KINGDOM Housing Association has announced its employability project, Kingdom Works, has secured funding of over £700,000 from Skills Development Scotland and Opportunities Fife to continue to support unemployed people back into work.
The team has been successful in its bid to deliver the national training programme, The Employability Fund, and developed a process to deliver it during the coronavirus pandemic. Kingdom Works is also a partner of Fife ETC, Fife’s third sector employment and training consortium, and has secured funding as part of a three-year programme.
Kingdom Works helps unemployed people by providing key worker support, helping to update CVs, identifying and funding industry specific training and providing a job brokerage service. Kingdom Works also delivers in-work support to help people sustain employment.
Kingdon group chief executive Bill Banks said, “During the pandemic all our staff have been continuing to support our current clients with welfare calls, updating CVs and job search support. We are also in regular contact with training providers to establish the training that is currently available for clients in line with government guidelines. Kingdom Works also supports the local labour market by working with local and national employers to help fill vacancies, therefore anyone who is unemployed should contact us and we will try to assist them.”
Kingdom Works was set up in 2008 when Kingdom Housing Association identified the need to help tenants and people in the local community to access training and employment. Since then, the project has assisted over 6,000 unemployed clients, with more than 3,500 taking up accredited training opportunities, and has helped nearly 3,000 residents in Fife secure employment.
Lynne Dunn, Kingdom Works manager added, “Our Mission here at Kingdom is to provide ‘More than a Home’ and our employability project is a very good example of how we deliver on this, through the added value we provide to tenants and people in our communities. I’m delighted to have secured additional and continued funding to allow us to support those who need it most.”
