NHC Unlocking Success Bursary Scheme awards 15 tenants
The Unlocking Success Bursary Scheme, funded through the Northern Housing Consortium Charitable Trust, awards bursaries of £500 to help tenants develop learning and skills to support future employment. Since its launch in 2019, the scheme has awarded 73 bursaries to 43 member organisations. To hear some of the success stories from past successful applications, see here. The 2022 edition of the scheme launched in April with the application deadline in July, and we received 24 strong applications for this round. From these submissions, a further 15 tenants, from 6 of our members, have been awarded the bursary after successful applications.
We received a range of great applications, with various support requests to help tenants with future employment by increasing their access to learning and skills development. Below are some examples of the support the bursary fund will provide to successful tenants.
Dean is a tenant from Gateshead Council and will be using the bursary to support his travel costs to University and placements while he completes a course in PGCE Secondary Computer Science, to help work with children with special educational needs. Another tenant from Gateshead Council, Holly, will use to the bursary to pay for books, stationary and travel costs as she embarks on an A-Level Law course at Gateshead College.
Katy, a tenant from Livin, will be using the money to fund a NCFE CACHE Diploma/Certificate Level 3 in Supporting Teaching and Learning. Katy wants to get this qualification in order to become a teaching assistant, something she wants to do after being made redundant. Other successful applicants with Livin include Deanne, who wanted the money to fund the purchase of a laptop which will in turn help her with online training to gain her Maths GCSE and start an IT course. This will hopefully allow her to get a part-time job as she is a single parent bringing up three children of school age. Karl will use the money to buy his own tools so he can become self-employed within the welding industry, as companies he has worked for in the past cannot guarantee full time work.
Daniel, another Livin tenant, said “the grant will help me as I have always had an interest in photography and I have never had the confidence to pursue my dreams until now with the support of Livin. I would complete a course through Bishop Auckland College and purchase a camera for this course”.
Habinteg tenant Francesca intends to use funds received from the bursary to pay toward costs related to her degree including books, stationery, travel and course fees. As a dedicated student nurse, she is unable to work in the holidays to subsidise herself as she will be on unpaid placements doing twelve hour shifts.
Ella, an Eden Housing Association tenant, applied for the bursary to part-fund the next part of their counselling course which they have already saved some of the fees for. Ella detailed why the fund is so important, having found herself unable to return to her previous career due to ill-health, “I struggled with grieving for my former life and accepting my new circumstances. Counselling was a transformative process for me in helping me to overcome these difficulties and I am now passionate about wanting to help others who have found themselves in similar situations. I desperately wish to return to work but it is incredibly difficult for me to find a workplace which offers me the flexibility that I need due to my health. A career in counselling permits me to control my own workload and to work in a way which fits my needs, whilst also allowing me to fulfil my dream of supporting others… It would not only transform my life but also allow me to have a similar impact on others through my work.”
Finally, South Lakes Housing tenant Jennifer explained, “I wish to do a course in British sign language as at present there is no one with this qualification in my workplace. I pride myself in making sure that education is accessible to everyone and commination is vital for this to happen, not only with the children but also any parents of carers as well. In addition I would like to take minibus lessons in order to be able to drive a minibus. My work place is very small and our trips can cost quite a lot per child as the transport is the biggest cost factor. If I had my minibus licence, then we would be able to cut down the cost of education trips and offer more trips at a lower cost.”
Congratulations to this year’s 15 successful applicants! Look out for updates on the next round of the bursary in 2023, further information on the scheme is available on our website.
NHC will be hosting a celebratory and fundraising lunch on Friday 2nd December at Ramside Hall where we will be recognising this year’s successful applicants and looking forward to supporting future tenant applicants. Please contact Lynda.Redshaw@northern-consortium.org.uk for further information or to book a table. Alternatively you could donate directly via our JustGiving site to support a future tenant.
