Two organisations with a commitment to helping ex-offenders and the socially excluded get back on their feet have joined forces in a practical employment training venture.
Veterans Aid and Bounce Back share the ethos of ‘hand-up, not handout’. Both exist to mend broken lives and both believe that the key to gaining and sustaining independence is employment.
CEO of Veterans Aid Dr Hugh Milroy said, “We are delighted to be working with Bounce Back, a charity and social enterprise with unique expertise in equipping ex-offenders with skills, work experience and a pathway to employment. The match is perfect.
“Thankfully veterans are under-represented in the prison population, but many of those who have served time struggle on release and find their way to Veterans Aid. I’ve seen first-hand what Bounce Back can achieve and in offering places to VA clients it is allowing us access to an extremely successful model.”
Veterans Aid has been helping ex-servicemen and women in crisis for more than 80 years and offers bespoke solutions to a diverse range of problems.
Bounce Back is a training organisation and an employer. It works with the participants in custody and on release to obtain professional qualifications in painting and decorating at NVQ Level 1 and 2.
CEO Francesca Findlater said, “Our core objective is to train and equip ex-offenders with skills, professional qualifications and an understanding of how to manage self-employment, benefits and tax so that they can move into the workplace with confidence and complete the transition from custody to paid employment. We then employ them in our own social enterprise or support them into work with some of our partner developers and housing associations.
“We are proud of our achievements to date – over 130 people have been through our training course and we have a re-offending rate of less than 12% against the national average of 65%. We are looking forward to working with Veterans Aid and hope to be taking our first four ex-service trainees from the charity in September.”
Both charities are characterised by their focus on hope, empowerment and what individuals can become with the right support.
