A Darlington-based charity which offers information, advice, guidance, training and confidence building for anyone who's looking for work. Here, Northern Insight talks to their chief executive, Sarah Bentley, about the charity...
Why was the charity formed?
Our charity was set up in 1995 and the aim was to support people in Darlington with employment, training and skills by providing clear information, advice and guidance. Since 1995 we’ve worked with thousands of people across Darlington, providing person-centred, one to one support with everything from helping to update a CV, providing funding for people to do career changing training courses to offering small group sessions on team work and confidence building.
Which area do you cover?
We can support anyone who is living within the borough of Darlington. We have also recently done some work in Stockton and Hartlepool and we were part of two key projects that worked across the Tees Valley (Step Forward Tees Valley and Youth Employment Initiative).
What type of fundraising events do you have?
We bring in income for our work in two ways – through applying for grant funding applications and through generating income from our conference centre. We have some great space at Morton Park (four big conference rooms, two boardrooms and several other meeting rooms), which work well for companies and other organisations to use for training, meetings, staff away days, conferences and exhibitions). So when businesses use our room space, they are supporting our charitable work.
What have been your proudest moments so far?
Every time someone that we’ve supported achieves something that they didn’t think they would be able to, it’s a proud moment and seeing people become more confident in themselves and in their skills is always hugely positive for our team. Tandem exists to make sure everyone has a fair chance to progress and thrive.
What are you currently working on?
Shouting about our new name! We were very fortunate to be successful in securing a funding grant from the Growth and Resilience fund at Tyne and Wear Community Foundation, to raise our profile and create a communications and marketing strategy, so more people know about us and what we do. We worked with the design company, Sail Creative to develop a new brand and we also took the huge decision to change our name! So after 27 years as Morrison Trust, we are now Tandem. Our new identity feels authentic to us and really shows the values that drive what we do – inclusion, collaboration, valuing people and equality. We want people to know that whilst our name and logo have changed, the genuine care and tailored support you can expect if you access our projects and the quality of customer service you can expect from hiring a room remain as important to us as ever.
What does the future hold?
The next few weeks will be very busy as we’re about to start a new project that supports young people (up to 25 years old) and we’ve just started a project that can support people who want to change their career and need to do training to make those steps into a new job.
The impact of the Covid pandemic and the cost of living crisis continues to have a huge effect on people. Worries about losing a job and being out of work can lead to high levels of stress and can have a serious impact on people’s health. Darlington also has a high number of young people who are not working. We want to make sure that our support is available and accessible to as many people in Darlington as possible. So whilst we’re based at Tandem Hub at Morton Park, being out and about in the community is really important to us and we’re always looking for more opportunities to hold sessions in community venues to support people in spaces that bring are convenient for them.
How do you get involved?
If anyone would like support to build their confidence, increase their skills, do training to increase their job opportunities or get some support with applying for jobs and knowing what employers are looking for, they can get in touch at hello@tandem.org.uk
If any organisations would like more information about the rooms we have available or would like to book some space, please get in touch at hello@ tandem.org.uk
We’re always happy to hear from anyone who would be interested in knowing more about how they could support us as a Trustee on our Board too.
To find out more about Tandem, visit: www.tandem.org.uk