Community First awarded £43k Solent Supporting Employment grant

Community First is grateful to have received £43k grant funding from the Solent Supporting Employment Programme, managed by Hampshire & Isle of Wight Community Foundation (HIWCF).

The funding will go towards operating and developing Havant Skills and Employment Hub, which will provide support to local people who are unemployed in the Havant area. The Hub offers face-to-face support at a weekly job club, an online job club encouraging peer support and discussion, and client-centred support from staff to ensure clients meet their goals. The Hub will also launch a tailored training programme for those who wish to become self-employed or need assistance with developing a social enterprise. It will also address digital exclusion, a significant barrier to finding employment in our digitally connected world, by providing loan tablets to those without their own IT equipment. The Hub’s Facebook page promotes local employment, volunteering, and work experience opportunities.

Mandy Harris, Community Development Director at Community First, said “Community First is delighted to be awarded this funding and we are grateful to HIWCF for their support. It will enable us to realise our plans of a Skills and Employability Hub in Leigh Park Community Centre, to support the residents of Havant Borough. Our Positive Pathways and Training Teams will work together to offer training, information and guidance to local people seeking employment. At a time when unemployment is growing in Havant, this has never been more needed.”

For more information about the Havant Employment & Skills Hub, please contact us on 02393 873 808 or email us at positivepathways@cfirst.org.uk.

The Solent Supporting Employment Programme provides grants of between £30,000-£60,o00 to organisations in the Solent Local Enterprise Partnership area, helping them support individuals facing complex barriers to employment. Read more about the programme and the other brilliant local organisations it is supporting on the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Community Foundation website.