Volunteers Week 2023 – Ritchii Gilbert

ELITE Supported Employment recognises the immense potential and talent within disabled people and those facing disadvantages. With a mission to facilitate their integration into the workforce, ELITE has developed an array of programs designed to address unique needs, enhance skills, and boost self-confidence. We collaborate with local businesses, community organisations, and government agencies to create a supportive ecosystem that nurtures and maximises the potential of each participant. As part of Volunteers Week, we emphasis on the role of volunteering in fostering personal and professional development. Through our volunteering initiatives, ELITE enables participants to gain hands-on experience, build networks, and explore
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Press Release | JobSense WWV

Employment support services to people with sensory loss extended to West Wales & the Valleys (WWV). ELITE has collaborated with three other leading disability employment providers and have successfully secured funding from the European Social Fund to extend employment support services to people with sensory loss across West Wales & the Valleys (WWV). JobSense WWV will help people, aged over 25, with a sensory loss, to secure volunteering and/or employment. As 1 in 5 adults in the UK are deaf or have hearing loss, and experience difficulty accessing employment, and only 27% of blind and partially sighted people are in
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Newsletter – June 2020

Our social enterprise ELITE Clothing Solutions featured on BBC Wales Today to discuss the production of medical scrubs. Following the announcement by Welsh Government that ELITE Clothing Solutions and other Welsh organisations will be producing medical PPE for the NHS, we've seen a positive response from the public, ministers and health professionals. Since the start of March, more than 126 million pieces of PPE have been used in Wales due to the Covid-19 pandemic, as reported by Welsh Government. In response to this, Wales’ First Minister announced in April, plans to create a "Made-in-Wales supply chain for PPE". There are
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Newsletter – May 2020

Our social enterprise ELITE Clothing Solutions are producing much needed medical scrubs for the NHS, along with our partners. When the Welsh Government was notified that the Far East and sub-continent would be partially closing down production at the end of March as a result of coronavirus, it took immediate action to secure a large amount of fabric from within the UK market so that it could be used to produce up to 2500 scrubs per week in Wales. The Welsh Government passed the fabric it had purchased straight to Alexandra, a UK-based company that supplies the NHS with scrubs
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Sam Evans at Foxtroy Residential Care Home

  Following on from Sam’s recent Agored Cymru accredited course in Health and Safety and Manual Handling he has had the opportunity to put into practice skills learnt in a real working environment. After an initial employer meeting with Diane Purnell, Manager at Foxtroy Residential Care Home, Sam was offered the opportunity of a work experience placement. Sam has since been buddied up with Paul the Caretaker at the home. Paul has been encouraging and proactive towards Sam involving him in a range of duties which have included watering the plants, painting and general ground maintenance of the premises. Feedback
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Celebrating Disability Confidence!

  At ELITE Supported Employment we’re proud to be a Disability Confident Leader & this month we have the chance to celebrate the fact. November 2019 is the third anniversary of the Disability Confident scheme. The scheme has helped ELITE Supported Employment to make the most of the talents disabled people can bring to our workplace. It does this through offering tools and techniques to support recruitment and retention of disabled people. To celebrate the anniversary, we decided to share the thoughts of our Volunteer Ambassador, Ritchii Gilbert on why it's important for organisations to become Disability Confident. Ritchii first
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ELITE complete the Cardiff 10k run

On Sunday 1st September 2019, staff and friends of ELITE Supported Employment ran the Cardiff 10k race! Raising money for a defibrillator through Welsh Hearts, 13 runners ran on behalf of ELITE and Welsh Hearts with all completing the race! It had recently been brought to our attention that our office complex at Magden Park would benefit greatly from having a defibrillator installed. Despite our office only being a 5 minute drive to the Royal Glamorgan hospital, in life and death scenarios every second counts! The defibrillator would not only benefit ELITE but the various other organisations located at Magden
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Jobseeker Spotlight: Mitchell

Introducing Mitchell – the latest jobseeker to be featured on the ELITE Jobseeker Spotlight. The 25 year old from Aberdare in Rhondda Cynon Taff has been working at the Cynon Valley Museum since January 2018. Through ELITE and our Engage to Change project, Mitchell’s journey to employment has seen him develop greatly over the past 18 months. When Mitchell was first referred onto the Engage to Change project, he was keen to find paid employment. After speaking to him about his hobbies and interests, it was soon established that his ideal job would be to work in a museum. With
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Jobseeker Spotlight: Josh

This time on the ELITE Jobseeker Spotlight, we are going Hollywood… well technically! We are shining the spotlight onto Josh who is currently working at Odeon Cinema in Cardiff Bay. With popcorn in hand, we had the chance to catch up with SES participant during his lunchbreak a few weeks ago! Josh was initially referred to ELITE by Cardiff JCP in July 2018 and he was signed onto the Specialist Employability Support programme (or SES for short). When he first started to engage with his Employment Advisor, Gaynor, Josh explained about his lack of confidence in his ability to attain
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Jobseeker Spotlight: Daniel

This time on the ELITE Jobseeker Spotlight, we had the chance to catch up with Daniel from Cowbridge in the Vale of Glamorgan. Daniel, a 24-year-old young man, first came to ELITE in 2018 in order to find employment – after an initial meeting with our Employment Advisors, it was apparent that Daniel qualified for our Engage to Change project. The project which assists those with Autism and/or a Learning Disability aged 16-25 in Wales provides job coaching funds. With this backing, ELITE’s team of Employment Advisors got to work in creating a bespoke recruitment plan for Daniel tailored to
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