16:00, 12 April 2021
Words by Smiley Team, Staff Writer, London
As businesses reopen and lockdown eases, some will be celebrating more than others. Homeless people in the UK will be among this second category, facing barriers to employment as well as the services businesses offer. To tackle this inequity, the largest UK co-operative, fully owned by its members, the Midcounties Co-operative, has launched an initiative to support homeless and disadvantaged people in Oxfordshire.
The network of co-operatively owned businesses has partnered with a local employment charity, Aspire, to offer work experience and employment opportunities for people sleeping rough.
Together, the co-operative and Aspire will run a training programme which will offer participants a two-week placement at The Midcounties Co-operative’s Cowley Centre Food store. They will shadow colleagues and receive training and support, helping them to build skills and experience.
Chief executive officer at The Midcounties Co-operative, Phil Ponsonby, said: “Doing the right thing by the people and organisations living within the communities in which we operate is at the heart of everything we do.
“We’ve supported Aspire for a couple of years now and I’m amazed by the unbelievable work they do to help disadvantaged people across Oxfordshire. I’m beyond proud to launch this new programme in partnership with them, and believe it will make a genuine difference to some of those most in need of support and guidance.”
Echoing these sentiments, Paul Roberts, chief executive officer at Aspire Oxford, said: “The initiative is a great way for us to help expand the work we already do within the Cowley area and will really help make a difference to those in need of vital work-experience opportunities to help them develop their employability and social development skills.”
In preparation for the initiative, Aspire trained colleagues at the Cowley Centre Food Store to help them build awareness and understanding to support those joining the programme. A selection of colleagues also benefited from online interactive training to help them mentor the new trainees.
In the first year of the programme, the co-op hopes to offer at least four of the trainees with permanent employment, either at the Cowley shop or elsewhere in the Oxford area.
Moreover, the society will collaborate with Aspire throughout the year to build longer-term work experience for vulnerable people.
Aspire is a multi-award-winning employment charity and social enterprise. Each year, it assists more than 2,000 people in Oxfordshire and the wider Thames Valley who face homelessness, poverty and disadvantages, to seek employment and housing. They do this through training opportunities, as well as intensive one to one support.
To help continue their work transforming the lives of severely disadvantaged people, donate here.
