INSPIRING YOUR POTENTIAL TO ACHIEVE

Enhancing Qualifications and Social Development (EQSD) was founded in 2017 as a Charity Incorporated Organisation (CIO).  EQSD  is our operating name.

The EQSD Charity exists to enhance qualifications, employability, education, and social development by providing opportunities, skill-building programmes and community outreach initiatives. 

Further updated information about EQSD can either be gained by contacting us in person or through our Charity Commission registration information, Annual Reports and Financial Statements which can be found at the Charity Commission for England and Wales website. 

Our scope is to provide services within Leicestershire. Both City and Countywide. 

EQSD works primarily with racial minority communities (RMC), across Leicester City and is planning to deliver in Leicestershire particularly with higher racial minority community demographic presence.  We are using the term " racial minority communities" as opposed to other terms because our term encompass a wide range of ethnicity inclusive of people of e.g., African, Caribbean, South Asian, East Asian, Middle Eastern, and other non-white ethnic backgrounds,.

We support these communities because they face barriers, accessing areas such as employment, education, healthcare, housing, and access to fairness due to low skill, low levels of English Language, socio-economic issues, lack of integration into the community, amongst other things.  

Since 2019 we have supported over 140 individuals and continue to do so on an individual face to face level 

· We have delivered a number of skills and employment support projects to help people reskill, and build employability skills. 

· Service engagement has been achieved through a volunteer core. 

· We supported beneficiaries over the period in the following ways: Confidence building, job applications, job searches, C. V’s, agency registrations
 

CURRENT PROJECT - First Touch (Our Volunteer Led Project)

First Touch was a pilot volunteer community project launched during Covid Pandemic to support vulnerable adults, unemployed, none contracted workers  and small business with information  advice and information needs. This service was delivered by an experienced  pool of volunteers.

First Touch is defined as,  "the ability to immediately get the situation under control after the first, initial contact".  

First Touch has supported vulnerable adults and families by delivering cooked food,  benefit claims and communicating with professionals e.g. primary care services, mental health teams, housing, DWP, CJS, Resettlement from Custody and in work help to ensure workers rights and entitlements, particularly, non contracted workers  were sustained as well as small businesses provided with information to receive covid business grant help and work experience for people we engage especially with attained IT skills.    

First Touch participating volunteers then and now have specialist backgrounds such as advice and information, legal and employability skills etc. First Touch is supported  by EQSD Trustees.

First Touch continues today and works with individuals one to one with agreed goals. First Touch uses a holistic approach enabling insight into user whole well-being e.g. education, economic, employability and employment, health, family, money management/debt, social isolation and community integration.  

Our engagement offers easy access as well as support through telephone, online or face to face means and mutual meetings anywhere desired by the user. We do not have a office and using this helps us reduce the carbon footprint and delivery cost.  All activities are conducted through consent and protecting privacy. 

First Touch holistic  approach demonstrate effective engagement of users with complex needs who are  often disempowered through low confidence, poor physical health and mental health,  low education, communication skills both written and spoken, job security, money worries, criminal justice system, cultural and social pressures such as discrimination of various types.  

We engage by recommendation i.e., particularly by word of mouth and language appropriation, but all referral types are welcome. 

First Touch has also been able to work with graduates to provide work experience leading to  employment positive outcomes for those who have engaged with our services.

In the main, our approach is flexible, aims to build confidence, identify and work towards removing personal or structural barriers that may prevent a good quality of life at home, learning  and work.

For further information about the First Touch or something else, please contact EQSD by using the phone number or contact form below.