Action West London ACTION WEST LONDON MISSION CHANGING

Action West London

ACTION WEST LONDON MISSION • ‘CHANGING LIVES THROUGH EMPLOYMENT+ EDUCATION + ENTERPRISE • Jobs, Education, Training, Enterprise • Turnover between £ 850 k- £ 1. 25 million • Reg. Charity; Ltd company; social enterprise (Social Enterprise Mark accreditation) • 80% of income is from delivering public service contracts • 2004— 5 staff, 1 premise---developed over 12 years to • 2016 ---17 staff -8 volunteers; 4 premises- plus outreach venues BUT facing severe financial challenges like everyone else today

3 key objectives 1. ) EMPLOYMENT--Helping unemployed , disadvantaged individuals get JOBS and self employment 2) EDUCATION--Helping disadvantaged individuals get EDUCATION/TRAINING/QUALIFICATIONS 3)ENTERPRISE-- SUPPORT to start up businesses and social enterprises

EMPLOYMENT – helping disadvantaged individuals into employment ü Long term unemployed ü Refugees ü Offenders ü NEET young people ü Lone parents ü ‘Job ready’ black young men

How we get funding 1. Bid for contracts/tenders (DWP/SFA/London Councils, Europe ) 2. Bid to charitable Trusts (Big Lottery/ Trust for London etc) 3. Contracts with Boroughs- Hounslow and Ealing 4. INCOME GENERATION (social enterprise-Acton Market, Doughnut Factory Business Workspace etc) 5. In kind support - Free Time/expertise/Free training 6. Corporate support

PROBLEMS!! • Funding strategy is too dependent on winning and delivering contracts • Payment by Results very risky and • ‘Margins’ very low due to need to sub contract to Prime contractors • Commissioners asking for more ‘outputs’ for less money • Drying up of funding due to austerity

Acton Market –social enterprise

Generating earned income • Acton Street Market -4 days week x 50 weeks • 20+ self employment opportunities for local community each day • Scope to increase • ASSETS--Doughnut Factory Business start up premises-generates rental income • OTHER opportunities –e. g Recruitment agency

Challenges Will a Recruitment agency make money! Fierce competition from private sector What is the need? Resources needed to do business planning Market research-- -who are potential customers? Who will pay? • Start up capital plus cash flow • • •

ISSUES • Go it alone --or with partners ? • Problems providing ‘free’ recruitment service to employers (e. g. Work Programme) • Then marketing ‘pay for’ recruitment service • Lack of experience in running a Recruitment agency • Need to identify ‘niche’ recruitment need

Action Recruitment • Research -- Black young men 18 -24 (at all educational levels) twice as likely to be unemployed as other young men • Trust for London ‘Move on Up’ project • AWL taking recruitment agency approach • Recruiting black young men • Engaging with Employers for vacancies

What’s in it for Employers? • Increased pool of Talent • Diverse work force can increase profitability • Reflects positively on Employers links with community • Provides Equal Opportunities • Positive CSR and PR benefits • New Government campaign

CONNECTING EMPLOYMENT POTENTIAL • HELP • Share ideas and experience • Will lead to

Here’s one example!!