A NEW collaboration between 17 third sector organisations will attempt to tackle systemically high rates of unemployment in Scotland's largest city.
Enable Works, the organisation driving the scheme, said the project is hoped to have a "massive impact" on persistently elevated rates of worklessness in Glasgow, where the rate of people out of work is higher than the national average.
All In Glasgow is expected to support more than 1500 people to overcome particular barriers - such as poverty, disability, homelessness, offending or substance misuse - and support them into work.
First launched in Edinburgh and then expanded to Dundee, the initiative has been tailored to tackle problems particular to Glasgow by including community-based charities alongside larger, national organisations.
Susan Aitken, leader of Glasgow City Council, said All In Glasgow forms part of work towards creating an "inclusive economy" in the city.
She said: "After the economic crash in 2008 Glasgow has had really strong economic recovery and growth, but during that period some of the really difficult statistics in the city have persisted.
"Glasgow is one of the best qualified cities in the world but also has high numbers of people without qualifications and who are not in work - the dial on [those figures] did not shift one bit and so we know something isn't working here, we are not doing this element of economic growth right.
"So this is about approaching how we do economic growth in a different way and looking at the data and asking where in our economy are people being let down by society and seeing what we do to address that."
Ms Aitken said one of the keys to tackling the issue is the involvement of the third sector.
She added: "There has been really quite ruthless targeting of those really tough figures over the past five years or so and a lot of that has been done in collaboration with the third sector.
"We've got in Glasgow generational worklessness in some households and young people who have never experienced a parent getting up and going to their work each day.
"The investment in someone like that is difficult and challenging but that is where you start to make the difference. You start to see those persistent stats turn around.
"If you're not including the hardest to reach people in the city in your plans then we don't have a city that works for everyone."
The Dundee programme has seen success not only in supporting people into work but also keeping them in work, with figures showing a 90% job retention rate after 12 months of employment.
Ashley Ryan, Director of Enable Works, said it was important that the Glasgow scheme has a similar impact in order to help tackle not only unemployment but also child poverty rates.
Enable Works forms the umbrella for 17 Glasgow charities working together to deliver three specific services – Training for Work, Progress for Parents and Supported Employment – with the partnership ensuring that those accessing any service can be signposted to another, more appropriate avenue without having to start the application process again or repeat a difficult-to-tell background story.
All in Glasgow will also support employers to increase diversity and inclusion in the workplace, and avoid inappropriate use of zero-hour contracts.
Ms Ryan said: "All in Glasgow will improve employment and job retention rates in Glasgow, focusing on sustainable, well-paid employment for the long term.
"The service is based on the principles of fair work and we offer accredited training and guidance to ensure people are able to make informed choices about work and are better-off financially."
Ukrainian refugee Olena Yermakova has already benefited from employability services offered by one of the charity partners, Hub International.
The mother-of-two was forced to leave her two sons, aged 19 and 20, behind when she fled Ukraine to start a new life in Glasgow - but she is determined to look forward.
She had left the occupied Donetsk region of Ukraine and fled to the city of Odessa before travelling to Germany and on to the UK.
She added: "You should always take the opportunity to develop yourself. That’s my motto - don’t sit in one place, do something.
"At Hub International, it felt like the right place: maybe I felt something in my heart like a magic moment and my life turned in this direction.
"I don’t know about my future but I know I can be useful in this moment doing something and not stay in darkness, sadness, and cry about bad world and bad war.
"I take inspiration in my family. I speak to them and tell them we are alright, we will meet again."
Mrs Yermakova, who arrived in the UK on December 18 last year, had approached the Job Centre to ask about opportunities for training and study and was referred to Hub International.
She was a Ukrainian literature teacher in her home country but is retraining to work in hospitality.
She said: "I was a teacher in Ukraine but now I live in another world. I understand [teaching] is not my way now and something must change in my life.
"[Hospitality] is good not to just serve people but to welcome them, we have the possibility to make the world brighter for other people.
"So I don't look at this as work experience, it’s a new experience."
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