GEMS NI

Cregagh Community Association in partnership with Castlereagh Borough Council and Gems NI have designed a community programme called “Fit for Work”.

The aim of the programme is to provide practical assistance and guidance for those who are unemployed and actively seeking to improve their prospects. We are also going to get them physically fit and active by offering Men and women who avail of this service an hour’s free use on the new 3g pitch or an hour’s consultation with a beauty therapist We hope that this will be an attractive incentive for the community to move closer to the labour market.

This programme is open to all unemployed members of the community. The weekly workshops will include:

• Help with CVs
• Job Search
• Help with application forms
• Interview techniques
• Motivation, Confidence and self esteem building.
• Career information advice and guidance
• Opportunities for further training
• Advice on further education

We are delighted to have two of our programmes featured on the European Commission website:

M-Power Project: "Breaking inter-generational unemployment"

Minority Ethnic Employment Support Project: "Giving migrants a working chance"

We held an open day on 15th June where we shared information on all our services.

This was an opportunity for our stakeholders – clients, our community and voluntary sector partners and statutory organisations - to come in, meet our team, hear about what we do in a relaxed and informal atmosphere.