European Social Fund in England

ESF brings a world of opportunities

Changing from a dial-up to a Broadband Internet connection has helped the ESF funded Pelican Trust Ltd and its clients enjoy a whole new world of information and opportunities.

The Trust provides a package of job-search and employment opportunities to people with mental health difficulties and people with physical or learning difficulties in the Lincoln area. It does this with an ESF grant of over £100,000 co-financed through Jobcentre Plus, as well as support from the NHS Lincolnshire Partnership Trust and the Learning and Skills Council.

The funding helps provide beneficiaries with training and development opportunities through the acquisition of practical skills in woodcrafts, printing, administration and quality assurance.

Broadband was primarily introduced to enable the Pelican Trust to deliver on-line "Learn Direct" training to adults with disabilities. Today, it is used for this and a host of different services that have transformed the organisation and the lives of those it helps, and led in 2004 to the Trust's selection as a finalist in the "Best Use of Broadband" category in the East Midlands E-Commerce Awards.

General Manager Stacey Gillott explains: "Broadband allows many more trainees to access the Internet here and they love it. They see it as an exciting and fun way of learning and they are using a computer, which for some is a new experience in itself. It has enabled clients who often find it difficult to integrate into mainstream education and training to gain qualifications they could not access elsewhere."

Pelican Trust also offer full colour commercial printing, sign and badge making, and business activities such as mail shots and database collation. The money generated from the business goes towards subsidising training, a canteen, travel and childcare costs, as well as social events for beneficiaries and trainees alike.

May Brown, Jobcentre Plus ESF Contract Consultant, says, "The use of ICT in an imaginative and creative way has allowed people to develop skills they did not know they had and has opened up new avenues for these people to explore. By linking the activities to the practical skills that the Pelican Trust offer in-house, each individual can investigate work opportunities that they may not have been able to access before."