Uncategorized

We’re so excited to announce our commission from Norwich City Council to train their tenants.  Two courses of four modules each will start from May.  Between May and the summer we’ll be making changes to venues, module order and other aspects in order to test a number of variables.  In August we’ll take a breather for evaluation before refining for September re-start.

Developing the course has been a well-timed revision of many of our resources and approaches.  We can’t wait to take our offer to local tenants with a view to getting them involved in other exciting projects too.

All part of our mission to prevent homelessness.

Here’s why:  “I trained to be a Volunteer Tenancy Mentor in March 2015. I missed working with people and was looking for my first voluntary role when came across the opportunity at Your Own Place. The two-day training gave a great overview of what we were to expect during the mentoring process. We all left feeling excited for what was to come.

I was matched with my first young person within a month. This young person was living in a B&B. They were in a period of massive change in their life. We tried to engage with them but they had too much on and too many disruptions. They simply were not ready. I was a little disappointed at first, questioning whether it was something I had done or I could have done more of. I quickly learned not to take it personally, timing is very important when building a good mentor relationship.

I have gone on to have two successful mentoring relationships, both totally unique experiences. The first was with a young person living independently, struggling with their mental health and in particular the isolation they were feeling. We would often just meet for a coffee and a chat. They needed someone to talk to, and I was there – not to advise, but to listen. We also had a few practical sessions around things like budgeting and debt and I would be there to encourage them to tackle things head on and not hide away. This relationship ended when the young person moved away.

The second mentor relationship was completely different, the young person was a single parent and needed support around the practicalities of moving into their first home. Where would they get furniture from? How would they move their belongings? How could they afford all of these things? We did a lot of work around budgeting, sourcing affordable items and saving for them. As well as accessing support and applying for funding. This relationship ended over a cup of tea in their new place, when they said “I think I’m okay now, I think you’ve done your job”.

It’s fantastic having a positive impact on young people, especially at a daunting and confusing period of transition. I’ve enjoyed my time as a mentor, it has increased my confidence and adaptability. I would definitely recommend it to others!”

Whilst planning for this year’s Social Saturday I have been pondering the future of CSR.  We’re interested to understand its breadth and depth as well as impact.  Do businesses measure the impact of their giving or trust the sector to spend their money wisely?  With a rise in social enterprises getting into the supply chains of big businesses for a potentially more impactful contribution to society, will there be a shift in traditional CSR?

Growth, scaling and replication have been much on my mind of late.  With a number of exciting opportunities coming our way, all that time at The School for Social Entrepreneurs (twice!) and reading awesome guides like NESTA’s ‘What does it take to go big?‘, are now paying off.  There’s no doubt that my rather dull approach to putting systems in place has proved valuable, as mind-numbingly dull, but time-consuming tasks are all but automatic.  I love having systems that work, but now they need manuals for others to be able to pick them up and do them instead of me.  This is and feels like a critical moment in an enterprise’s life (social or otherwise).  I suspect it’s the moment they fail or fly…