Words by Smiley Team
Since 1989, Toucan Employment has worked with individuals and employers to promote the inclusion of disability in the workplace.
The charity works with people with learning difficulties and disabilities in the boroughs of Brent, Lewisham, Lambeth and Southwark.
Toucan Employment aims to reduce the social exclusion of people with learning difficulties and disabilities by supporting them to find and retain appropriate supported employment.
For example, Annabelle – one of their service users – now works at Cafe van Gogh. She initially started training as a kitchen porter, but has since moved on to assisting with food preparation, such as cutting and peeling vegetables. With someone working alongside her, she can also make certain recipes from start to finish, and has been helping chefs plate up the weekly breakfast menu.
Toucan Employment has found jobs for people in small and large businesses, and also offers service users the opportunity to take part in additional projects.
These are run in order to give them the opportunities to gain experience and training in areas of their lives where they typically would not get the chance to.
Not everyone will have been in a position to learn the related everyday skills that so many of us take for granted in order to secure employment.
These projects allow service users the chance to learn skills, such as fully supported work experience in preparation for the world of work. They also provide opportunities to improve confidence, time management, the chance to get used to job routines, develop social skills and experience both working in a team and independently, if possible.
Their current projects include The Rosemary, a new social enterprise Hungarian cafe bar, The Green Works Brent, Lambeth Older Residents project, and fitness and healthy eating projects.
(Read more about how The Co-op Foundation is tackling youth loneliness)
Toucan also works with people who are digitally excluded, by supporting service users with applications, and helping in any way possible to equip service users with the skills to find a job.
In November 2021, they were awarded £40,000 from Global’s Make Some Noise campaign, to help continue their amazing, life-changing work.
CEO of Toucan Alex Margolies said: “It’s going to make such a difference to our clients. It will enable our clients to build their digital literacy and improve their employability.”
You can find out more about Toucan Employment at toucanemployment.org.
