “bridge to employment” strategy that can be replicated in different EU contexts for other vulnerable groups of NEETs.

The key elements of this strategy are 1) “teaming up” with existing youth employment services to make them LGBTI-inclusive, 2) individual empowerment of LGBTI NEETs to set and achieve personal goals related to career development, 3) ensuring on-the-job skill building/validation options at LGBTI-inclusive companies. The project will support 120 NEETs in 2 years, and the expected placement rate is at least 40% by the end of the project, expecting a long-term effect of all the supported individuals improving their employability.

The project is funded by the ESF+ Social Innovation+ Initiative.