Ashley Community Housing wins consultancy support from Aleron

Ashley Community Housing have secured consultancy support from Aleron to help them secure a contract (or contracts) worth £1m per annum, thanks to funding from Big Potential Advanced.

Aleron work with mission driven organisations, government, corporates, investors and philanthropists to unlock the potential barriers to social change. They advise, deliver for, and partner with organisations to achieve efficiency and impact in the social sector

Ashley Community Housing (ACH) is a thriving social enterprise which delivers the #rethinkingrefugee resettlement and integration programme throughout communities in the West of England and the West Midlands.

Since 2008 they have successfully resettled over 2000 individuals from refugee backgrounds – developing their independence, promoting their positive contribution to the community and easing their integration into UK life. Many of the ACH staff, including the CEO, have lived experience as former refugees, resulting in a tried and tested resettlement and integration service that is culturally responsive.

Consultancy support from Aleron will put ACH in a position to fully exploit market opportunities. It will enable them to drive forwards the work they do with refugees through the framework of the inclusive skills agenda being promoted by Central Government, and the Combined Authorities in the West of England and the West Midlands.

By bringing the economic strand of their Rethinking Refugee campaign to market ACH will be able to help more refugees, and amplify their work on collective impact as the best approach to integrating refugees into an inclusive labour market.

Richard Thickpenny, ACH's Business Development Manager, explained "It’s great to work with Aleron as we prepare to upscale and deliver a sustainable resettlement provision across the UK, working with 25,000 people over the next 10 years".

Aleron CEO, Nicolas Ponset, said "Aleron are delighted to be working with Ashley Community Housing as part of the Big Lottery's Big Potential Advanced scheme. We are excited to be working with such an ambitious and fast-growing organisation that combines housing, support and training to transform the lives of so many vulnerable individuals in the West of England.”

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Editor’s Notes:

For further information please contact:

Matthew Rogers, Marketing & Communications Officer
Email: matthew.rogers@ashleyhousing.com
Tel: 0117 954 0433
Website: www.ashleyhousing.com

About Ashley Community Housing

Ashley Community Housing (ACH) was established in 2008 as a social enterprise specialising in the economic, social and civil integration of refugees through accommodation and community based training support. We have successfully resettled over 2000 individuals from refugee backgrounds in this time.

We employ 60 staff and operate in the West of England and the West Midlands as a strategic partner for local authorities and government prime contractors. Through the establishment of our subsidiary training arm 'Himilo Training' we are committed to supporting refugees through work experience, language training, IT literacy and employability skills.

Our #RethinkingRefugee programme is considered outstanding and reflects our commitment to making sure refugees become part of society rather than remaining marginalised and under-employed.

www.ashleyhousing.com @AshleyCHousing

Big Potential

Big Potential is a Big Lottery Fund grant programme that will deliver approximately £20m of grant funding over three years to eligible VCSE organisations with the aim of improving their sustainability, capacity and scale in order that they may deliver greater social impact.

The programme has two routes; Breakthrough and Advanced. Big Potential Breakthrough helps VSCE organisations work out how social investment might work for them. Big Potential Advanced helps VCSE organisations with strong proposals apply for investment or challenge for contracts.

Big Potential is administered by Social Investment Business for the Big Lottery Fund, in partnership with Locality, Charity Bank, Social Enterprise UK, and the University of Northampton.

www.bigpotential.org.uk

Big Lottery Fund

The Big Lottery Fund, the largest distributor of National Lottery good cause funding, is responsible for giving out 40% of the money raised for good causes by the National Lottery.

The fund is committed to bringing real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need and has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK. Since its inception in 2004 BIG has awarded close to £6bn.

The Fund was formally established by Parliament on 1 December 2006.

In the year ending 31 March 2013, 28% of total National Lottery revenue was returned to the Good Causes. Since the National Lottery began in 1994, over £30 billion has now been raised and more than 400,00 grants awarded across arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education, and the environment.

www.biglotteryfund.org.uk

Social Investment Business

Social Investment Business provide loans, grants and strategic support to charities and social enterprises to help them change the lives of the people they work with.

They have helped hundreds of organisations become more resilient and sustainable so that they can grow and increase their impact.

They were one of the UK’s first social investors and since 2002 have provided over £380 million of loans and grants to charities and social enterprises

www.sibgroup.org.uk @TheSocialInvest