JERICHO & Shoosmiths Impact Report
Over the past year, funding from the Shoosmiths Foundation has enabled us to provide additional social mobility-focused support on top of our work and training opportunities. The impact has been transformational. Our increased capacity meant that we were able to invest time in forging links with employers and creating opportunities to visit them for ‘careers days’ to learn about their organisations and career paths. Many of our beneficiaries were clearly inspired and motivated by these visits.
The JERICHO Jump Start project began in October 2022 and enabled us to:
provide JERICHO beneficiaries with the support they need to enter and sustain mainstream employment after a JERICHO programme
instil the confidence, self-belief and skills in JERICHO beneficiaries to believe their future can be brighter than their past
encourage and challenge JERICHO beneficiaries to ‘think big’ and create a career and life plan which builds in progression, promotion, and fulfilment, being both aspirational and achievable
build relationships with mainstream employers/corporate partners to create welcoming, strong routes to sustainable employment for JERICHO beneficiaries
disrupt the likely trajectory of long-term unemployment/ low aspiration and create a more level playing field from which to progress in work and life
In total, we supported 50 people who were facing challenges to employment such as being a survivor of modern slavery, having little or no work experience, low confidence, a mental health condition and depression/anxiety. 77% progressed into a positive outcome.
P who was supported on the project said: “After recently moving to the Birmingham area I came to JERICHO mainly to find work and to seek direction on how to get work. I had some previous bad experience in a work place and because of that kept to voluntary work. In the time I worked at The ReUsers I have gained confidence in myself and also when it comes to working with people. I had fun working with the people there as it is a friendly laid back environment. I am grateful for my time there and look forward to next chapter in paid employment in a high street retail company.”
Dawn Hall, JERICHO’s People Support Manager said: “we are delighted that we have been able to help P into paid employment and grateful to the Shoosmiths Foundation for enabling us to provide additional support to P and others.”
JERICHO Jump Start has now become an integral part of our service delivery and we are committed to continue to deliver this aspiration raising element of our programme. We have already submitted several applications to grant making trusts specifically for this project and hope to receive positive news in the coming weeks.
You can download the full end-of-year report here.