Social enterprises providing decent work can apply for a new grant from Northamptonshire Community Foundation.
The social enterprise fund is intended to provide direct support for organisations offering quality jobs and stimulating economic growth in the local community.
As a parent of young workers and someone who has spent some time teaching teenagers over the past couple of years the emphasis on decent jobs is a timely and worthwhile one.
The first hand accounts I have heard of working conditions for young people in particular reflect badly on employers across a wide range of sectors: from old style sexism and harassment of the ‘it’s only banter’ type to set-ups that sound like they are one accident away from complete catastrophe.
This is not to say that all employers are unscrupulous exploiters but we have got ourselves to a situation where a kind of underbelly of low standards has been able to persist.
The most effective response for the young people in these jobs has been just to walk away if they can find something better but that means the underlying problem is never solved and eventually a disaster will happen.
It’s fashionable to be impatient with rules and regulations and an online industry in ‘disrupting’ them is emerging but these templates for safe and ethical behaviour are the hallmarks of a smart and advanced society. They are the product of lessons learned and we ought to see them as tools for providing us with a higher quality of life all round.
That’s why that phrase ‘decent work’ is so important in deciding who should get these grants.
Applications that particularly help the vulnerable and disadvantaged will be viewed favourably.
Groups can apply via www.ncf.uk.com with a closing date for applications of Friday 15 October.
Rachel McGrath, Deputy CEO and Grants Director of Northamptonshire Community Foundation said: “We have seen how the pandemic has massively impacted the economic and financial wellbeing of our local communities and so we are delighted to be able to launch a funding programme that will go some way to help support and contribute to local economic wellbeing and give a boost to new and existing social enterprise activity locally.”
