Cornerstone were referred to RTC through the Big Potential provider register because they wanted to make the charity more sustainable and improve opportunities for its service users.

Steve Vasey, CEO of Cornerstone said: “We wanted to create more jobs for service users by developing and expanding Cornerstone’s workshop production and sales. The primary/initial need that Cornerstone has responded to has been homelessness. We then work to support the most vulnerable in stabilising their lives and move them towards employability. The next necessary step is getting a job.”

Cornerstone currently run a scholarship which supports school leaving service users by taking them into employment for a minimum of one year. Intentions are to increase this to two young people and two adults over the coming 12 months, however, Cornerstone plans to go way beyond this in creating more jobs.

“The majority of our service users are unemployed when they join us and most probably unemployable at this stage. Unemployment rates are high in South West Durham, (and in Hartlepool) we therefore need to create more jobs for our service users with the eventual aim of offering a 12-month job opportunity to all our service users,” added Steve.

Ensuring that the furniture making social enterprise generates a higher income is critical to Cornerstone’s ambitions to employ more service users. It is also missing link in Cornerstone’s financial self-sufficiency strategy. To help with this, in 2017 Cornerstone was awarded a grant of £28,000 from the Big Potential Fund to work with specialist consultants RTC North.

The team at RTC has worked with the charity to review its current growth strategy and develop a forward plan focussed on growing trading income through the sale of furniture manufactured in its workshop.

To date, a complete overhaul of the manufacturing process and workshop layout has taken place, standard operating procedures implemented and fully costed key performance indicators established for the production team. Alongside this exercise a branding, market research and marketing strategy is being put in place to help promote the work of the organisation and drive new furniture sales.

“Based on the outcomes of this project, Cornerstone is now looking to expand workshop production over the next 3 years.  This expansion will include, establishing a separate training workshop, for which, we would like to appoint a Workshop Manager to take forward this aspect of the plan,” said Steve.  

Cornerstone are now looking to equip service users with the skills to progress into other jobs and into training and education and the team are working with the Open College Network.

Alongside this, they aim to contribute a range of other positive impacts in terms of increased accreditation and qualifications, improved self-confidence, reductions in substance misuse and offending and ability to sustain a tenancy.

One of RTC’s specialist consultants has also drafted a new impact and quality statement which is designed to reinforce the Social Impact delivered by Cornerstone as an organisation.