Funding awarded by NSP for schemes bringing jobs, training and business opportunities to North Solihull

Eight local organisations have been awarded funding by the North Solihull Partnership (NSP) for schemes that will bring jobs, training and business opportunities to the area.

The NSP invests around £150,000 every year by inviting local community and voluntary organisations to bid for grants for initiatives that can directly benefit and improve the economic prospects of communities in and around Chelmsley Wood, Smith’s Wood and Kingshurst and Fordbridge.

Funding is awarded to schemes that can directly provide jobs, access to employment or for the protection of current employment opportunities.

Councillor Ian Courts, Deputy Leader of Solihull Council and Cabinet Member for Managed Growth said: “By supporting and working with local organisations and businesses, north Solihull is increasingly raising its profile as a sound location for business investment.

“Combined with the wider investment of the NSP into better infrastructure and new village centres, we are creating great capacity for improved economic prosperity in and around the north of the borough.”The eight schemes that have been awarded funding for this year are:

* Solihull Moors FC – for the establishment of a training and employability programme for young people in north Solihull who are not in education, training or employment. The programme will train participants to a level qualification and then offer volunteering or employment opportunities at the club or at partner organisations.

* Gro-Organic – Roots to Employment project that gives participants the opportunity to develop skills including landscaping, gardening, food growing and carpentry whilst dramatically improving the aesthetics of the local area.

* Northern Star Community Arts – funding to continue an apprenticeship post for another year, developing the skills of the apprentice and increasing capacity for the organisation to develop into a sustainable community enterprise.

* Bullfinch Cycles Ltd – a new manufacturing business that will be based in North Solihull that will bring the manufacturing of bike frames back to the West Midlands for the first time in a generation, utilising local supply chains and creating high skill manufacturing employment.

* Unity Trust Ltd – funding to help safeguard a dedicated Community and Business Engagement Manager and to fund activities that will act as a catalyst for business start-ups, employment opportunities and make better use of community assets.

* Digital Engagement Group CIC – a new project working with vulnerable people who need support to move back into independent living and employment.

* Solihull Council, Business Start-Up grant programme – support to businesses from qualified advisors on issues such as business planning, financial management, tax, book keeping, marketing, social media and PR.

* Solihull Council, North Solihull Jobs Fund – providing and expanding a range of apprenticeship opportunities across sectors such as construction, new technologies, manufacturing and engineering, retail, care, hospitality and leisure.

For more information visit: www.northsolihull.co.uk email: info@northsolihull.co.uk or call 0121 704 8793.

Picture: Front row: L-R Lola Ricketts, Digital Engagement Group CIC; Helen Roberts, Northern Star Community Arts; Councillor Ian Courts, Deputy Leader of Solihull Council and Cabinet Member for Managed Growth. Back row: L-R Deborah Fenney, Northern Star Community Arts; Chet Parmar Unity Trust Ltd.