Young people: Youth Employment Minister Angela Constance.
The Scottish branch of a youth charity helping to get young people into work has been awarded £750,000 of European Union funding.
The Prince’s Trust Scotland has an 80% success rate in achieving "positive outcomes" for 16 to 25 year olds by getting four out of five into the world of work.
The charity is expected to help 2500 others with the money awarded from the European Structural Fund.
The EU funding will be channelled into one of three courses which aim to motivate disengaged and disadvantaged youths, boost community engagement and provide vocational training.
Vocational courses are available in retail, hospitality, the motor trade, leisure, travel and tourism, environment, land management and health.
Charity director Heather Gray said the award will allow The Prince's Trust to do more with its partners, including those in national and local government, the private sector and other charities.
She said: "Our programmes offer tailored support to help young people move forward into employment, self-employment, education or training and with 80% positive outcomes, we know it's an approach that works.
"By empowering young people to fulfil their potential, The Trust has a key role to play in harnessing young people's talents to improve economic growth in Scotland and this award gives us a vital platform for helping the 7000 young people we've set out to reach this year."
Youth Employment Minister Angela Constance said: "The Scottish Government is investing an additional £30 million into a wide range of projects through the Youth Employment Strategy and has made a unique guarantee of a place in education or training for all our 16 to 19-year-olds.
"The work of the third sector is vital part of turning the Scottish Government's pledge on youth employment into making a difference to the lives our young people.
Capital Investment and Infrastructure Secretary Alex Neil said: "The Scottish Government has underlined its commitment to tackling youth unemployment by following the European Commission's advice to prioritise the issue through Structural Funding.
"£25 million, now fully approved by Scotland's Programme Monitoring Committee, almost doubles the funding that the First Minister announced in December to tackle youth unemployment.
"In addition, we have funded numerous individual ESF projects around the country that are already making a real difference to our young people, including the work done by The Prince's Trust.
"The Prince's Trust has a peerless record of training and mentoring young people and I fully expect them to maximise this additional funding in Scotland and ensure even more people are ready for the modern jobs market."
