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Working Communities Project

The Learning Communities project has been set up to get people back into work through making provision at local community centres and using their voluntary staff to support it. There is a great demand for this sort of work around the county.

The objective of the project is to help people living in vulnerable communities who have significant barriers to employment to successfully find and keep work.

So far we have over 300 people on the programme, 48 of whom have got jobs through the project and of those 19 of them have been in work for more than 3 months. We have been very successful and are currently 22% ahead of profile for recruitment to the project 150% ahead of profile in securing jobs.

Learners undertake intensive 1-to-1 guidance to decide their goals and skills gaps and then complete training in job search, interview skills, work skills and whatever vocational training is required to secure work. Support is offered to the individual and to the employer for the first 13 weeks of employment.

Learners may have a range of barriers to employment to contend with which may be: housing issues, ill health, lack of self-confidence, limited employment experience, disability, mental health problems, learning difficulties, debt management, lack of essential skills, lack of job search skills, transport or lack of self-presentation skills.

Boston College

Boston College has a long history of working in partnership to reach the vulnerable communities that we serve. We continually look for diverse funding streams to access money to support communities and adults, and to allow us to work with smaller and third sector organisations to give the best possible service to our learners and beneficiaries. Many of our partners on this project we have worked with for a number of years and in other contexts.

We recently achieved a Grade 2 from Ofsted (Oct 2008) who judged all of our work to be good and some of it Outstanding. We were judged to be Outstanding in Meeting the Needs and Interests of Learners.

The Project Partners

The Working Communities Project is led by Boston College working in partnership with learning centres in vulnerable communities:

Tayloritex (Boston, Fenside and Sutterton)
Wolds Learning Network (Horncastle)
CG Partnership (Market Rasen, Gainsborough, Mablethorpe)
Abbey Access Centre (Monks Road, Lincoln)
Moorland Access Centre(Moorland, Lincoln)
Birchwood Access Centre (Birchwood, Lincoln)
The Priory Centre (St Catherine’s, Lincoln)
Mencap (all over Lincolnshire with specialist services to support people with learning disabilities)

The partners on the project are all third sector organisations. Mencap is a specialist provider working with learners with learning disabilities. The other partners are based in communities across Lincolnshire and offer a range of provision to their communities including: vocational training, job clubs, counselling, basic skills courses, community larder, book exchange, voluntary placements, debt advice, support with benefits queries.

Page Last Updated : 23/11/2009 16:20:07