Communities Taking Action: Employment & Upskilling
Learn how communities in London have been supported with their training and employment journeys during COVID by these four organisations
By Mayor of London
Co-curated with the Community-Led Action grantees
Routes Group Photo (2022) by Connected Routes CICMayor of London
Introduction
In January 2021, the Mayor of London's Community Engagement Team launched the Mayor’s Community-Led Recovery Programme. The programme aims to facilitate engagement, involvement and collaboration with London’s diverse communities who have been most deeply affected by COVID-19.
It includes the Community-Led Action (CLA) programme. Grants have been awarded to 15 community organisations to initiate social action projects which gather insights focused on the impact of COVID-19 on their communities.
The organisations' social action projects demonstrate how the Mayor's recovery missions can be successfully delivered. 11 recovery missions have been designed to facilitate London's recovery from the pandemic by focusing on key areas in the economic, social and health sectors.
London's Ecomonic Recovery: Employment & Upskilling
The pandemic has severely impacted London's labour market. Many people, such as in the hospitality, leisure and (non-supermarket) retail sectors, have lost their jobs or experienced a loss of income.
Even before the pandemic some communities faced greater barriers to employment, including those with migrant backgrounds and those with disabilities, with a lack of employable skills and training, and a lack of support being key factors. COVID has exacerbated these barriers.
The Mayor of London is on a mission to ensure all Londoners have access to education, training or work. The Mayor will support Londoners into good jobs with a focus on sectors key to London's recovery.
1) Goldstar Creative Marketing
Young Jewish women face many employment barriers. Goldstar Creative Marketing's employability and soft skills training programme aims to upskill this community and give them the confidence to pursue a fulfilling career.
Goldstar Skills Programme Launch Session (2022) by Goldstar Creative MarketingMayor of London
Goldstar Creative Marketing: Goldstar Skills Programme
Goldstar Creative Marketing provide essential employment training options for women to advance their employability potential. Their Goldstar Skills Programme upskills and empowers young Orthodox Jewish women through employability and soft skills training.
Young women from this community experience significant barriers to employment training and many obtain dead-end jobs, never fulfilling their potential. This tailored programme trains Orthodox Jewish women to teach fellow women how to take ownership of their employment vision.
Ball Passing Training Exercise (2022) by Goldstar Creative MarketingMayor of London
Ball Passing Exercise
The Goldstar Skills Programme comprises experiential learning activities, such as this 'ball passing' exercise. The aim was to pass the ball around the circle without dropping it. This taught the participants team skills, such as clear communication, essential for working life.
Construction Training Exercise (2022) by Goldstar Creative MarketingMayor of London
Construction Exercise
This team-building activity encouraged all team members to combine their skills in order to produce a construction. The exercise highlighted the importance of harnessing each team member's unique skillset and of effective collaboration to achieve the end goal.
2) Routes
Routes have been providing women with experience of the UK Asylum system with training and mentoring opportunities. They enable women in their community to take on leaderships roles that are often unavailable to them and to work towards professional development goals.
Routes Group Photo (2022) by Connected Routes CICMayor of London
Routes: The Routes Leadership Group
Routes supports women with experience of the UK Asylum System to grow in confidence, build relationships and access opportunities. They provide training and mentoring, working across sectors to develop compassionate, purposeful and authentic professional leaders.
Routes - Arcola Performance Photo (2022) by Connected Routes CICMayor of London
The Routes Leadership Group project trains community members who have already completed the mentoring programme to develop leadership groups. These groups gather insights from the wider community, create recommendations for extending support and oversee their implementation.
Routes Mentoring Programme (2022) by Connected Routes CICMayor of London
The project puts the power of decision making into the community and gives refugee and asylum seeking women the opportunity to take leadership roles which are rarely available to them. 1:1 strengths coaching sessions enabled the women to identify their professional strengths.
Routes Mentoring Photo (2022) by Connected Routes CICMayor of London
The most successful initiative within the project has been a peer support group called Aspire. This involves about 12 women meeting on Zoom to discuss their goals and barriers. They then set goals for themselves for the next session.
3) Empowering Deaf Society
The deaf community have often found accessing employment opportunities challenging, even pre-COVID. Empowering Deaf Society are equipping the community with the skills and knowledge they need to overcome their own employment barriers, ensuring they can contribute to recovery.
Empowering Deaf Society Illustration by Monique Jackson (2022) by Monique JacksonMayor of London
Empowering Deaf Society: BSL Economic Recovery Project
Empowering Deaf Society is a charity set up by members of the deaf community to ensure that all deaf people have the same equal rights, opportunities and skills as those who are hearing. They run services, cultural events and activities to build confidence and relationships.
Their BSL Economic Recovery Project provides employment workshops and one to one support for deaf people to overcome employment barriers. Deaf people who are currently employed are trained to share their experience of the working world with deaf people who are seeking work.
Workshop with Deaf Community (2022) by Mayor of LondonMayor of London
Community members learn how to deliver deaf awareness sessions to employers and advocate on behalf of deaf people facing difficulties or discrimination at work. This enables the deaf community to address their own challenges and help more deaf people gain and keep employment.
In supporting more deaf people to access employment, Empowering Deaf Society help lift them out of poverty, reduce their isolation and improve wellbeing. They are ensuring that deaf people are part of London's economic recovery in these COVID times and are not left behind.
4) Refugee Cafe
A lack of English language skills, a lack of UK work experience and a lack of recognised training or qualifications are some of the factors preventing refugees from accessing the UK workforce. Refugee Cafe provides training and employment options to break down these barriers.
Refugee Cafe: The Refugee Cafe Training Project
The Refugee Cafe was formed in 2019 to provide a path to employment and a community for refugees and those granted asylum in Lewisham and surrounding areas, enabling them to build safe, happy and productive lives.
Confectionery Making Session (2022) by Refugee CafeMayor of London
Through engagement with potential beneficiaries, they will develop training options that offer refugees access to various training, support and work experience. Those that undertake training should be able to access better employment opportunities with Refugee Cafe or elsewhere.
Participant with Prepared Food (2022) by Refugee CafeMayor of London
This training will enable refugees and those granted asylum to share their culture through food and therefore have an empowered and more integrated position in the wider community. It will help them to make friends, find support and improve their economic wellbeing.
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