13 Sept 2021
Supporting future generations at ClwydAlyn
ClwydAlyn’s mission is to beat poverty, and we recognise that giving people the necessary skills or experiences to help them secure and maintain employment plays an important part of what we do. We are passionate about supporting not only our future generations, but as many people as possible to gain valuable employability skills, as well as providing training, volunteering and job opportunities to those who need it, which is why we jumped at the chance of sponsoring the supporting future generations award at the Welsh housing awards.
To achieve our vision, we work with in collaboration with key partners who are just as passionate as we are we, including:
We support this brilliant initiative to ‘fill the gap’ in disadvantaged, young women’s lives by offering diverse work taster placements across ClwydAlyn. This gives participants (or ‘gappies’ as they’re called) a real understanding of the diverse career opportunities that exist in the housing sector and gives them an opportunity to learn some valuable skills ‘on the job’, in case this is something they’d like to pursue as a future career. As well as arranging placements for ‘gappies’ with organisations like ourselves, We Mind the Gap also offer local young women life changing experiences, and a chance to learn new skills in an inclusive, encouraging environment, while providing coaching and support! Overall, this programme helps to empower local women, to help them take control of their futures.
This initiative is an exciting collaboration between ClwydAlyn, learning disability charity Hft and Flintshire County Council and offers a range of meaningful work placements to Flintshire young people with learning disabilities and/or autism; a combination of classroom learning, and valuable work placements helps to equip participants with the confidence, training and transferable skills they need, to secure sustainable employment.
We are working with this award-winning social enterprise to offer paid employment opportunities to residents living across North Wales. This includes creating new:
- ‘Employment Academy’ (12 month, paid) work placements, which are ringfenced especially for unemployed ClwydAlyn residents
- Kickstart (6 month funded) jobs, to help young people (aged 16-24) on Universal Credit, who are at risk of long-term unemployment.
All our work helps local people become job ready, which is important to us as we know today’s labour market is intensely competitive and that unemployment (and underemployment) lie at the heart of poverty.
This is why collaborating with partners to create decent jobs and meaningful opportunities, which provide income, security, positive wellbeing and empowerment, is a key part of our approach to addressing poverty within North Wales. It’s also a great example of how we aim to actively live and lead through our values of hope, trust & kindness. I’d like to wish everyone the best of luck for the awards ceremony.
Louise Blackwell is the community development and employability specialist at ClwydAlyn.
