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| Client Profiles | |
| Profile One AA is a 30 year old Pakistani male currently living with his wife in Brislington. He had been unemployed since his arrival in England. Prior to this, AA successfully ran his own computer hardware business in Pakistan. When AA approached Bridging the Gap he had been having great difficulty finding work. Despite his experience and high level of education AA was continually being unsuccessful with his applications for paid work. It was identified through close work with his Community Support Worker that the main barrier to gaining employment, which could be lifted by AA, was his education. Employers often do not recognise non-English qualifications despite their being of a superior standard in many cases. Steps were therefore taken to find a suitable training opportunity for AA. The result was an "Association of Computer Professionals" course. Bridging the Gap was able to allocate approximately 60% of the course fees and helped to negotiate a periodic payment plan for AA to fund the remainder on a monthly basis. AA completed the course successfully with some additional support with his travel expenses. Following this training, AA continued to find difficulties getting paid employment. After ongoing support from his Community Support Worker, AA decided to take part in a paid one year Positive Action Traineeship at a local charity. The success rate for people completing such a scheme and then entering permanent employment is very high. Profile Two BB is a 50 year old black male currently living in Easton. He had been unemployed for over 3 years when he approached Bridging the Gap for support to enable him to obtain his hackney cab licence. Bridging the Gap has since changed its policy regarding support with self employment for clients, to ensure that a significant business plan is developed prior to funding being agreed. However, at the time support was agreed to fund the relevant parts of the testing process. BB was successful in gaining the licence but then encountered further difficulties getting started on his own. It was decided following discussions between BB and his Community Support Worker that in order to gain more understanding into the requirements of the business, City of Bristol College should be contacted to help BB to prepare a business plan. This was subsequently completed and helped BB to secure a £3000 loan from a local charity towards start up costs identified in the plan. In addition to this, Bridging the Gap funded £300 directly towards BB’s insurance costs. BB has now commenced trading as a hackney cab driver and has made a good start with this career. Profile Three CC is a 39 year old black female currently living in Brentry. She had been unemployed for over 5 years prior to approaching Bridging the Gap and is a lone parent with one young daughter. Over the following year CC attended a FAETEC Course at Southmead Development Trust with support towards her travel and childcare costs from Bridging the Gap. Upon completion of the course CC sought advice from her Community Support Worker about entering into paid employment. CC has now started working as an IT Lecturer at a local college, having utilised some into work support funding from Bridging the Gap to purchase some smart clothing. |
Profile Four DD is a 36 year old white female who is currently living in Windmill Hill. She had been unemployed for over 7 years before coming to Bridging the Gap. A lone parent with one young son, DD was looking for support to undertake the second stage of an Art Therapy Diploma. Bridging the Gap was able to offer support with travel costs to and from the college and also purchased some essential books for her. With support from her Community Support Worker, DD was able to negotiate an agreement with the college to cover most of her childcare costs and was able to complete the course successfully. DD then underwent some job preparation work with a partner organisation to produce a CV and gain confidence with interview techniques in the hope of either getting paid employment or becoming self employed as a Children’s Art Therapist. Over the following months, with ongoing support from her Community Support Worker, DD managed to secure some temporary contracts to work as a therapist with children. This experienced has since enabled her to gain a permanent position with an educational assessment centre. Profile Five EE is a 37 year old white male living in Highridge. He approached Bridging the Gap after finding difficulties getting a job having been unemployed for around 2 years. He wanted to try to get a fork lift truck licence because he felt that there were opportunities for well paid work doing this type of job. Following meetings with his Community Support Worker it was agreed that EE should find evidence of the potential for employment before any funding could be allocated. EE managed to get a letter of a job offer from a local company on the condition that he gained his Fork Lift Truck Licence. Bridging the Gap then agreed to fund half of the cost of the training and helped EE to identify further sources of funding to make up the difference. Soon afterwards he completed an intensive training course with a local training provider and received his licence. EE accepted the job which he had been offered and started work as a fork lift truck operator the following week.
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