© 2011 West Yorkshire Learning Consortium,
Suite 89, Oxford Chambers, Oxford Place Centre, Oxford Place, Leeds, LS1 3AX,
Tel:
0113 2453111.
Charity Number: 1100520. Company Number: 04614852.
Leeds
Kirklees
Bradford
Calderdale
Wakefield
© Tim Green Photography
Community Grants projects A-De
The Acorn Centre is a charity working to support local people, particularly the marginalised and disadvantaged, in the Todmorden area. It delivers a wide range of training, education, personal development and enterprise programmes. Through Community Grants the Acorn Centre is providing a Job Club and workshops, providing support in job search, CV building, interview skills, role play, mentoring and IT access and training. Sixty learners, drawn from the local community, specifically the Muslim and Polish communities, are benefitting from the project, with individual assessments to identify current and future learning needs, leading to an Individual Development Plan. A mentoring system will also support each learner in identifying any additional assistance needed to gain employment, thus increasing employability.
Artlink West Yorkshire is a community charity based in Leeds, specialising in arts and health initiatives. It provides quality artistic initiatives for vulnerable members of the community, including mental health service users, teenage mothers, women’s groups, Asylum Seekers and Refugees. The grant is funding mental health service users to access creative learning sessions, generating artistic ideas and leading to the planning and delivering of an exhibition of work. Over seven months the project is helping up to 20 participants develop transferable skills such as organisation and presentation skills, and personal skills including communication and self esteem.
Bangladeshi Youth Organisation
BYO is a voluntary youth organisation based in Bradford, developing innovative initiatives to address issues affecting people in the community, including worklessness. BYO is using its Community Grant to deliver a ‘U Can’ programme for people from ethnic minorities, involving accredited training, skills workshops, group and individual support and guidance for unemployed young people. Learners will work in small groups over a 12 month period. The programme aims to instil self confidence, raise aspirations and improve employability.
Bridge-It Housing Ltd is a social enterprise based in Bradford, which provides temporary accommodation, support and training for homeless people and those at risk of homelessness, including refugees, victims of domestic violence, black and ethnic minority to gain practical skills and secure employment. The Community Grant has funded a ‘Life’ project consisting of courses and workshops for 20 homeless people over 12 months,
including financial management and sessions with business advisors, to develop confidence and basic and key skills, helping participants to develop skills to acquire more permanent accommodation, secure employment or start their own business.
C.A.R.E CFE
CARE is a voluntary and community organisation, aiming to enable members of refugee communities to overcome barriers to gain employment and emotional and economic independence. It offers support on resettlement issues, including employment, health and housing advice, and social and sports activities, and training. For the course of a year the Community Grant is funding a range of group sessions, including IT, ESOL, CV writing, telephone and interview techniques, job searching and analysing vacancies, and one to one mentoring, for 60 female refugees in south Leeds. Taster sessions, e.g. in self employment will also be offered. The project aims to increase women’s chances of moving in to work, making them more able to compete for work and gain employment.
Cloth Cat Studios is a charity and not for profit social enterprise which uses music training and events to help local people living in disadvantaged circumstances in inner city Leeds to gain skills, empowerment and confidence, enabling them to gain control over their lives and find avenues into employment. Community Grants has funded a series of music based learning sessions for 90 homeless people and people with mental health difficulties, incorporating a range of learning methods with individual and group work, with the aim to produce a band, recorded music and possibly an event. 110 two hour music based sessions are running at six locations across Leeds over 9 months. Participation will foster a sense of achievement and social cohesion, leading to improved confidence, motivation and skills.
Connect in the North is a charity based in Leeds providing training, research and consultancy to improve the quality of life of people with learning difficulties. Community Grants has funded a project in which learning disabled trainers train 30 unemployed people over eight months to work with people with learning difficulties as personal assistants. The project improves employability through Personalisation of Social Care Services, enabling people with special needs to commission high quality services to better meet their needs and foster improve independence and well being.
Deafinitions is a not for profit company providing deaf adults and young people information for health, financial and employment issues, and training. West Yorkshire’s deaf community has a 45-50% unemployment rate. The Community Grant is providing workshops for up to 100 deaf and BSL users for a year, covering looking and applying for jobs, writing CVs and the interview process. Participants will be empowered to know how to ask for an interpreter at an interview, and how to explain their deafness to a potential employee. The overall aim is to improve deaf people’s knowledge of, and confidence in, looking for and applying for work, and empower them to cope with mental health problems related to being unemployed.
‘It was a bit hard at first but the tutor showed me that I had done these things in the past and could use them to really sell myself’.
Learner, Acorn Centre
Creative learning session
Artlink