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KCC is helping people in the county's most deprived areas
live more fulfilling  lives with a number of initiatives.
The
Supporting Independence Programme aims to help people living in
Kent's most deprived communities lift themselves out of dependency
and into independence and employment and in so doing, help them
enjoy life more.
Working with the public and voluntary sectors, the programme
focuses on helping those groups of people who are most in danger of
becoming trapped in the spiral of deprivation and who need
assistance if they are to be helped back to fulfilling lives.
Within the programme are a number of key projects such as:
-
Kent NOW (New Opportunities for Work), which aims to help 250
long-term Incapacity Benefit claimants into sustained work by
2008
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Kent Success, an apprenticeship programme aimed at providing
work and training for school leavers
- Kent Community Programme, an eight week intensive vocational,
life skills and employability skills programme for young people
aged 16 to 18
- Skill
Force (link opens in a new window), an innovative personal
development curriculum for young people.
The programme helps KCC work towards reducing the number of
people dependent on welfare benefits - a target in its
Towards 2010 document. It also links in with the
Kent Agreement which aims to reduce unemployment among those
who are able to work.
It involves working with Jobcentre Plus and voluntary
organisations, helping to turn people's lives around.
The effectiveness of the programme is measured in a variety of
ways and evidence shows the positive effect it is having, including
reducing teenage pregnancies. |