Anne Shaw, of WMNT, said,”Acumen Community Enterprise Development Trust is a charity whose aim is social and economic regeneration in the North East. They have a great deal of experience in engaging with the community through employment, training and enterprise. And this skill set makes them an ideal partner for WMNT in helping to link local people with local jobs. We are looking to help people in our neighbourhood who may have been out of work for a long time and who face many barriers in getting back into work. Our service will support these people all the way if that’s what they want. We will listen to what the individual needs and develop a support programme for them that mirrors these needs.”
The new service, running under the banner of “West Middlesbrough Works” will initially be based at the WMNT Resource Centre in Meath Street, and will be staffed by a manager and two trained advisors from Acumen. “We will also be recruiting 3 part-time community engagement workers from the local area,” continued Mrs Shaw, “They will work alongside the Acumen staff initially and will be going out into the community to proactively find local people who need our help and provide almost a “buddy” service for them, so that clients know they are not on their own, and always have someone to turn to who can help them with their employment problems. That is why it is so important that the community engagement workers are either from the local area or have in depth local knowledge. That way they know the issues that are affecting our clients, and are well placed to offer help.” Mrs Shaw added, “WMNT and Acumen are already working closely with the Middlesbrough Learning Shop, Job Centre Plus and the Local Authority to deliver this service. And in the next 6 months we will be developing more partnerships with more agencies, in order to take West Middlesbrough Works forward into the future.”
Linda Broadhead, OBE, Chair of the WMNT Board, is a strong supporter of the service. “It is great to have the expertise of an organisation like Acumen on board.” she commented, “It will mean that we can provide a service for West Middlesbrough that they’ve not seen before, particularly because it really will be tailored to the individual’s needs and will support people from our first contact with them right through to their first few months of employment. It is all about helping people to identify and overcome the hurdles which are preventing them from getting into work. There are many barriers to employment, particularly for the long term unemployed, and they are not necessarily barriers which first come to mind for a lot of people. They may be related to housing, receipt of benefits, childcare, even having the right clothes to go to an interview in! These are all areas where West Middlesbrough Works can help.”
The West Middlesbrough Works unit is open from 10am until 3pm at the IT Suite of the Resource Centre and is available for all West Middlesbrough residents over the age of 16. The service is confidential, and in addition to the support of the WMNT and Acumen team, clients will be able to take advantage of the excellent IT and internet facilities at the IT Suite.
You can contact West Middlesbrough Works on 01642 255001, or drop into the Resource Centre between 10am and 3pm, Monday to Friday.
Ends.
Press Notice WMNT223. 02/05/08.
Issued by Rachel Baker, Marketing Development Manager on (01642) 757 870.