10 years of social impact: mistakes and lessons
We recently published ‘10 years of social impact’, a report to reveal how we created jobs for 144 people with a history of homelessness.
‘10 years of social impact’ isn’t a revelation of ground-breaking new findings but rather a brutally honest, anecdotal account of mistakes and lessons learned. It lands in the year that rough-sleeping has increased by an alarming 30% throughout the UK. We hope that it will encourage and inspire others facing similar challenges around supporting people into work and out of homelessness.
Most companies seek to protect valuable commercial relationships from mishaps and failures within their business in the interest of maintaining a profile of excellence in their work. But as a social enterprise and the only one in the crewing industry, transparency is important to us. Owning our mistakes helps us grow as much as owning our successes. There are thousands of people in the UK with nowhere to live and very few options to turn their lives around. Our mission to find and support these people is stronger than ever. We hope that our exposé will motivate others to do the same.
The report which marks our 10th birthday has informed much of our social impact strategy for 2016-2017 as well as our broader goals for the future.
For example, over the next three years we aim to increase the number of women in the crew. Not only to build equality into a male dominated workforce, but in recognition that we need to create a working environment that is more suitable for female ex-homeless people to thrive in. Going forward, we are also seeking more opportunities for preventative interactions with those most at risk of becoming homeless.
The report is comprised of a series of interviews with 16 key players in our history. Interviewees include Colin Glover, Chief Executive of Connection at St Martins, our founding charity; Hugh Chamberlain, Procurement Manager at Johnson & Johnson, a recent client; event industry major players and members of our crew with a background of homelessness.
The full report is available to download here.
