Bridges Project on major recruitment drive for post-pandemic expansion

While many charities are struggling to make ends meet as we recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, Bridges Project are expanding our services and increasing our practice staff team by 30%.

The expansion is possible due to several substantial pots of funding we have received from various funders over the last few months. As a result, we will be able to help a much higher number of young people in East Lothian and Midlothian over the coming year.

One of the most exciting new services Bridges Project will be able to launch in the next few months is Support2Thrive. The service, funded by the Robertson Trust for three years, will help young people aged 13-18 improve their educational attainment and employment prospects. It will have a particular focus on industry-specific workshops that will give young people valuable hands-on experience for sectors such as hair and beauty, hospitality and construction.

We are also expanding our employability services with a new employability service for young people aged 16-24, Spark Your Future. Funded by East Lothian Council’s No One Left Behind Employability Grant Programme, it will help young people gain the confidence and skills required to commence employment and Modern Apprenticeships and volunteering or enter further education.

Another new initiative at Bridges Project is a social group programme, which will offer a wide range of group activities for young people focused on reducing social isolation and developing life skills. Examples of activities will be cooking groups, nature groups and arts and crafts groups. The social group programme is funded by East Lothian Council.

The last development at Bogpark Road is that Bridges Project are now able to expand our Way2Work 16+ service. Way2Work 16+ helps young people aged 16-21 to gain employability and life skills and move on to employment, further education or training. Having been funded by Agnes Hunter Trust SCIO since April last year, we have now received match-funding from Scottish Children’s Lottery’s Chance to Succeed programme. This will allow the service to support twice as many young people over the next year.

“This is such an incredibly exciting time for us all at Bridges Project and is testament to the incredible support the amazing staff here provide to young people every day,” said CEO Emma Scarcliffe.

“We are delighted to be in a position to help so many more young people across East Lothian and Midlothian reach their potential, progress into meaningful opportunities and live happy and fulfilling lives. I am unbelievably proud of the way we adapted our services during the pandemic and used our learning to inform the direction of travel for the organisation. These recent funding successes evidence the fact we really listen to young people and understand the challenges they are facing, which in turn informs the kind of services we implement. “

With all the new services soon ready to launch, Bridges Project are now on a major recruitment drive to identify the people who will deliver these much-needed initiatives. We are looking to fill as many as six roles.

“I am thrilled that Bridges Project will soon be going from a staff team of 16 to a staff team of 22 in order to deliver all these brilliant new services to young people,” said Emma.

“It’s such an exciting time to join the organisation and work with a team of truly dedicated and motivated people who inspire young people on a daily basis. We are going from strength to strength and the future is certainly bright; for us and all the young people we look forward to supporting in our newly refurbished premises complete with a shiny and new IT & Education suite!”