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January 2010 podcast
 January podcast
Strood Community Project, Rochester
This month’s podcast features Paul Robinson, the Project Manager, in conversation with Becky Atkins from the Church Urban Fund.
>> Listen to the podcast (MP3 file, 9.6 MB)
Strood Community Project started in 2006 as an initiative of the Diocese of Rochester, helping the town centre churches to become more community-focused. The parishes of St Nicholas and St Francis of Assisi began working in partnership with the aim of helping anyone in the community who needed any form of help. The area is in the lowest 8% in the country for education and skills, with a significant need for training to help long-term unemployed people back into work. When a survey highlighted the need for somewhere in Strood for people to receive training and advice, the churches worked together to develop a training programme.
“Almost every week, there’s someone who comes through the door who doesn’t have any qualifications to their name at all,” Paul explains. “And of course, you can’t get a job if you don’t even have a piece of paper to say that you can read and write and add up. We change the community by changing one person at a time; it's about breaking the cycle of low aspirations."
Based in the church hall at St Francis’ church, the Community Project runs computer literacy, English and Maths courses in addition to NVQ courses in key skills such as food safety and administration. The Project’s success is growing; in partnership with the local council, it offers training as part of the Flexible New Deal scheme, which aims to get unemployed people into employment through training and personal development.
Dianne was referred to the Community Project from the Job Centre. “I want to put things on my CV and increase my job prospects,” she said. “I’d like to do secretarial work, so I’m here to re-train. I’m now doing a module qualification; it’s been a real help.”
Demand for training places has been high, and with the support of a Church Urban Fund Mustard Seed grant, the Community Project is due to open a second centre on Strood High Street in March. The new centre will include a charity shop, which will give the Project greater financial sustainability, and the town centre location will make the Project’s services accessible to more people.
You can hear more about the Strood Community Project and the positive impact that it has been making in this month’s podcast.
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