report back from the north Moseley Street Advisors project

Street Advisors Employment Project Update

Report Kings Heath and Moseley Ward 12th March 2007

Period Monday 17th February to Friday 9th March

Over the past three weeks 6 of our 7 Street Employment Advisors have between them spent a total of 126.5 hours actively engaged in the Moseley ward. This equates to 18 full working days and to a total of 2.3 people completing a full employment needs assessment per day.

It is important to remember that the ways in which the Advisors work as this gives a fuller picture of the impact they have been having in the area. In each of the streets below the Advisors have been making initial sweeps of the streets stopping and talking to people as they walk down the street or are leaving their house or car. They introduce themselves and the project and ask whether they think the project could help them or their friends of families who live in the area.

During this time they also leaflet houses and local shops to advertise the fact that they are around for the next few days. They then return to the same streets for the next 2-3 days at a set period either morning or afternoon and carry out door knocking and engaging with people out and about in the streets. The very nature of the work means that it can take up to 5-10 minutes or more to determine whether that person is eligible or in need of support from the Advisor.

Taking time to talk to people to this degree is essential for this kind of community work but obviously takes time and often does not result in a recognised engagement (so is not included in our output figures). All people who the Advisors talk to are given a leaflet with the Enterprising Communities Advice project contact details and information about how we can help.

Outputs
During this period the majority of streets in North Moseley have been visited by Advisors.
For more detail please see below:
w/c 17th February Church Rd; Forest Rd; Woodbridge Rd; Trafalgar Rd; Admiral Place; Louise Lorne Rd - number of people assessed - 8
w/c 24th February - roads that were door knocked: St Albans; Kingswood Rd; Queenswood Rd; Newport Rd; Trafalgar Rd - number of people assessed - 13
w/c 3rd March - roads that were door knocked: Anderton Park Rd; Sandford Rd; Merton Rd; Belle Walk; Highfield Rd; Trafalgar Rd - number of people assessed - 21

Organisations and Events
Kings Heath Library
Street Advisors have been continuing their advice session at Kings Heath Library. Liaqat Iqbal, Roshan Singh and Mohmoud Ibrahim have all been using the library as a point to meet local clients either for initial consultations or to do follow up advice sessions.

Sajid has been advertising the service and Enterprising Communities in the library. Thus far the advisors have held 7 sessions at the library over the last 3 weeks. Although numbers have been relatively low so far, the staff at the library are happy for the arrangement to continue. It also allows for a community base in which our Advisors can spend time with people in a confidential and indoor setting.

Recruitment Event
The recruitment event at Moseley CDT on Wednesday 28th February was reasonably well attended. It was a two hour event in which 27 people were engaged. Of these people 8 were from our designated North Moseley area.

Response rate and issues raised
Our Advisors have found the North Moseley area a difficult area to work in. The area itself is small compared to other Enterprising Communities wards with similar targets. Response rates at the door have been very low, with the majority of people not opening their doors. Engagement with people in the streets has proved more successful, however due to the proximity of the area to Sparkbrook and Springfield a high proportion of people they have engaged with in these streets have not been included in the outputs for North Moseley as they live within these neighbouring areas.

Balsall Heath, Moseley and Kings Heath High Street have all been used in the last three weeks to try and engage with people from North Moseley but the majority of people who we have spoken to do not live in the allocated area. Action PointsWe will continue to send three advisors to continue to work in North Moseley over the remaining three weeks of this project year. Much of this work will be follow on advice and guidance, as it is crucial that clients engaged with in the last 2 months are supported with their employment searching and skills development.

We aim to engage with a further 15 - 20 clients by the end of the project.