Six Gloucester organisations are launching a series of roadshows from Monday 8th March, next week to give local people advice on training, employment, benefits and volunteering.
The Options Roadshows are being organised by Gloucester Works and supported by The Gloucester Heritage Urban Regeneration Company (GHURC), Gloucester City Council and local housing associations
The roadshows, which runs from 11am-2pm each day, will kick off on Monday 8th March at Working Links on Westgate Street, moving to the Ramblers Community Centre on Milton Avenue, Podsmead on Tuesday 9th March.
On Wednesday 10th March the Options Roadshow team will be at The Gateway and One Stop Shop, Matson Avenue and on Thursday 11th March they will be at Chequers Bridge, Barton Street. The Roadshow team round off the week on Friday 12th March at Coney Hill Community Centre, Coney Hill Road. Refreshments will be available and prizes up to £100 will be up for grabs.
Jason Dunsford, of Gloucester Works, said: “For some people it’s not just getting a job which worries them. It’s also how it will affect their benefits, whether they’ve got the right training or knowing what their options are.”
Chris Oldershaw, Chief Executive of the GHURC, said: “Gloucester’s regeneration has already created more than 1000 new jobs and there will be more to come. Visitors to the roadshow will find out what the city’s regeneration means to them and how it is opening up new job opportunities which didn’t exist before.”
City Council Leader Paul James, added: “Events like these bring all of the people who can provide services and information together and takes them out into the community. This is an example of how we are increasingly working together to build a modern 21st century city.”
For more information please contact the Gloucester Works team on 01452 396824.
About the project
This project is being run thanks to a successful bid from the Government-funded Connecting Communities programme. Practical actions delivered on estates and streets will focus on developing a real insight into what is happening in those communities and introduce changes that will address local people's concerns, reconnect them with jobs and tackle the real and perceived sense of unfairness some people feel. A number of key issues that cut to the core of local concerns including a decline in traditional jobs in predominantly white areas and worries about young people's future; recent migration is perceived as having changed communities and created competition for jobs and resources like social housing; and anti-social behaviour - although fallen across the country - remains a real challenge and can create tensions between the majority of hard working families and the troublesome minority.