BIG Lottery is awarding over £1m to the Plunkett Foundation for woodland social enterprises . Fifty communities across the UK will receive support to transform unmanaged woodland into opportunities for jobs, leisure, education and services and to improve the health and wellbeing of local people. Find out more here. [Source: Big Lottery]
Social landlords – a new force for job creation?
Housing Associations and other social landlords are increasingly focused on helping residents into work. In a recent survey two thirds of housing associations said they already provided employment and skills support to tenants, or were planning to introduce such services.
Nesta recently co-hosted two events with HACT and the centre for Economic and Social Inclusion to find out more. In particular, they wanted to explore how Nesta could help prompt new ideas and take good ones to scale.
Read more here: Nesta, 12 January 2015
Tower Hamlets residents graduate from a free employment and training course
Twenty residents in Tower Hamlets, east London celebrated last week as they graduated from a free employment and training course. The ‘community champions’ programme is run by local housing and regeneration group East Thames and designed to tackle unemployment and equip people with the skills and knowledge to bring about positive changes in their community. Course participants were trained to survey local residents and get their feedback on the estate’s £200 million regeneration programme. Read more
Can social networks help people move out of poverty, and if so how?
A new report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) looks at how social networks can be used to improve access to employment, support families and communities, and raise aspirations. Click here for more
