One of the Foundation’s Community Matters partners, TLC College in Wolverhampton, has been running a job club providing tailored support to improve the lives and raise aspirations of marginalised individuals.
Navdeep Kaur, Project Officer, said:
“Today we’ve got people coming in who want to job search, people that want to do their CVs or cover letters. It’s older people that come here really, a lot of people aren’t very confident on the computers and they come here for help with their universal credit and things like that.
“Some will come in and work independently, they just need to access a computer but there’s some that will need one to one support. We’ll help them with their job search and see what help they need to progress.”
One of the attendees, Sandra, said:
“I’ve been coming here for just over a year. I came here through my friend, to use the group so I could job search. There’s two people that run the group, they offer one to one support and really help you.
“What I’ve found is they have a lot of information; they know where to direct you to help you onto certain courses and things like that. They can help you achieve what you want to do, if they think of any courses that can help you they’ll point you in the right direction.
“For me I didn’t know much about looking for work when I first started, I spent a long period of time looking after my parents, this was all new to me! I’ve gone onto do an ICT course; I’ve been finding out as much as I can because it’s a digital world now isn’t it!
“I’m learning and doing things I never thought I could do. I’m currently volunteering as a Learning Support Assistant for TLC’s Chatter Group; I’ve always been a very introverted person, and this has helped me with my confidence. I’ve enjoyed it!”
For more information about TLC and their Community Matters project they provide click here.
For more information about the Foundation and the Community Matters project click here.
The nationwide, Building Better Opportunities programme, is funded by The National Lottery Community Fund and the European Social Fund (ESF) who are co-investing in local projects tackling the root causes of worklessness, promoting social inclusion and driving local jobs and growth.
Community Matters is one of four projects within this programme across the Black Country and will help people across Walsall, Wolverhampton, Dudley and Sandwell move into or closer to employment by developing their skills and confidence.
Community Matters is managed by the Heart of England Community Foundation in partnership with local organisations across the Black Country.