Two new projects aiming to lift barriers to employment for people in Chard and Yeovil will launch in January 2022.
We've been selected by Somerset County Council to support the projects, gathering intelligence, and providing a bespoke programme breaking down the barriers to help people into education, training and employment.
‘STEP-Up to...mobile outreach’ and ‘Partnership College’ have been funded by the Government’s Community Renewal Fund and will run for six months.
Michelle Dawson, Director of Housing and Community Investment at Abri, said: “The government’s Levelling Up agenda has brought projects like these into focus. Our role as a housing provider, with access to customers and local intelligence, makes us a provider of choice for Somerset County Council and well placed to support these projects.
“Our Employment Service has already helped thousands of people within our communities, ranging from helping young people in educational settings understand and access pathways and opportunities for their post-16 options, to supporting those out of work, looking for better jobs or wanting to start their own business.
“It’s what our Community Strategy and five-year £15m investment is all about – empowering communities, improving health and wellbeing, and providing employment opportunities.”
STEP-Up to...mobile outreach will focus on those living in Chard’s rural areas and those traditionally harder to reach. It will assess how effective different methods of engaging people into employment are, and the other support available.
We will be running a pilot scheme in Chard to gather intelligence on the barriers families with young children face which exclude them from engaging and how they can break the cycle of historical unemployment. The scheme will also look to raise aspirations and address social mobility.
We will also be running intensive outreach employability support in community venues to those who are economically inactive, disengaged with mainstream unemployment programmes, and under-employed, to help them progress to more mainstream employability support.
The Partnership College project is for 16-24-year-olds in Yeovil and Chard who are NEET (Not in Education, Employment, or Training) and are furthest away from engaging. It will provide an intensive period of bespoke support to prepare young people with the skills required to progress forward into education, training, and ultimately employment and adult life.
We will be running family workshops to feed into understanding the root causes of barriers that prevent engagement in education, training & employment. They’ll also use the intelligence they gather through the STEP-Up project in Chard to support this project, and provide a bespoke interventions programme. This programme will help bridge the transition from Year 11 to 12 and provide time to build the skills to progress successfully.
Councillor David Hall, Somerset County Council Cabinet member for Economic Development, Planning and Community Infrastructure, said: “Somerset has won significant awards from the Community Renewal Fund, and it is good to see how these particular projects will help lift barriers to employment.
“Investment such as this in Chard and Yeovil will help drive forward the Somerset Recovery and Growth Plan as we emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic.”
To find out more about the projects, please get in touch with SomersetWorks, who are running the project.