We are a registered charity in Wolverhampton and we have been active since 2019. We set up a food bank in response to Covid-19 and introduced "Skills For Life" project funded by the European Social Fund (distributed by the Walsall Council) for those who lost jobs during the pandemic. We have successfully completed 2 projects and have helped several individuals learn basic computing skills, use of Microsoft Office, cover letter writing, CV writing, administration & reception cover, job search, applications, interview preparation and softer skills.
We are currently running the 3rd and final project funded by the ESF where our clients are learning how to manage personal & business budgets, communicate effectively in a workplace, pass an aptitude test and create social media profiles to showcase their skills to attract potential employers. We carried out surveys with our beneficiaries and service users of 6 local food banks that we support and found that an interest in learning how to manage finances ranked very high due to the rise in cost of living.
People who have suffered loss of income through job redundancies due to the pandemic and those who are on benefits/low income have asked us to help them learn new skills so that they can free themselves from the cycles of dependency. Our projects have proved to be highly beneficial to our clients as it offers them the vital skills needed to progress into further training or enter the job market.
Our Skills For Life project is offered free of charge to all individuals over the age of 16 and our clients come from different cultural backgrounds. We are now aiming to target the age group of 16-25 years to help them become resilient and financially independent.
Our team comprises of an administrator with an International Business Management BA (Hons) degree, project manager with 6 years of experience as a pharmacy operations manager, over 17 years as a school governor and a finance manager (member of Association of Accounting Technicians) with over 15 years of experience in managing large accounts. We hire qualified trainers to deliver the sessions in a fully equipped comfortable environment. Our clients are given access to their own PC or laptop to use during the sessions and they also receive light refreshments while they learn. We also offer help with travel costs for those who cannot afford to commute to attend the course.
We will offer short term courses that will be tailored to suit the clients needs after completing an assessment of their current skills & ability; this will cover all the training areas mentioned. We will also look to include any other learning that our clients may suggest or find useful. Our aim is to equip our clients with the skills that they need to be confident in applying for jobs. We want them to be able to gain an understanding of how to use technology in a workplace safely and efficiently, write a cover letter, prepare a CV, create social media profiles such as Facebook, Linkedin, Instagram, and twitter to search for jobs or showcase their skills to attract potential employers, apply for jobs, prepare them for a job interview and employee assessment test, carry out administrative tasks, cover reception, deal with customers/suppliers, draft business budgets and work as a team. We also offer classroom based and one to one support in different languages so our clients can gain maximum benefit from learning.
If we meet the target, we will be able to start the new project in Jan 2023 and support over 100 clients . The money will be used to cover the costs of training, administration, management, refreshments and travel expenses for our clients that attend the course.