05 February 2012

O-Regen is a Community Development Trust with its roots in the local community. As a Development trust it seeks to improve the lives of those local residents it serves. It does this through the delivery of three key areas of work;

• The delivery of training and employment advise and guidance, 
• Capacity building support for local community groups, and
• The management and delivery of thriving community centres that are owned and managed by O-Regen

O-Regen is managed by a Board of 12 trustees, The Board meets 4 times a year and is supported by a Working Group which also meets 4 times a year. The Board is supported by a Senior Management Team. The Chief Executive and the Chair meet regularly for 1:1’s, as well as communication through telephone and e-mail conversations

(i)The delivery of training and employment advise and guidance

The following projects provide a snapshot of the work undertaken by O-Regen.

ESOL for Bangladeshi Community

This two-year LDA funded project aims to provide a customised and innovative support package to meet the ESOL , skills for life and employment needs of unemployed members of the Bangladeshi community in East London.  O-Regen project will deliver the following:

• 28 full-time and 14 part-time jobs
• 40 progressions into FE or Voluntary work

O-Regen is anticipating that the majority of the qualification and employment support outputs will be achieved by the end of the financial year ahead of target and a re-profile of the targets has been requested.

BME Women into Jobs

BME Women into jobs is a London Councils/ESF co-financed two-year project valued at £206,934. It will recruit 85 economically inactive BME women in Waltham Forest, Hackney and Haringey. They will be mainly from Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Somali backgrounds. Culturally sensitive education, training, employment advice, support & guidance, including developing home based employment such as childcare will be provided. Key outputs include: 12 jobs on leaving project; 16 jobs six months after leaving; 50 into further job search/training.

Future Foundations Outreach provision

This project is part of the Local Authority’s Work Net Partnership (WNP), as part of the government’s City Strategy Pilot programme. The project is designed to provide outreach and IAG support to 460 residents. In addition the project requires the delivery of 100 jobs, and 122 referrals to the Work Net Partnership and 122 referrals to other training provision.

Personal Best (Pre-Volunteer) Programme

The LSC/ESF co-financed project is valued at £120,000 over 2 years and provides a unique opportunity, which uses the excitement of the prospect of volunteering in the London 2012 Olympics to train 150 workless/socially excluded individuals from north and east London in Level 1 accredited Personal Best course in Events Volunteering.
           
Extended Employment Support (NEET)

The LSC/ESF co-financed project is valued at £366,903 over 2.5 years and will build on the networks and delivery structures already established in the Walthamstow and North London area to identify and support young people who are NEET or becoming NEET (Not in Education Employment or Training). O-Regen will manage the delivery of alternative provision services for young people not within the established school system and those who are severely threatened with being excluded from it. The project targets include over 127 NEET (or at risk of NEET) young people engaged to receive employment support/training programmes; along with 61 job outcomes in total. Delivery partners include College of North-East London (CONEL), and London Borough of Waltham Forest (LBWF).

O-Regen College

The provision of alternative education provision to young people who have been excluded from school and are at risk of becoming NEET. The project aims to support 25+ students achieve the following targets:

• 80% attendance
• 80% of students gaining a nationally recognised qualification.
• 50% progressing onto Further Education, Employment or Training (Not in Education Employment or Training).

(ii)       Capacity building support for local community groups,

Grassroots Grants Programme

The Grassroots Grants programme is a government funded programme which is managed by O-Regen in Waltham Forest. The funding is for three years and the amount which will be distributed in each year is as follows:

2008/09          £108,000
2009/10          £116,000
2010/2011      £121,000

The purpose of this programme is to support small informal voluntary and  community groups and organisations, many of whom are dependent on volunteers.

During the first year of operation O-Regen received 74 applications. These grants applications were for projects whose cost totalled £283,364 and which were requesting in total £239,323. The Grassroots Grants approved 25 projects, at an average grant of £4,320.

(iii)      The management and delivery of thriving community centres that are owned and managed by O-Regen

O-Regen owns and manages 5 community facilities

Paradox Centre: The Paradox Centre is a community facility in Chingford, which O-Regen has rented to Africa Foundation Stone to provide a range of community activities, including training and skill development. Additionally CBHA also provide Youth services at the Paradox Centre and the centre is also the focal point for the work of the Church of the Risen Christ. 

Bell Centre: This is a childcare facility which is leased from the Shaftsbury Society. O-Regen works with Redwood  to provide childcare for 56 children.

Epicentre: This is a community facility which has generally performed well in terms of occupancy, but not always with regards to financial performance. Much of this was due to the need to invest in the facility in order to provide the services which many of its users require, i.e. access to ICT facilities, ISDN etc, as well as to upgrade the poor lighting and flooring which were installed during its construction. As a consequence this facility has continued to build upon its reputation. The facility has all its offices rented and occupancy is approximately 78%.

Click Centre: The Click Centre is the primary but not exclusive focus of O-Regen’s Economic Development activity. The facility hosts two ICT suites as well as an Internet café.  

SCORE: This is a major facility in Leyton which is used by a range of organisations, from the Council, PCT through to the University of East London, through to private bookings by local residents through to strong usage by local community organisations. The facility serves the local community with an average for example from Oct 2008 to Feb 2009, the facility was dealing with 50 community bookings per month..  The SCORE facility also has community offices which are fully let and provide income towards the running of the facility. On average approximately 1500+ people use the facility each week..

Quality Management
O-Regen has a number of quality standards including Investors In People, Matrix, Customer first as well as an accredited centre for ECDL, OCN, City and Guilds.