Bounce Back Project
Karen Baker currently serves as the Head of Training at Bounce Back Project since August 2022 and holds a voluntary position as an Executive Board Member at Yew Tree Farm School C.I.C since December 2023. Previously, Karen held the role of Head of Education and Deputy Education Manager at Novus - Foundations for Change from April 2017 to August 2022. Prior to that, Karen was the Faculty Director Support and Foundation Education and Head of Student Support at MidKent College, leading initiatives in Additional Learning Support and student welfare from September 2002 to July 2016. Earlier experience includes serving as an Apprenticeship Training & Development Adviser at Hotel and Catering Training Company Ltd and as an Operations Officer at Rail Gourmet UK Ltd. Karen's educational background includes studies at Canterbury Christ Church University and Westminster College.
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Bounce Back Project
Bounce Back is a Training Charity and Painting & Decorating Social Enterprise working inside & outside prison to train people from custody into employment to either become professional decorators for our own business or skilled construction workers for the building industry. We have 6 training centres across HMP's Brixton and Wandsworth and more in the community. We train in Painting and Decorating, Dry Lining and Scaffolding with our centres sponsored by Corporate Partners including Landsec, Alandale, Knauf, Endon and Nevill Long. We prepare people for employment equipping them with skills and qualifications for the construction industry so that they can move into full time work on release with one of our partner organisations or within our social enterprise. We also work with other prisons to provide employability skills and CSCS training and we offer invaluable additional practical support to both those leaving prison and their employers. We work with individuals through their release, bridging the gap and remaining with them for up to a year. For those that join our Social Enterprise we provide work experience, continuous training and employment. We have a team of 30 qualified painters and decorators available for work on private and commercial projects. We are proud of our achievements to date – over 1000 people have been through our training course and we have a re-offending rate of less than 12% against the national average of 50%. Over 80,000 people are released from prison each year and with 6 out of 10 employers excluding people with a criminal record, re-offending can almost become almost inevitable. Re-offending costs us all over £10 billion a year. With a job however this can be reduced by 50%. Our aim is to change lives, help people into work and stop them going back to prison. Follow us in the top right, to stay up to date with our work Twitter: @The_Bounce_Back Facebook: /bouncebackproject