Posts filed under "Employment"
Inverurie Community News
Jenny McBain discovers a community newspaper put together by people with disabilies. It is a busy editorial meeting in Aberdeenshire and the paper’s contributors are keen to pitch their ideas for the next edition of Inverurie Community News. It is a scene that is replicated at newspapers and magazines across the entire British Isles. However, […]
Wates Group
‘Answers from Big Issue’ had a brief chance to catch up with Louise Hyde, Group Community Investment Manager from the Wates Group, following on from their scoop at the Social Enterprise UK awards ceremony last year November. Although the Wates Group are not actually a social enterprise within themselves, they work with a network of […]
Highland Blindcraft
Jenny McBain visits a social firm with a long history and finds herself becoming a customer.// After a quick lie down to put a mattress to the test in the Highland Blindcraft showroom, I was soon happily completing a purchase in anticipation of comfortable nights to come. This is the way the very best social […]
Bikeworks
Martin Kitara visits a 360-degree-spinning wheel of cycle goodness at a London social enterprise. // Bikeworks started trading in 2007 after being registered as a company in 2006. The founding partners Jim Blakemore and Zoe Portlock developed Bikeworks because they saw strong potential for the cycling to make a positive difference to the lives of […]
Amber
Figen Gunes finds out about a residential project for young people with an ‘enviable’ success rate in turning lives around.// Amber, a residential charity working with 17- to 30-year-old homeless and unemployed young people, has a unique style. It does not change people, people change when they come to Amber. Many, but not all, of […]
PHASES
PHASES is a construction firm with a triple bottom line. Andrew Burns finds out how they do it. // Brian Daley can relate to the ethos of The Big Issue: a hand up, not a handout. Four years ago the ex-serviceman was living in a hostel and battling an alcohol addiction after leaving the army […]
Working Rite
By Jenny McBain // Working Rite is an answer for NEETS and governments alike Disenchantment with school and a reluctance to get out of bed in the morning can constitute the first steps on a bleak road to long-term unemployment for young people. The problem of how to help so called NEETS – that is […]
Building Lives
By Figen Gunes It’s the middle of a tour of a life-changing apprenticeship academy; the guide is the multi-millionaire founder of the award-winning social enterprise: Building Lives. But he crosses a line by opening a door to an exam room. “Keep quiet. Close the door,” says the teacher as we are ushered out. Steve Rawlings […]
Just for Kids Law
By Figen Gunes “Courts say, ‘it is my role to punish.’ Lawyers say, ‘it is my role to get you off.’ And teachers say, ‘I only teach’ – but no one is looking at the whole picture of troubled children,” says Shauneen Lambe, co-founder of Just for Kids Law, a not-for-profit legal advice company for […]
Cool School
By Figen Gunes Immediately walking in, the buzz of new ideas inspires the visitor to dream big. Then the writing on the wall near the entrance further boosts your motivation: ‘Everyone has a capacity to be remarkable’. In this place, it really is true. Londoners from diverse backgrounds who want to transform daily life through […]
