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Powering Up Employment Prospects: CashBack Visit Govan Appliance Project

Fri 23rd February 2024

three young men standing in front of a sign

The Foundation’s CashBack for Communities – Towards New Futures participants made the short journey out to the Govan Appliance Project for a tutorial with Wes on how to fix and wire household white goods.

A young man working on a plug Raymond, Alan and Oli headed to the shop to learn how to re-wire plugs and also a cooker. All three participants successfully completed the tasks and came away from the session with the potential to go back and learn more about being an electrician.

The Foundation’s Cashback programme aims to re-engage young people with current or past convictions and help them move towards a more positive future including working, training or further education.

The Govan Appliance Project’s Wes and Toni previously came to Ibrox to deliver an introductory session to all CashBack participants and with the potential route to employment, many of them decided to follow up and head out to the shop to get hands on with the appliances.

The Govan Appliance Project’s vision is to create a community space that promotes engagement and opportunities to upskill by providing training, advice and sales of white goods. The project also includes a circular economy retail space that provide refurbished white goods that are affordable and sold back to the local community.

Participant Oli particularly enjoyed the workshop and took to the task like a duck to water. He said:

“I really liked working with the different tools and learning how to wire things up. I thought I picked it up quite quickly but it’s something I’d want to try again and get better at it.”

“It was really good to come out here and it’s definitely something I’m going to look into more.”

A young man working with wires with people in the back ground CashBack for Communities is a unique Scottish Government programme which takes funds recovered through the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and invests them into community programmes, facilities and activities largely aimed at diverting young people at risk away from potentially criminal or anti-social behaviour.