Recruitment, Education & BusinessJobsNew horticulture scheme to give jobs to disabled Londoners New horticulture scheme to give jobs to disabled Londoners
10/10/2007
An imaginative new employment training scheme to tackle the serious unemployment among disabled Londoners has been announced by Thrive, the national charity which promotes the benefits of gardening for disabled people.
Currently statistics show that 30 per cent of disabled people of working age want to work but do not have a job. They are twice as likely to be unemployed, have half the income and are more likely to have no educational qualifications.
Yet the horticulture industry has a well-recognised skills gap, with a forecast by LANTRA - the sector skills council for the environmental and land-based industries - of the need for some 25,000 new entrants in its industries over the next five years.
The announcement is being made at a reception held in Battersea Park, where Thrive has a flagship project and from where the new scheme will be run. Attendees include local policy makers and professionals from the fields of social care, education and employment, and parks and green spaces.
The new Thrive initiative is a development and training scheme in horticultural skills called Working it Out which will reach some 50 participants each year from across six inner London boroughs, providing a person-centered personal development and training programme over 12-24 months - and the opportunity to obtain an accredited vocational qualification in horticulture.
Training will take place through work-shadowing projects and work experience placements in London parks and community gardens, beginning at Thrive’s Battersea Garden Project in Battersea Park.
It will then extend to London parks, community gardens and green spaces through a pioneering collaboration between Thrive, the London Parks and Green Spaces Forum, the London Borough of Wandsworth and LANTRA.
Funding is currently being secured and the programme is expected to start in the spring of 2008.
“We believe that Working it Out is a win-win initiative for everyone.” says Nicola Carruthers, Chief Executive of Thrive. “And we are in a unique position to deliver it. We know there are many people who want to work, yet have mental or physical conditions which put them at a disadvantage when trying to improve their skill levels. We also know that there are a huge number of vacancies in the horticulture industry.
“For thirty years Thrive has been helping disabled people to overcome their personal obstacles and gain the confidence to progress. With the support of our partners who have helped us make the scheme possible, we hope it will serve as a model which can be adopted more widely in the future.”
The six London boroughs which will be involved in Working it Out are Hammersmith and Fulham, Lambeth, Kensington and Chelsea, Southwark, Wandsworth and Westminster.
More information on the links below.