Stockport based charity Smart Works Greater Manchester has been shortlisted as a finalist in the 2016 E3 Business Awards.
Winners will be announced at the awards evening to be held at the Macron Stadium in Bolton on Friday 3rd June.
The Smart Works scheme, which aims to help unemployed women in the North West get a job and become financially independent, was selected from amongst hundreds of nominees to become one of the five finalists in the category Charity of the Year.
Speaking on behalf of Smart Works, Greater Manchester Manager Laura Dalby said: “We are approaching our second year of operation in Greater Manchester, having achieved a 73% success rate in our first year.
“We are excited about this nomination which gives deserved recognition for the fantastic team of volunteers that give up their time to help this worthwhile scheme.
“If we are successful in winning the award it will be entirely to their credit.”
Mubarak Chati, managing director of 1 Events Media, that hosts the E3 Awards, said: “Each year, since the scheme started, it becomes more of an achievement to win a finalist’s place. We’ve seen an increase in nominations and a corresponding increase in quality.
“We’ve had nominations from throughout the North West and we’ve seen real strength in all areas. One of the big surprises was the number of entries from social enterprises. We had so many that we decided to introduce a seventeenth award category – specifically for charities. It’s always been a key purpose of the Awards to celebrate the achievement of all parts of the community – not just the mainstream – so to see charities coming forward in such numbers is very gratifying.
“Given the number and the high standard of entries, we certainly gave the nominations panel a difficult job. They have risen to the challenge and their final selections represent the very best of the whole North West region. For a new initiative like Smart Works to have been named as a finalist for 2016 is an achievement of which it can be very proud.”
Smart Works has been established for over 10 years with two London locations and has since opened centres in Edinburgh, Greater Manchester (the 4th site) and Reading. There are plans to extend the service, opening more Smart Works centres across the UK, between now and 2018.
Working with several referral agencies, including Jobcentre Plus, Work Programme providers and charities, any female jobseeker can be referred to Smart Works as long as she has a confirmed job interview and needs help with interview clothes and confidence-building.
http://www.smartworks.org.uk/manchester
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