An evaluation of FareShare's Work Experience and their Basic and Life Skills Training programme. This training has been open to service users and volunteers of all the projects FareShare delivers to across Brighton and Hove. Several of their volunteers carry out a work placement as part of their rehabilitation.

Project Outline

The evaluation aimed to: •prove the value of FareShare’s work experience and volunteering programme to other related organisations, in particular rehabilitation organisations, and thereby help in the ‘shift’ toward integrating the training as part of a user’s recovery programme •assess the feasibility of FareShare increasing/expanding access to training and education for socially excluded groups locally and thereby create pathways to employment •demonstrate the value of the work experience and volunteering programme to provide evidence for further funding support

With the evidence from the research, FareShare planned to improve their volunteer programme, deliver appropriate training opportunities and encourage other groups to access these opportunities. This would ensure that more socially excluded groups would have greater access to education. Working with academics helped FareShare staff to develop methods of monitoring and evaluation, and increase knowledge and understanding of working with volunteers, who are socially excluded for whatever reason.

Project partners

FareShare

FareShare offers an environmentally positive alternative to landfill by redistributing high quality surplus fresh food from wholesalers, retailers, such as supermarkets, and sandwich bars to day centres and night shelters for homeless people. The food is within its use-by date, but past its sell-by date and collected, sorted and distributed under strict food hygiene legislation.

The overall aims of the project are the relief of poverty and the preservation and promotion of good nutrition and good health among people who are suffering from social, economic or emotional distress; in particular by collection and redistribution of surplus food, advancing education and training for the voluntary sector and those people benefiting from it, promotion of voluntary work and reduction of waste and its adverse environmental impact.

This work is carried out almost entirely by volunteers, who come from a variety of backgrounds, however over the recent past FareShare have begun to work more closely with organisations providing rehabilitation for substance misusers and ex-offenders.

Fareshare in Brighton and Hove is managed by the City Gate Community Projects whose aims are to help homeless and vulnerable groups in need, hardship or distress by provision of food, training, neighbourhood care services, health based services, and arts initiatives. City Gate also provides access to learning opportunities by delivering NVQs and other vocational courses and training.

Former HSPRC - now SSPARC at the University of Brighton

In order to reflect the breadth of the centre's research interests they changed the name from Health and Social Policy Research Centre (HSPRC) to the Social Science Policy and Research Centre: SSPARC.The SSPARC research still includes health and social policy but now also encompasses criminology, sociology, psychology, psychosocial studies, public policy and politics. The centre runs professional courses in social work, counselling and psychotherapy, and applied interests in other areas of social practice such as work with substance misusers and community development.