Riverside Housing and the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Trust (BIRT) celebrated the completion of a new housing block for residents in Liverpool, with the official opening of Redford Court Lodge at Birt Street, Toxteth.
The accommodation is near to BIRT's existing service at Redford Court, which was also completed in partnership with Riverside Housing, and accommodates five people with acquired brain injury and additional complex health needs.
The project comes as Riverside and BIRT celebrate the tenth anniversary of their work together in ensuring cost effective brain injury services to people who want to live in Liverpool and who have enduring and significant disabilities following a brain injury. BIRT is a division of the Disabilities Trust, a charitable organisation which provides services to people with physical disability, learning disability and autism, as well as brain injury.
David Jepson, Deputy Chief Executive of The Riverside Group, said:
"We are proud to deliver high quality homes for people who benefit from the services provided by BIRT. This is a significant event for both organisations and it shows that the Riverside Group, which has recently been strengthened by the merger with English Churches Housing Group, is committed to delivering excellent accommodation for people who need it most."
A staff team has been recruited and trained by BIRT, and the ongoing supervision of staff and management of the scheme will be performed by the existing experienced management team at Redford Court.
The award-winning Skillspeak project, supported by the AmicusHorizon Group, held several open days at local libraries in Eastbourne and Hastings, aimed at encouraging women in Sussex to improve their English skills.
The open days provided information about a new accredited course in English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), which is being run by the Skillspeak Project in Eastbourne and Hastings. The course is free and open to women aged 19 to 65 whose second language is English. Participants are required to have a good understanding of the English language, be prepared to study towards accreditation and have recourse to public funds. The course runs twice a week over a ten-week period. Skillspeak can even help with childcare and some travel costs whilst participants are attending the class.
Lauren Kenny, AmicusHorizon Group's Skillspeak Project Administrator, said:
"The aim of these open days is to let people know about the course and encourage as many women as possible to improve on their existing English language skills by undertaking an ESOL qualification. Skillspeak is a successful project that delivers a wide range of high quality ESOL courses, at times and venues to suit participants. We at AmicusHorizon Group are committed to delivering quality learning projects for residents in Sussex to help create excellent neighbourhoods and benefit the wider community as a whole."
Set-up in 2005, Skillspeak offers accredited and non-accredited courses in ESOL. The courses are held in community venues for people unable to gain access to mainstream educational facilities. The project currently supports 120 participants with 35 of these going on to further accredited ESOL training.
Skillspeak is delivered by the People for Action team, as part of the regeneration directorate of the AmicusHorizon Group. The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) and the European Social Fund, fund the project with support from the AmicusHorizon Group.
The Adult Learning Inspectorate (ALI) recently assessed AmicusHorizon Group. The ALI evaluated three projects, one of which was Skillspeak. AmicusHorizon were praised for delivering 'good' quality services to learners across Sussex, Surrey and South London.