Handcrafted trainees working in a cafe

Opportunities

We’ve found that the most socially excluded people within society are often barred from that chance to move out of their situation, despite the will to do so.

As part of our mission of empowering people, we recognise that for many, simply being given the chance to prove themselves enables individuals to look forward with hope.

As such we are committed to offering opportunities for our trainees to progress. This varies across our hubs and includes placements in our community cafe, t-shirt printing, craft fairs and our working kitchen. This, coupled with CV updating and advice, means that we are able to support our trainees as they seek to move forward.

Image depicting someone helping another person up a mountain

Testimonials

There are countless challenges and barriers between our Fairchance service users and a healthy, productive and satisfying life.

We often use the term ‘chaotic lifestyle’ to describe the multitude of issues they face, and we contrast this lifestyle with an ideal that is secure, positive, stable and fulfilling. Often people looking in on the lifestyles of our service users find them intimidating, disorientating and full of risk – it should be no surprise that the same is true the other way around. For our service users who are looking into employment, education and stable accommodation, what they often see is a very unfamiliar culture and environment that they are unable to navigate.

Handcrafted helps to bridge this gap. It’s a middle ground between work and leisure where our service users are building confidence, self-esteem, working relationships, responsibilities, a sense of achievement. As a natural consequence of this and armed with the skills necessary to make this transition our service users are developing goals and ambitions and making plans for the futures that they are beginning to see as a reality for themselves.

Joe K, Fair Chance Project, Oasis Aquila Housing