Only A Pavement Away, the industry charity supporting those facing homelessness find employment in the hospitality sector, has expanded its groundbreaking work to cover Scotland and Manchester. This marks a significant step in Only A Pavement Away’s ambition to develop the infrastructure and resourcing to operate UK wide.
Building on the charity’s strong presence in London and the South of England, where it has helped over 490 people rebuild their lives and reintegrate into society through employment in the hospitality sector, Only A Pavement Away is now expanding its presence in Manchester and Scotland as demand for the charity’s services continues to grow across the UK.
Charity CEO and founder, Greg Mangham, visited Edinburgh and Aberdeen earlier this year to assess the viability of expanding into Scotland and meet with key stakeholders. After recognising the huge demand for the support that the charity can provide, Only A Pavement Away has focused its efforts on leveraging existing partnerships to help place more people into work within the hospitality industry across this area of the UK.
The opportunity to expand into Scotland and the north of England has been bolstered by the onboarding of two new relationship managers in Manchester and one new relationship manager in Scotland. This has been vital in being able to provide support to more people across the UK who are facing hardships.
Also supporting the expansion into Scotland, has been the launch of a Learning Kitchen within HMP Grampian, to help people in custody develop the skills to work in professional kitchens upon their release. The ‘Kitchen Training Academy’ is the result of a partnership between HMP Grampian and Greene King, with funding provided by Aberdeenshire Council and ongoing candidate support given by Only A Pavement Away.
The life-changing initiative will see HMP Grampian and Greene King deliver training and development opportunities to people in custody, while Greene King provides employment opportunities to candidates on release. Only A Pavement Away will ensure that the candidates who are making the transition to employment are work ready, and fully supported within their new role, with regular check-ins in place and ongoing training opportunities offered.
Greg Mangham, Only A Pavement Away Founder and CEO said:
“we are thrilled to be taking steps to broaden our network and build our incredible team, helping us to offer as much support as possible to those facing homelessness across the UK.
“Support from great referral charities and employer partners that operate in regions where we are growing our infrastructure, is vital for us to continue to offer our services to more communities.
“With this in mind, I would like to offer a big thank you to Greene King. Expanding into Scotland and Manchester is a huge moment for us, but this really is just the start. Please do get in touch if you believe you can help Only A Pavement Away.”
