- Chief Executive on New Year Honours ListWe are delighted to announce that Cresco Chief Executive, Margaret Lee, is to receive an MBE from the Queen for Services to Social Enterprise in Northern Ireland. Having worked in the sector for 20 years, Margaret has contributed greatly to developing socially based businesses as well as spearheading projects aimed at helping people into employment.
- Mission Hall Quilts spring classesMission Hall Quilts will be offering a range of classes to suit all levels in the spring term beginning in Mid-Late January 2010. Our fantastic quilting tutors Mary Good, Pauline Openneer and Rena Mc Clean have projects to suit all tastes, Jacqueline O'Doherty's Block of the month continues and a new 'Happy Scrappy Calendar ' block of the month begins. The open 'Quilting Bee' sessions will now take place on a Monday afternoon and the Linus Project returns (this is a free class where the quilts produced are donated to local children in hospital). We are also hoping to offer a range of varied taster classes on Saturdays throughout the term. Please see the timetable for further details.
(Latin) meaning: to Grow - Advance - Promote - Increase - Expand
The Cresco Trust is a not-for-profit social economy organisation, which has charitable status. It is a company limited by guarantee and has been created with a Board of Directors representative of the wider community in Northern Ireland.
The Objectives of the organisation are three fold:
- To grow the skills, through non-traditional learning methods, of those disadvantaged within the labour market
- To promote social economy enterprise activity
- To facilitate practitioner focused research which is robust and rigorous
All areas of activity within Cresco have a strong ethos of peace and reconciliation.
'Cresco holds a vision of a society in Northern Ireland based on equality and inclusion where all those who wish to work are given the skills required for labour market participation and the opportunity to do so. Our dedicated team provide these opportunities via social enterprise activities and project based pilot initiatives, underpinned by robust research to ensure that we continue to meet both the needs of our target group and current policy demands'.
The Organisation
The Cresco Trust was established in 2003 as a not-for-profit social enterprise committed to providing opportunities to learn, engage, and progress, for those people who are disadvantaged within their own community.
Based in Northern Ireland, The Cresco Trust was the vision of professionals working within the community and voluntary sector who had many years' experience of engaging with individuals from both sides of the divided community within Northern Ireland. They knew from experience that employment offered real chances for disadvantaged individuals to take charge of their lives and make more positive life choices, that is, to become more empowered.
At Cresco, we recognise that employment remains the principal route out of poverty and social exclusion towards greater well-being. Our experience however, in helping individuals to make this transition has also taught us that the move towards labour market integration is rarely a simple one. It often involves a journey towards engagement with the labour market, addressing the individual's barriers to employment and attitude to work. In order to address these challenges successfully, we have recruited a dedicated team who have a wealth of experience in facilitating this journey.
The Cresco Trust uses a variety of methods to make easier and more successful the journey towards employment for socially excluded groups. These include the use of social enterprise and a project-driven approach as mechanisms for enhancing the employability of marginalised individuals. As noted above, the journey from sustained unemployment and economic inactivity to the world of work is often long and complex. This means that participation in a project or in supported employment offered via a social enterprise or an intermediate labour market may be the first step in empowering individuals to persist in the longer journey that needs to be made.