Dear Colleagues Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, forecasts suggested the numbers of young people outside of education, training and employment were likely to grow due to overall population rises in this age group and the increasing number of young people facing the greatest risks and challenges, including those with experience of care, and the number […]
Dear Colleagues Try to imagine that you have fled a war torn or impoverished homeland to make a better life in the UK. You’re living in Bristol, and you suddenly find yourself grappling with Covid 19 risks and restrictions – all being communicated in a language that is not your own. So the focus of […]
Dear Colleagues Construction companies are used to cyclical downturns, but the speed and strength with which COVID-19 has struck is unprecedented. Many small builders working across Bristol have been hit hard, with a very high number having to stop some or all of their work during the first lockdown. So this update is a ‘shout […]
Dear Colleagues In these difficult times, I think for most of us our homes are a vital sanctuary – providing a reassuring port in the Covid storm and a place of much needed safety. So it is hard to consider the plight of people without a secure home, and those who are living on Bristol […]
Dear Colleagues Here we are making our way into Autumn – with crunchy colourful leaves, cosy jumpers, thick socks, fresh air and the return of root vegetables. This is also the season for balancing light and dark and the sense of letting go. Now the leaves fall and bare branches remind us of the fleeting […]
Dear Colleagues As we are now a few weeks in to the school holiday period, it’s customary to say some words of reflection at the end of the academic year. And what a year! So I’d like to start this update with words of heartfelt appreciation, to convey how very grateful I am for every […]
Dear Colleagues Bristol Adult Community Learning (ACL) changes lives – and in particular young people and adults with the lowest qualifications living in communities hardest hit by Covid 19. Since March the Community Learning offer has been super responsive and the team has produced an impressive online response to lockdown. Bespoke family learning materials aimed […]
Dear Colleagues One of the biggest challenges for a local authority is how we can support people and communities in the right way so that they can improve their life chances and avoid an alternative negative trajectory that can causes huge misery and is very expensive to fix later on. A great deal of the […]
Dear Colleagues Wednesday marked the start of a new era for us in how Jobs Fairs are delivered during these Covid-times. Chris Mitchell and the Employment Support Team have worked closely with the DWP and the National Careers Service to plan and deliver our first ever remote event, all online, using Twitter and Facebook as […]
Dear Colleagues Brace, brace, brace! The global health crisis is rapidly deteriorating into a massive economic crisis. We learned this week that 600,000 jobs in the UK were cut between March and May. The Universal Claimant count in Bristol has increased by 46% since March, for young people by 81%, for people over 50 by […]
