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Growth, scaling and replication have been much on my mind of late.  With a number of exciting opportunities coming our way, all that time at The School for Social Entrepreneurs (twice!) and reading awesome guides like NESTA’s ‘What does it take to go big?‘, are now paying off.  There’s no doubt that my rather dull approach to putting systems in place has proved valuable, as mind-numbingly dull, but time-consuming tasks are all but automatic.  I love having systems that work, but now they need manuals for others to be able to pick them up and do them instead of me.  This is and feels like a critical moment in an enterprise’s life (social or otherwise).  I suspect it’s the moment they fail or fly…

We love training colleagues who are also doing brilliant work with young people in our community.  We’ve already trained colleagues from Children’s Services, Supported Housing and the Youth Offending Service.  That’s why we’re delighted to have two dates this spring to offer our expertise in all things money management.  The two dates for a half-day course are Tuesday 25th April (9.30am – 1pm) and Tuesday 23rd May (1pm – 4.30pm).  A half-day costs £50 and will be held in The Training Flat, 23 Johnson Place, Norwich, NR2 2SA.  There will be light refreshments and resources to take away.  Please use the link to book yourself a place.

We love great endings, and this is a great ending. After meeting regularly for just over a year, their mentoring relationship is now coming to a close.   Vanessa (mentee) had just got her first home after being homeless for a time when we met her in autumn 2015.  She was impressively determined and patient about sorting out her flat, recognising that it would take time to get it how she wanted.  It has taken a whole year to get the white goods and she has never stopped working towards this.  In the longer term she’d love to start her own business, but realises she needs income and experience in the short term.  During the mentoring relationship, with help from her mentor, she secured voluntary work at a local hotel and having proved herself, is now moving into paid work.  Determination pays off.  The relationship will now come to an end, with the mentor still available at the end of the phone.  A great outcome for everyone!

 

We’ve got lots to celebrate going into 2017, but let’s just take a moment to reflect on a great year.  Please click on the link to see our top ten moments of 2016.  And thank you for being a part of them.  Happy New Year.

For those of you that read our post last week about supporting a young man facing the threat of imminent eviction, we’re delighted to say that this has been prevented – for now.   Alex worked tirelessly with him for one week and he also attended our Tenancy & Independent Living Skills (TILS) course at The Training Flat.  At his review with his landlord he proudly presented everything he had done with us to put things right and to be regarded as a trusted and reliable tenant going forward.  One of things he cited was our ‘Peer Expert’ who was part of the TILS delivery on Wednesday.  As a tenant herself she shared powerful messages about her experiences and the importance of taking the initiative to sort things out and to take back control.  We’re naturally thrilled that James gets to keep his home.  This will be reviewed again in January.  However, for all the other ‘James’ that don’t have support in an austerity-hit sector, we fear for their tenancies and futures.  Social enterprises like us hold part of the answer and we hope to grow to meet an un-met need for life-changing support.