We tackle worklessness in deprived areas by helping
people develop their confidence, skills and experience in order to
find work and to contribute to the regeneration of their own
neighbourhoods. Our programmes are focused on those people
who find it hardest to get work such as those with low levels of
skills, people claiming incapacity benefit or
ex-offenders. Many Groundwork Trusts run programmes that pay
local unemployed people a wage while they work on a wide range of
activities from renovating run-down houses to running recycling
schemes. Increasingly these services are being
developed into enterprises with the potential to support local
economic development.
We also help businesses and other organisations stay competitive and efficient by encouraging them to become more responsible corporate citizens, reducing their impact on the local and global environment and increasing their links with the local community. We offer training and advice so that organisations can improve their environmental performance and gain accreditation through an environmental management system. Sometimes we support whole business communities on business parks or in town centres, helping them improve their practices, their premises and the local environment at the same time.
| Groundwork and the Centre for Local Economic Strategies have
conducted research to measure the impact the local environment can
have on the local economy. The study found that simple
interventions, such as improving landscaping and security around
shops and businesses, checked local economic decline and led to
greater resilience. At Riverside Industrial Estate in
Middlesbrough, one of the several examples studied, investment in
signage, lighting and routeways helped secure more than
£1million of private investment, business relocation to the
area and the creation of local jobs. Click here to view the research. |
Lockside
5 Scotland Street
Birmingham B1 2RR
T 0121 236 8565
F 0121 236 7356
E info@groundwork.org.uk
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