KibbleWorks is our enterprise and employment hub. Located in commercial business areas close to our main campus it offers a spectrum of training and employment opportunities for young people who have been in care or are preparing to leave care.
Staff at KibbleWorks need a unique blend of personal characteristics combining existing experience and expertise with the ability to sell a service and build a business. Using a traditional pre-apprenticeship model to support a young person who has a range of social, emotional, behavioural and educational difficulties, they must demonstrate leadership skills whilst acting as a role model and providing structured boundaries. No mean feat!
Young care leavers have been identified as a group most likely to be unemployed, imprisoned, at risk from substance abuse, self harm and depression. Planned throughcare programmes with effective continuing personal support in the period after leaving care, plus improved access to employment, education and training have been identified as the key components to promote inclusion of this disadvantaged group.
The majority of young people at Kibble are placed in supported accommodation or back with their families when they reach school leaving age. We recognise this as a point of crisis when the support they have been given is suddenly removed and the relationships that have been nurtured are abruptly withdrawn. Traditional youth training projects have had limited success, and our experience has shown young people do better either on a one to one traditional apprenticeship model or in a very small group. This is also a more appropriate setting for young people requiring intensive supervision.
“More Choices, More Chances” is the Scottish Government’s initiative to reduce the proportion of young people who are Not in Education, Employment or Training (formerly labelled “NEET”). Supporting this strategy was the thinking behind our aim of developing a cluster of social enterprises that have a sustainable business model, with young people working alongside staff who are running a business. These usually need to be semi-skilled and labour intensive, as most of the young people we work with are initially limited in their ability and/or application and/or social skills. Experience shows that young people can 'mature through' to more skilled work and consistent application. Our plan is to steadily develop a range of these small social enterprises that are both financially sustainable and offer young people real-life work experience.
A big part of our work is getting the kids to understand the nature of work, not necessarily the work itself— Jim Mullan, Enterprise Manager
The social enterprises - small businesses with big ideas - need to be commercially viable and sustainable and include:-