Theme 3 Scheme A Employment and Skills Opportunities for Socially Excluded Residents

Overview

The Council is committed to enabling the creation of jobs and training for local residents in a time of economic uncertainty. We want to redirect wealth back into the local economy, placing control and benefits in the hands of local people, using the strengths of local organisations and businesses.

We need to work with borough residents, employers, businesses, employment and training organisations and the VCS to link local residents to employment and skills opportunities. We want to ensure that all sections of the community can benefit from economic development in the borough and the recovery from the pandemic.

This will include targeted support for population groups that have often been excluded from employment. We will work with the borough’s young people – particularly those who are not in education, employment, or training (NEETs) - to link them to local opportunities and address barriers to their progression in the employment market.

Outcomes

The outcome we want to achieve through this scheme are:

Getting people into employment
- Increased employment and progression opportunities for groups with low employment levels - including Black, Asian & Multi-Ethnic communities, disabled people, women, and young people who are NEET - by addressing the barriers to employment that they face
  - Enhancing young people’s career prospects and employability skills
Improved employment prospects for disabled people
Enabling residents to benefit from cultural and sporting opportunities that improve their mental and physical well-being.

Priorities

14 organisations delivering activities to meet the following priorities:

Supporting people not in education, employment, or training (NEET)
Targeted youth outreach
Access to youth provision
Promoting enterprise and innovation, particularly the greening of the borough
Job brokerage by supporting people into work

Projects

A total of £1,127,229 worth of projects have been funded under MCGP Theme 3 Scheme A to deliver projects until 31^st March 2027. Below are the list of projects which have been funded.

Organisation name	Project Title	Project description	Amount (£) (Total 41 Months)
Hornafrik Integration Projects Ltd	E14 BAME Skills Development and Employment Project	This project aims to work with the hard-to reach communities, especially from BAME communities who have been in long-term unemployment and/or economically inactive, including individuals with no formal or limited educational qualifications.	70,623
Volunteer Centre Tower Hamlets	Improving Employability Through Volunteering	Improving Employability Through Volunteering project supports socially excluded residents from across the borough, including those who are further away from the labour market, to volunteer in local voluntary, community and statutory organisations, where they will gain workplace experience, training, references and improve their employability, skills and confidence.	134,104
East London Advanced Technology Training	Tower Hamlets Community Works	TH Community Works is a holistic programme of employability skills training, personal development, one-to-one support, volunteering and work experience to support unemployed refugees and migrant residents of Tower Hamlets into work.	102,500
Providence Row	Employability & Progression (E&P) programme helping homeless people get closer to, or into, employment	Employability & Progression (E&P) project is supporting vulnerable, disadvantaged and excluded homeless people in Tower Hamlets. Through a number of learning, training, peer mentoring, work-placement and employment opportunities organisation is helping people get off, and stay off the streets and begin leading more independent, self-sustaining lives.	85,417
Stepney Community Trust (SCT)	“Employment Pathways”	“Employment Pathways” has developed training and support programmes for local people, farthest away from the job market, to improve employability and become better able to compete for jobs.	85,417
Limehouse Project	More New Horizons	Limehouse Project’s ‘More New Horizons’ project is supporting local women to gain the skills to get into work and/or to begin to run their own online businesses which can be managed around a work-life balance and household responsibilities.	85,417
Circle Community	Circle Community's Back Your Future @ Canary Wharf employability programme for young people	Back Your Future @ Canary Wharf is providing holistic employability support to NEET young people. Access to work experience, job-seeking skills, sector knowledge, wellbeing support and entry level jobs with Canary Wharf employers will provide them with the knowledge, networks and confidence to find, sustain, and progress in work.	85,417
Account3 Ltd	Jobs for the Girls - Employability for Marginalised Women of Tower Hamlets	This project is providing unemployed women including returners with multi lingual support to plan their futures through offer of MATRIX accredited career guidance, training and support to better understand the jobs market and make the right decisions to get into paid work that offers career progression and stable employment.	85,417
Osmani Trust	Pathway to Employment	Organisation is delivering an education, employment and training-focused project to reduce barriers to employment for NEET young people in Tower Hamlets.	85,417
Leaders in Community	Youth and Community Social Action Hub	This project aims to create a safe and inclusive hub for youth and community social action work placements, which will help develop campaigns on equity and employment by addressing barriers to progress, and raising aspirations for young people and older community members, particularly for people from Black, Asian, and Multi-Ethnicity backgrounds.	85,417
Streets of Growth	Inspire Talent: Youth employability programme	This project is supporting Young adults who face complex barriers to work – showcasing their abilities and ensuring successful employment/training transitions.	85,417
The Bangladesh Youth Movement (BYM)	“Opening Doors” [The Ethnically Diverse Women’s Engagement Initiative]	“Opening Doors” is an initiative customised to support those residents furthest from the labour market i.e. females from Bangladeshi and ethnically diverse communities who are regularly excluded from development opportunities.	68,333
Mind in Tower Hamlets, Newham and Redbridge	Mindful Barista Project	The Mindful Barista Project is supporting people living with mental health to access employment training and experience to become a Barista and gain work experience in local cafes.	68,333