Residents in Wybourn are benefitting from our innovative employability and wellbeing programme to support people into training, voluntary work and employment.
The initiative, Wybourn Works, funded by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and the Learning and Work Institute, aims to help local residents gain skills, engage in voluntary work, or secure paid employment.
The Wybourn initiative is part of a wider project across England, inspired by a successful model developed by the Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation (MDRC) in the United States to support residents in the Bronx and Queens, New York. The project, ‘Jobs Plus,’ is being piloted in ten areas across the country, with Wybourn being one of the selected locations. We’ve received £200,000 to implement Jobs Plus in Wybourn, using a community approach to establish the ‘Wybourn Works’ training academy.
This will run until March 2025 with the team running a programme of skills-based courses and person-centred employability coaching from the Pat Midgley Community Hub in Wybourn. The goal is to engage a total of 143 residents, with 100 entering training or voluntary work and 43 securing paid employment. To incentivise participation, those who secure work earning £677 in the first two months will receive a £400 bonus.
Our Employability and Community Investment Teams are working with partner organisations to deliver ‘Wybourn Works.’ Manor Castle Development Trust has been subcontracted to help meet the targets, and companies including Sheffield Housing Company are contributing by providing talks and work experience opportunities in construction. The activity will also be supported by our in-house Financial Resilience team and three Wybourn residents recruited as Community Champions to assist with engagement, administration, and delivery.
Since its launch, the project has signed up 42 customers, surpassing the initial targets and three participants have already secured employment. Courses offered so far include childcare, with plans to expand to catering, hospitality, and customer service in the autumn.
Commenting on the project, Rebecca Cremin, Contract Performance Specialist for Great Places, said:
We’re passionate about being more than a landlord and using our resources and networks to help raise aspirations and build skills within our communities. There is a real need for this in Wybourn, one of our key anchor neighbourhoods where many residents are our customers.
The funding from the DWP and Learning and Work Institute to build ‘Wybourn Works’ has come at an exciting time for us as we launch our new customer-focussed corporate plan, and it’s great to see the progress already being made as our training academy is being met with real enthusiasm. Everyone involved is working extremely hard, and we’re excited to continue to build on this opportunity.
All residents of Wybourn are eligible to sign up for this employability support. For more information, contact Rebecca Cremin at rebecca.cremin@greatplaces.org.uk or Joanne Miller at joanne.miller@greatplaces.org.uk .
Further details about the Jobs Plus programme can be found on the DWP website.
