Barod Community
Interest Company is delighted to announce that we will be working in
partnership for the next two years with Carmarthenshire People First, My LifeMy Choice (an Oxford organisation), People First Dorset and Social Firms Wales
on a project called The Bridge. Says Anne Collis, project lead, “The
project is called The Bridge because we aim to bridge the gap between the
current situation where too many people with learning difficulties are working
for free and their organisations struggle for funding, to a future where individuals
and organisations are well paid for their work”.
People with learning
difficulties across the UK have developed highly desirable skills through their
involvement in self-advocacy and are engaged in high level policy and service
design work. However it is rare to be able to secure well paid work that uses
these skills, and many groups struggle to find funding.
Five
years ago, a small group of people with and without learning difficulties
founded Barod Community Interest Company to create their own jobs and run their
own business. Recently, Barod benefited from business growth support from
Social Firms Wales, funded by Social Business Wales, leading to the idea of the
two organisations combining forces for a research project to support and work
alongside a small number of self-advocacy organisations who were looking to
create paid work for members or generate income for the organisation. Thanks to
this funding from the National Lottery Fund, via DRILL (Disability Research on
Independent Living and Learning), over the next two years these five organisations will be
working together to build a brighter future for people with learning
difficulties and for self-advocacy organisations.
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Brilliant work
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