In business
for the good of
our community
Good causes, good change
Our commitment to good causes doesn’t stop at our training services and community work. We have an incorporated charity, Goodwill Solutions CIO. Independent of the Group, the charity is funded by the profits from our trading activities and has received £530,000 since 2016 to fund charitable donations.
Part of this money goes back into the Group to fund the costs of supporting our internally managed charitable activities. We also fund the annual £40,000 accommodation costs of these three projects run by Northamptonshire Police.
Community Initiative to Reduce Violence
Early Intervention Hub
Cycl-opps scheme
It is down to Goodwill Solutions support of Northamptonshire Police and its mission that allows CIRV and the early intervention team to operate in a neutral space where agencies and staff from a variety of backgrounds can operate under one roof as a true multi-agency team.
Detective Inspector Daryl Lyons, Northamptonshire Police
Making changes for good
As well as this, the CIO also makes grants to local charities to support their work. Amongst others, during 2021 we made grants to a prisoner radio scheme, a local autism school, a local community centre and a local Bangladeshi support charity. In 2022 we have already supported the building of female changing rooms at a local Sea Cadet force and sponsored a foodbank in Wellingborough which is supporting 200 people a week with free food.
Our other partners helping us strive for good things
Cadet Unit thrilled by generous donation
Goodwill Solutions CIO was delighted to provide a grant £7500 to Northampton Sea Cadets ‘TS Laforey’ to enable them to refurbish their cadet changing facilities.
Northampton Sea Cadets is part of the oldest nautical youth organisation in the UK and there has been a Sea Cadet presence in Northampton since 1942. The unit having won the Canada Trophy for the best Sea Cadets Unit in the Country, not once but twice and also winning the Cleverly Award twice for having the best junior section in the country is also a Royal Yachting Association (RYA) affiliated training centre and this mean we are able to train and award nationally recognised qualifications in dinghy sailing, power boating and windsurfing.
All this for the young people in Northampton who very proudly wear their uniform giving them a sense of pride, teamwork, identity and giving them a huge head start in life.
Andrew Jolley Unit Chairman said
“We are delighted and thrilled to be working with Goodwill Solutions to update and revamp the cadets toilet and shower facilities at our HQ. It has been a challenge during these times of Covid and lockdowns, but the work commences at the start of 2022. This will ensure that both male and female cadets will have much needed facilities to partake in waterborne activities at the Unit.”
The Springs Family Centre is situated in Spring Boroughs and has created a street level centre at the heart of the neighbourhood. The team run two large youth clubs, a Jobsclub, a project to help young people get into work, a music recording studio, as cooking courses for young people and a hub which is open five afternoons a week for people to come in to chat and make friends
In April 2021 Goodwill Solutions CIO agreed to provide the Springs Family Centre with a grant for £10,000 to support their employability project.
The project is aimed at young people aged 14-25, mainly but not exclusively Black African/Black British young men.
These are young men who often feel left behind, they have failed in school often misunderstood and unable to maintain themselves.
‘Springs Family Centre are delighted to have received a grant from Goodwill Solutions CIO. The grant will enable us, through using our music recording studio, to inspire young people to achieve their dreams, furthering their education and gaining employment.
By believing in young people and investing in them we can release their true potential.’
Clive Ireson
Development Manager
In December 2020 Goodwill Solutions CIO awarded a grant of £5000 to Beyond Recovery to support their work with prisoners nearing release. Beyond Recovery CIC have worked with prisoners on their journey towards release since 2014 using their Three Principles model to improve mental health and bring behavioural change to many returning citizens.
However the reality of the in-prison Covid lockdown with prisoners kept in their cells for up to 23 hours a day presented a huge new challenge, their answer was to create activity packs bearing the key messages of their programme, which now is now distributed to over 50 prisons across the UK; and also to develop a COVID safe Distance Learning programme (DLP) which has been piloted at HMP Onley and is due to be rolled out at HMP’s Ranby and Nottingham.
The grant from Goodwill Solutions CIO will fund the publication of activity packs and the creation of a programme on Prison Radio which would enhance learners experience of the DLP.
I’m delighted to have been successful with our application for this grant. I’ve long admired the work of Goodwill Solutions and hoped for a chance to collaborate. I feel the addition of a radio show to our Distance Learning Programmes will be super impactful for those residents who learn in different ways. I’m also excited because the programme will be created by people with lived experience, Derrick and Omar. Since working with them Beyond Recovery has a deeper understanding of the issues people face both whilst in custody and upon release. The added bonus is that the radio show will be available on NPR’s Streamline website for families and returning residents!
Jacqueline Hollows
Founder Beyond Recovery
The Spring Charity has worked for many years with vulnerable families with young children in the Spring Boroughs, Semilong, St Johns and the Mounts areas of Northampton town centre.
Working in deprived city wards where families experience extreme hardship they provide care and education to promote social welfare and improve life chances to directly benefit families and the communities around them.
Despite running many programmes of support, they realised during the C19 lockdown that there was more which could be done to support women and children who were victims of domestic abuse. They discovered the Freedom Programme.
The Freedom Programme examines the roles played by attitudes and beliefs on the actions of abusive men and the responses of victims and survivors. The aim is to help them to make sense of and understand what has happened to them, instead of the whole experience just feeling like a horrible mess. The Freedom Programme also captures in detail how children are affected by being exposed to this kind of abuse and importantly how their lives are improved when the abuse is removed.
Jill, Marie and Martina from the Charity met with Goodwill in October and after an engaging and positive meeting decided to submit an application for a grant which would support the costs of running of the Freedom Programme for two years.
Early in December they were invited to present their proposal to the Trustees of Goodwill Solutions CIO, by the week before Christmas the final decision had been made, The Spring Charity were awarded a grant of £7486
the importance of the Freedom Programme is recognised by this very generous award. Very many thanks to Goodwill Solutions from the Spring Charity Board of Trustees
Jill Spiby
Trustee The Spring Charity
Supporting the local community in Wellingborough
Goodwill Solutions CIO has been a supporter of the local community in Wellingborough for several years through its involvement with the Hemmingwell Community Centre, including in 2019 donating £20,000 to support greater community cohesion via services such as out of school and youth-oriented clubs, community churches and access to gym facilities within the centre.
In 2022 the CIO is sponsoring a foodbank in the Centre which is supporting 200 people a week with free food.