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Previously vulnerable and homeless people celebrated their success today after graduating from a 4-month Employability Programme run by Kent homeless charity Porchlight.
The programme, which has three intakes a year, is accredited at Level 2 by the Open College Network and has been developed to make the charity’s service users more employable. During the 4 months participants submitted an astonishing 90,000 words in 181 assignments and received a total of 46 certificates between them.
Certificates and portfolios were awarded by Porchlight Chair Anne Norris. Anne said: “It is an amazing achievement to complete such in-depth training in just 4 months. An immense amount of hard work has gone into developing the course and those who have completed it are a credit to Porchlight and themselves. I now wish them all luck in finding employment.”
The programme has already seen significant success with 7 of the participants gaining employment after completing the course, all with the charity itself. Porchlight’s natural approach to employing people who have previously accessed support services means that currently 18% of its workforce has experienced some or all of the complex issues associated with homelessness or exclusion. With over 35 years experience in supporting vulnerable people they recognise that it can make a really positive difference when a person is supported by someone who has been in the same position.
Dave Webster, JET, (Jobs, Education and Training) Manager for Porchlight oversees the programme and says that the charity has identified a gap between its service users aspirations and what is available for them, “In today’s financial climate and competitive jobs market simply having volunteering experience is not enough. Many of the people that access our services express a wish to ‘give something back’ and help others with similar experiences to themselves. The programme gives those people transferable skills, knowledge and experience that we as an employer ourselves know to be valuable.”
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More information about the Employability Programme…
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