Restart is a prison programme that helps people develop the skills they need to start their own small business or find work on their release. It is a collaboration between three innovative organisations.
About 80,000 people come out of UK prisons each year – most of them do not find work. Around half re-offend. Restart is about reducing reoffending. We work to serve prisoners to help them:
Uniquely, we are able to give start-up grants to our entrepreneurs. We also support our participants with practical accounting and business advice when they become self-employed. And because people leaving prison face a minefield of practical problems on release, we have our own support workers. For those who would prefer to find regular employment, we have the support of an employers network and partners, Like Blue Sky, who help our people find jobs.
But before anyone can find or create work, they have to have a strongly developed sense of hope, self belief and motivation. We help maintain and build this by running weekly choirs in all the jails we work in, suspend belief and listen and group singing helps people manage stress, depression and anxiety.
It gives people, whose lives are often defined by exclusion, a positive community to belong to. It develops employability skills, commitment, focus and team work. It also gives us the opportunity to put on concerts – to help maintain links with family members and get employers behind prison walls to show them the huge potential inside our prisons.
About 80,000 people come out of UK prisons each year – most of them do not find work. Around half re-offend. Restart is about reducing reoffending. We work to serve prisoners to help them:
- Develop mental resilience, self-esteem and confidence
- Develop business plans for self-employment post release
- Develop relationships and contacts with potential employers.
Uniquely, we are able to give start-up grants to our entrepreneurs. We also support our participants with practical accounting and business advice when they become self-employed. And because people leaving prison face a minefield of practical problems on release, we have our own support workers. For those who would prefer to find regular employment, we have the support of an employers network and partners, Like Blue Sky, who help our people find jobs.
But before anyone can find or create work, they have to have a strongly developed sense of hope, self belief and motivation. We help maintain and build this by running weekly choirs in all the jails we work in, suspend belief and listen and group singing helps people manage stress, depression and anxiety.
It gives people, whose lives are often defined by exclusion, a positive community to belong to. It develops employability skills, commitment, focus and team work. It also gives us the opportunity to put on concerts – to help maintain links with family members and get employers behind prison walls to show them the huge potential inside our prisons.
