The Building Better Opportunities project is funded by the European Social Fund and National Lottery Community Fund and has been successfully delivered across Shropshire and Hereford by Landau, working in partnership with 18 organisations across the region over the past five years.

 

“This project has changed the person I am for the better.”

“Life was harsh; I’d lost everything and was homeless and at one point I could only see one way out. I can honestly say that without the BBO project, I wouldn’t be here now.”

Changing lives and creating futures is at the heart of everything we do at Landau and over the past five years, we are very proud to have been able to make a difference to the lives of over 4,300 people across Shropshire and Hereford as part of the Building Better Opportunities (BBO) project.

As funding comes to an end and the project draws to a close, we welcomed our partners and participants to a special BBO celebratory event – Your Voice, with special guest speaker Sue Ormiston, EU Programme Manager, National Lottery Community Fund. 

The event was held at the Shrewsbury Town Football Club, where guests were treated to a tour of the stadium as well as the chance to have their photo taken with two Shrewsbury Town players –  striker Daniel Udoh and forward Rekeil Pyke – a special surprise for everyone!

We hope you enjoy watching some of the highlights in the short, two-minute video above and viewing our collection of photos here.

Phil Taylor, Chief Operations Officer for Landau explains: “Building Better Opportunities, which is co-funded by the European Social Fund and the National Lottery, has been a phenomenal success in Shropshire/Herefordshire.

“It has provided support to a total of 4,381 individuals, including helping 1,599 participants into employment and supporting 2,699 people in preparing for the world of work.”

The aims of the BBO project were to support vulnerable and isolated people back into employment, reduce isolation and train and help people to build confidence and skills ready for the world of work.

Phil adds: “People can become isolated and drop out of employment and learning for many reasons. Thanks to projects like BBO, many people have been given the chance to re-engage with the wider world, learn new skills and improve their life prospects.

“Just being in contact with other people again can make a huge difference to someone’s confidence and wellbeing – I’m glad we have had the chance to make such a big difference to the lives of so many.”

During the celebration event, participants chose to share more of their journeys with everyone, further demonstrating the enormous impact the BBO project has had, helping in total 182k people across the whole of the country.

“BBO has boosted my confidence and more importantly taught me to trust again. Now I am enjoying giving back by helping others.”

“This project has changed my life completely.”

None of this would have been possible without funding from the European Social Fund and the National Lottery. Sadly, funding is now ending and so the project will come to an end too. However, we will never forget all of the wonderful people we have been able to help and the journeys we have shared. The project has made a huge difference and we really hope that one day we will receive further funding so that we can continue to build on such wonderful outcomes.

To showcase some of the BBO successes, we have produced an inspirational book to highlight the individual achievements of many of those involved in the BBO project.

The book is called ‘Where will your journey take you?’ and is available to download online at: https://www.landau.co.uk/shop/

More about Landau

Landau is a supported employment and training charity that transforms over 800 lives a year across the West Midlands by providing routes to employment, access to learning, social enterprise help and support for personal growth.

In addition to the BBO project, Landau also manages the IN2 Employment project to support 16-24 year olds into work by providing a variety of training and learning provisions across Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin and Herefordshire. This project is is also funded by the European Social Fund and the Department for Works & Pensions,

In addition, Landau’s All Age Autism Support Service, which is funded by NHS England and delivered in partnership with NHS Birmingham and Solihull ICB, serves to raise awareness of support services available across Birmingham and Solihull and to award grants to charities and organisations that offer support to autistic people, their families and carers.

Landau was also recently awarded funding by the Construction Industry Training Board to provide tailored training, mentoring and support to around 700 new construction workers or those returning to the sector.

In addition to these projects, Landau has a number of training and enterprise centres that provide vocational training for young people.