Working with the marginalised
The Vassall Centre: Creating Barrier-Free Workspace
The Vassall Centre Trust is showing how workspace can be made free of the barriers that disable people and can therefore offer new opportunities and genuine equality for disabled people at work.
Within the large building, the Vassall Centre, the Trust lets space to organisations that employ and provide services to disabled people. The accommodation is affordable and offers long-term security. The tenants benefit from this, many of them having moved to the Vassall Centre from highly unsuitable accommodation, often overpriced and with no security. Because the facilities within the Vassall Centre make it possible, organisations can have disabled people as staff, volunteers and Trustees; putting into action their commitment to offering equality of opportunity. They can also enhance their social return because the low rent they pay means more of their grant/contract finance can be spent on the provision of services. The size of the building means that a wide range of services can operate on the same site. This provides excellent opportunities for sharing facilities and working cooperatively. At the same time disabled visitors are able to seek help from a range of services.
By pioneering an inclusive concept of "barrier free" space, the Trust is providing facilities way beyond the vision of the Disability Discrimination Act in which the expectation of "accessibility" relates mostly to people receiving services rather than giving them. For the Trust, the word inclusive refers to the features of the building that ensure that people with any form of impairment -- visual, hearing, mobility, learning, dexterity etc -- will not experience barriers when working within it. No other comparable working environment exists and the Vassall Centre Trust aims towards a more universal understanding of "barrier free" workspace.
In addition to the tenants, there are large numbers of people who participate in the life of the building through the David Hiatt Baker Conference Centre. It is the Trust’s aim for the Vassall Centre to become a focus for the community of disabled people within Bristol, promoting a positive image of disabled people at work with total equality in the workplace.
Contact: Tom Douglas (Centre Manager), The Vassall Centre Trust; Tel: 0117 965 1707 Email: empowerment@vassallcentre.org Web: www.vassallcentre.org
The Sunlight Trust: Getting ex-offenders back into work
The Sunlight Trust works with young people in Rochester Young Offenders Institute. It recently employed a young ex-offender, just released, to manage the programme. The Trust aims to engage young offenders with activities and experiences that they have identified themselves. This is designed to keep them engaged, and once mutual trust has been established they are offered a range of non-traditional learning opportunities. The Trust currently has two young offenders learning to be sound engineers, another training to be a chef and another learning ICT skills. All of these courses have basic literacy skills as a core component.
Matt, who joined the scheme last year said:
“being treated and valued like anyone else was my first surprise….you are not treated normally as a prisoner so that was a shock…I never felt judged and people actually trusted me. I’m now working in community development, an area I previously never knew anything about. I’m helping keep youngsters out of prison and helping those inside to change the things in their lives that keep them returning. It’s been an incredible life changing experience.”
The Trust maintains a relationship with all its beneficiaries. Upon release, young offenders can access all services at the Sunlight Trust including health, education, childcare, advice, social skills, employment and interview skills. Many are able to gain employment within the Trust’s growing social enterprises.
For the Sunlight Trust, working with marginalized communities and individuals, means creative risk, innovation, trust and using a grass roots model. People at the Trust have found that by taking the right approach, even the hardest to reach group isn’t that hard to reach.
It is worth noting that 84% of Sunlight Trust staff have started as trust beneficiaries, moving onto volunteering before becoming permanent staff. 20% of Sunlight staff self identify as ex-offenders.
Contact: Peter Holbrook (Director), the Sunlight Development Trust; Tel: 01634 338600, Email: info@sunlighttrust.org.uk, Web: www.sunlighttrust.org.uk
Questions, strategies and advice from practitioners:
Do you have adequate support mechanisms?
Does your trust employ beneficiaries?
Keep asking yourself the question ‘Why are we doing it?’ To make sure the motives are right.
Other resources:
Revolving Doors Agency (www.revolving-doors.co.uk) is a charity working to improve the lives of people who are caught up in crime and mental ill-health
YoungMinds (www.youngminds.org.uk) is the national charity committed to improving the mental health of all children and young people
UNLOCK (www.unlockprison.co.uk) is the national association for ex-offenders; it works to support ex-offenders in leaving crime behind and rebuilding their lives
The Social Exclusion Unit (www.socialexclusionunit.gov.uk) at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) offers access to definitions, policy papers, projects and other resources on the subject of social exclusion
