Help Disability Collective Crowd Fund Billy & Two Others
Devon Disability Collective (DDC), is an Exeter based Social Enterprise and is appealing to help Crowd Fund 3 paid and supported trainee positions. We would like to offer one position to Billy, who is an autistic young adult in his final year of studies at Exeter College.
We are well into our third year of trading, and have attracted over 1200 new customers. We now employ 24 people, most of whom have disabilities, and with your help we are ready to get more people into work with training and support.
There are so many talented people who bring valuable skills and want to work but are not given opportunity in the workplace because of a misguided view on disability.
Billy is number one on our wish list, as he demonstrated incredible motivation and hard work and covered a wide variety of jobs in the busy factory.
The 3 supported trainee positions are as detailed:
- Trainee Operative - Billy as shown on the Video
- Accounting Technician Apprentice – to go to advert
- CAD Designer and Pattern Cutter Apprentice – to go to advert
Donations will go directly to the training and development of these 3 people, learning to use industry leading equipment and software and manufacturing techniques, giving them social confidence, motivation and ultimately financial independence. We will give regular updates on the progress of these people through our Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/devondisabilitycollective.org/SDu
Steve Gallin DDC’s Operations Director comented; “Billy desperately wants to come and work for us and we all think that he is absolutely brilliant, it’s sad that a lot of businesses do not see the abilities in people with disabilities, as these really shine through if you give them a chance”. “With help to fund their training and support for 12 months in paid positions, we would seek to then take them on full-time”.
Billy & Steve
With your help will be well placed to continue DDC’s social objectives and provide more sustainable jobs for our team whilst supporting more people with Disabilities as we grow.
Jeff pictured with MP Ben Bradshaw (DDC's Patron)
More About Us
We set up Devon Disability Collective (DDC) in June 2015. It was established at a time where an at-arms-length local authority controlled social firm (Pluss) retracted from many of its enterprise operations, and in one case potentially leaving behind it a heritage of support for people with disabilities spanning more than 50 years.
DDC’s founding Directors were employees of Pluss at the time, and we believed that the business would work if ran differently. The company was established and recruited solely from the redundant members of staff, employing 24 of the 33 people that Pluss let go, many of whom would have struggled immensely to find and keep gainful employment elsewhere. We are now in our third year of trading and have managed to grow the business significantly (26% on turnover) from year one to two, taking pride in our ability to serve multiple market places and react quickly to changing customer needs.
The bulk of our revenue comes from:
- Providing upholstered wheelchair products to wheelchair service contracts across the UK, both NHS & Privately run
- Providing upholstery & re-upholstery services to B2B & B2C markets across the UK spanning domestic, business, automotive, marine & aeronautical sectors
- Sub contract assembly & contract packing services
- The retail of mobility products through our website & showroom
Mike and Lynn in the Upholstery section pictured with Councillor John Hart
Our vision is to create an autonomous enterprise, fostering genuine engagement and ownership for all involved, so all employees were & are invited to join the company as members, giving them voting rights on the direction the company takes.
Our articles of association ensure all profits are invested back into the company for the continued benefit of people with disabilities, allowing us to employ, train, rehabilitate, progress and help as many people with disabilities as possible in a self-sustaining work environment whilst promoting independent living. DDC provides a workplace free of discrimination and bullying, where independence is promoted and everyone is considered to be on a level playing field, operated and evaluated by its member employees and the board of Directors. We restrict the movement of company assets to solidify this social purpose.
Thank you for taking the time to read about us, please feel free to contact us if you have any questions.
www.devondisabilitycollective.org