Success Stories
BEST SUCCESS FOR HOUSING AND CONSTITUENCIES DIRECTORATE
Sparkhill and Balsall Heath Libraries have used BEST to further support their communities
The BEST team at Sparkhill Library are working in conjunction with the recruitment and training agency Biscom to help members of their local community back into employment.
Biscom are holding drop in surgeries in the library every Tuesday afternoon where members of the public can come in and discuss their options. The Consultant offers advice and helps people find direction and options for returning to work. They are able to help with Job searches and further training such as ESoL (English for speakers of other language) courses, vocational qualifications such as NVQ’s, interview skills and tips and techniques for writing a C.V.
During their BEST workshop led by BEST Leader Rani Mann, a senior library assistant, it was identified that attendance at the surgeries was limited. To combat this the BEST team decided that further publicity was the key to raising awareness of this facility. The added publicity has worked and the surgeries are proving very popular with members of the public and are continuing throughout year.
Using the BEST value of Excellence the team have used their initiative and found a new ways of doing things for their community.
As a result of their BEST workshops Balsall Heath Library, also led by BEST Leader Rani Mann, have secured external funding to work with the locally based St Paul’s Community Development Trust, who’s mission is to work alongside the people of Balsall Heath to promote education, recreation and life-long learning.
The library will be running a monthly art club for children with a local community artist. The children will be working on various art projects and tying them into events such as World Book Day. The club has generated a lot of interest from members of the public and will be running on Saturdays throughout the year.
The team are hoping that these workshops will be a success and looking forward to working with their community.
