Cresco are delighted to be embarking in yet another new and exciting venture, Mission Hall Quilts. Centred around the skill of quilt making, this new project provides a great opportunity for those who would like to learn the art of quilt making, and for those interested in updating their already existing skills. Classes will start in September.

Call in and visit our new shop on Carlisle Road for all your quilting needs.

For more information call 028 7136 2500

Funding received through the KEY Project has enabled Cresco, as Lead Partner, to provide a quality employment. We operate throughout the L'Derry/Strabane area to help local employers fill job vacancies. We offer our unemployed clients a friendly and professional service that significantly increases their chances of finding and keeping a suitable job.

How does this work?

If you are unemployed, contact us with the details of the work/training you are looking for and your previous experience. You will then be invited for an informal discussion and registered for our unique monthly three-week workshop. This is an intensive and unique job-readiness programme that focuses on the all-important soft skills that are needed to succeed in the world of work.

Once you have completed the three-week workshop, each client will be assigned to a Community Employment Advisor who will provide them with one-to-one support and guidance in their attempts to secure employment.
The client will be able to utilise newspapers with recruitment advertisements, computers on which they can do typing tests, design CV's and covering letters, use internet to visit Job Centre online, contact potential employers or training courses and use a careers options database. We have also set up links with employers through the Strabane Chamber of Commerce, City Centre Initiative, Women in Enterprise and Londonderry Chamber of Commerce. At any time during the above process if either the client or Community Employment Advisor identifies the need or desire for more specific or specialist training provision, they will be referred accordingly.
Our responsibility to our client does not end when they find employment. We will follow-up and provide further support after a client secures employment, to help with any problems with adjusting to the workplace environment or to help them find another job, if necessary.

Here are some of the things that we can do for you!

Identify job vacancies

• Help with CV's
• Help with application forms
• Help with interviews and presentation techniques
• Vocational Guidance
• Liaise with Training Providers
• Contact with Educational establishments
• Arrange voluntary work to help update vocational skills
• Provide reimbursement of public transport and childcare costs while attending the workshop
• Jobs! Jobs! Jobs! Jobs! Jobs! Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!

We are committed to providing our service in a helpful and friendly environment and strive to find solutions that meet the needs of the individual.

Please contact us on 028 7126 9400, or drop in to 20 Pump Street, L'Derry where one of the team will be happy to help you.

The Key Project is funded by the European Social Fund through the Equal Community Initiative and the Department for Employment and Learning.

For further information on the Key Project please click here .

Award-winning Youth Training Scheme Opens

Freezin' fun, social solutions and more have come to the Castlecourt Shopping Centre in Belfast with the weekend opening of Ben & Jerry's second PartnerShop in Northern Ireland.

Ben & Jerry's PartnerShops are scoop shop franchises with a big difference. The second of its kind in Northern Ireland (and outside of the US,) the PartnerShop is operated by local social entrepreneurs, Cresco Trust and will offer a unique training programme to get local long term unemployed back into employment.

This exciting social and economic regeneration was piloted by Cresco Trust in Derry through the local Council's Local Strategy Partnership under the EU Peace II programme, through the ambitious Intermediate Labour Market pilot scheme. The 16-month old pilot has already been singled out by the Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) as an inspirational social enterprise model, and has also been recognised through an 2005 Award for Innovation.

The Cresco Partnershop will provide opportunities for disadvantaged people from all sectors of the community get back into employment in an area which has experienced high levels of violence and social exclusion. It will take the opportunity arising from the peace process to further develop a neutral working environment.

Ben & Jerry's first launched the PartnerShop programme sixteen years ago and currently has fourteen stores operational in the US. PartnerShops are run by charities to help those who may not otherwise have been able to secure employment, get that first foothold on the job ladder. Thousands of disadvantaged people have been helped in the US … and the effects are literally life-changing - within the Juma Ventures PartnerShop network in San Francisco, 8 out of 10 of trainees were still in employment one year later.

As Ben Cohen, the company's co-founder said:

'If we can sell ice cream in a way where non-profit organisations, that are working to solve social problems, get the profits and train the people they're working with at the same time, then that's a win, win, win situation!'

Ben & Jerry's Retail Operations Manager, Mark Stewart-Maunder (who's been overseeing the launch) says:

"Our co-founder, Ben Cohen once said that business has a responsibility to give back to the community and Ben & Jerry's has lived by those words ever since. Our PartnerShop initiative is part of this philosophy and has helped thousands of youths get back into employment since it launched in the US in 1985. This is a long term commitment by Ben & Jerry's to help make a difference in Belfast."

Cresco Trust Chairman, Stephen Kelly, says:

"When Cresco found out about Ben & Jerry's Partnershop scheme last year - we knew this would be the ideal vehicle for offering training and support to get unemployed kids from both sides of the community in Belfast back into employment - it really makes a big difference. This is exciting for Cresco, exciting for our trainees and exciting for Belfast!"

For more information delve into www.benjerry.co.uk /partnershops

For further information/visuals/interviews contact: Lynne Briggs @ Cresco Trust, Tel: 028 7126 9400

Notes To Editors:

• Ben & Jerry's currently franchises 53 scoop shops in the UK. For locations visit www.benjerry.co.uk
• More info about Cresco Trust visit www.crescotrust.com

Strive - Harlem to the Northwest

Unemployment has long been recognised as a significant problem in the northwest. It causes loss both to the individual and to the whole community. An important new initiative is being launched in the northwest to create a bridge between the long-term unemployed and the labour market.

The Key Project, managed by The Cresco Trust Ltd, will operate the STRIVE programme - a completely new model for Northern Ireland. STRIVE (Support and Training Results In Valuable Employees) will be launched in the northwest on 21^st November. It is an American model first introduced in East Harlem, New York in 1985. Since that time it has experienced enormous successes and rapidly spread across the United States and London.

The STRIVE model is an intensive three week employment training and placement programme that focuses on the soft- skills needed to obtain and retain employment. Individuals involved in the programme learn essential on-the-job skills such as appropriate workplace behaviour and communication, acceptable workplace attire, and how to work as a team. Increasing work readiness and confidence is the bottom line.

In addition to essential soft-skills, participants gain access to mentored job placement assistance. This includes continued support such as job search resources and long-term career planning aid.

Margaret Lee, Managing Director of The Cresco Trust Ltd said

"Active engagement with employers who have the capacity to offer employment is also a key part of this programme. The Key Project will work with employers to assist them with identifying skill shortages into which the unemployed and those in low paid employment may progress."

A vital partnership has been formed with a non-profit organisation called L.E.A.P. (Local Employment Access Projects). Based in London, L.E.A.P. is a six year old veteran of STRIVE. It has helped over 3,000 unemployed individuals find jobs. A recent survey of STRIVE graduates showed that of those surveyed nearly three quarters were in paid work.

Gillian Smyth, Key Project Manager, said

"STRIVE is one of the most exciting initiatives to bridge the gap between unemployment and the labour market. It has a proven track record of success. We recognise that it is a new model but we believe that the northwest can share in its success."

Funding is provided through the European Social Fund and Department for Employment and Learning. The project will operate across the Derry City and Strabane District Council area.

For more information please contact The Cresco Trust Ltd, 20 Pump Street, Derry / Londonderry, BT48 6JG. Tel: 028 71269400 or info@crescotrust.com