Bristol Together, the groundbreaking social enterprise supporting a major programme of job creation for ex-offenders, has secured initial funding with the help of ethical investment specialist Triodos Bank.
Clifton-based Triodos acted as lead advisor for the initial fundraising from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and a private individual, successfully securing a £600,000 investment to buy and renovate empty sub-standard properties in Bristol.
These will then be fully repaired and refurbished. Over the next five years Bristol Together expects to create more than 200 full-time jobs for some of the most excluded people in and around the city.
It will partner with other social enterprises, such as the Restore Trust and Aspire, who together will employ the ex-offenders and the long-term unemployed to work on additional properties.
Once renovated, these will be sold and the proceeds used to buy more properties in need of renovation – so creating even more employment opportunities.
Bristol Together’s endorsement by Esmée Fairbairn comes ahead of a £1m fundraising campaign next spring which will launch a tax-efficient social impact bond targeted at high net-worth individuals.
Bristol Together began employing ex-offenders last month but has already won the award of Social Business of the Year at the ClearlySo conference in London.
Instrumental in getting the Bristol Together project off the ground has been its management team – Paul Harrod (founder and CEO), Peter Culliford (operations director) and Andrew Street (chair and investor-director).
Triodos Bank’s corporate finance lead advisor Lydia Westmore worked with the team to shape the business and make it investor-ready
“We believe that this project will add-value to UK society as a whole – demonstrating the effectiveness of social impact bonds, and giving real assistance to vulnerable individuals in the Bristol area,” said Lydia.
Paul Harrod added: “There is an urgent need to create jobs for ex-offenders.
“The cost to the taxpayer of people reoffending is huge – but we have already proved that, given the right opportunity, we can help people leave their criminal past behind them, and develop their skills and employability. At the same time we are bringing empty property back into use.
“Having worked with Triodos for the past nine months I feel confident that this project will succeed. We would like to see if it can replicated in other major cities across the UK where the need for jobs is just as great as it is here in Bristol.
“I look forward to seeing private investors support this initiative, leading to a very positive result for people in the Bristol area – and beyond.”
