How enterprise is proving a winner

An innovative St Mungo’s social enterprise project has been shortlisted for this year’s Charity Awards – one of only three finalists in the education and training category, with the final winner announced next week (9 June) at the Grosvenor House Hotel. Don Macdonald, St Mungo’s Training and Enterprise Manager, explains more about it.

With unemployment running at 90% in our hostels, most homeless people find it almost impossible to break out of the vicious circle they are in, gain a job and sustain it.

The aim of the Single Homeless Enterprise Project (SHEP) was to increase the employability of homeless clients through training and enterprise projects, in three skill areas namely construction, painting/decorating, and music production.

We wanted to break down barriers to training for homeless people and encourage a more work-focused culture in hostels. We also wanted to set up social enterprises out of the project.

Very proud of the results

SHEP ran from 2007-10 in three St Mungo’s hostels in London. The organisation Inclusion has just evaluated the results and we’re very proud of them, particularly that:

• the number of service users was 134% of the original target (117 compared to 87)
• 62 service users gained Open College Network qualifications (168% of the target)
• 27 also gained the CSCS Health & Safety card.

In 2009 we started ReVive, a decorating social enterprise, and 16 service users had started there by autumn 2010, most of them via SHEP.

In total, 21 service users started work (210% of the target), a job outcome rate of 18% for SHEP as a whole, and 38% for ReVive, the social enterprise. Of those who entered work, all earned above minimum wage, most worked full time, eight worked for St Mungo’s, with a few working as trainers on SHEP – others worked in shops, or kitchens.

Other ‘softer’ but no less important recovery results included reconnection with family members, improvements to self care, such as better hygiene, and money management skills. SHEP also helped many service users with substance use or mental health issues to overcome or control these problems and look more positively at the future. Increases in confidence and self-esteem proved important as did having a fixed routine for those with substance use problems.

What we learned from SHEP?

One main lesson was that it’s not necessary to wait for substance use and mental health problems to be controlled before providing training and employment support; on the contrary it was found that training and employment support boosted confidence, created routine and controlled other problems.

We also learnt more about the importance to our clients of volunteering as a precursor to employment – timely as these SHEP findings are published during Volunteers Week (1-7 June).

Read the full SHEP report and a summary of findings.