Birmingham charity, Jericho, has supercharged the impact it makes in supporting people facing significant challenges with getting a job, and improved its facilities with funding from Severn Trent’s Community Fund.
Jericho was awarded a grant of £74,999 from the water company’s charitable fund to develop their catering social enterprise, ChangeKitchen, to help bring huge benefits to the community and the people it supports. The aim of ChangeKitchen was to deliver more free healthy meals by opening a vegan/vegetarian fast food outlet and providing more free food bags, as well as cutting down on food and water waste using surplus food and providing increased education about healthy eating.
The target was to expand, upgrade and enhance their Balsall Heath community kitchen and training facilities, to give opportunities for people who have been unemployed for a long time and help those who are struggling financially. So far a total of 9,114 people benefitted from all the work that the project has carried out including 4,000 receiving free meals, 2,500 attending events, 2,500 food outlet customers, as well as organising a number of workshops and training placements.
Richard Beard, CEO of Jericho said: “This grant has been an absolute game changer for Jericho. Our catering facilities are completely transformed the new takeaway outlet makes our healthy food offering more accessible to the local community.
“Seven Trent’s support will help us in our mission to support those most vulnerable in our communities for many years to come.” Jericho uses enterprise to change lives, making a real and tangible difference in some of the most deprived communities across Birmingham.
Since 1993 it has supported more than 8,000 people with complex barriers to social inclusion and economic participation become fulfilled, skilled, and employed. The good cause works directly with young people, people who have been in prison, those who have experience of homelessness or whose lives are affected by ill health or disability, survivors of modern slavery and people with complex, intersecting needs.
Jericho helps their beneficiaries identify, reduce and where possible, remove their barriers to employment, education and fulfilling their potential. Natalie Cunningham, Severn Trent Community Fund Officer, added: “Seeing the impact that The Jericho has made through the ChangeKitchen, is incredibly inspiring and shows how many people out there are looking for this kind of support.
“Jericho is really helping people who need it most within the community and Severn Trent’s Community Fund is proud to have been a small part of this by providing the funding that we did. We are always looking for more local projects in the regions in which we work which would benefit from grant funding and would encourage anyone who may be applicable to get in touch.”
