We're redefining the boundaries between the justice system and the wider community. Some of us have been through that system, some of us haven’t. But working together, we help people who are serving sentences or who have had contact with the justice system to turn around their futures, and we engage the wider community in supporting them on that journey.
Our transitional employment opportunities help reduce barriers to employment, create community and support networks to help people as they strive for new futures. Our coaching model helps people plan their new futures and our volunteering programme includes others in building shared, supportive communities.
Working together, we are pursuing our vision of an inclusive community where everyone has hope and opportunity. We operate two social enterprises that provide transitional training and employment opportunities to people before and after they complete prison or community sentences. Outwork Property Services
Outwork Property Services combines grounds maintenance services, painting and decorating and property maintenance such as cleaning. This enterprise delivers financial – and social – value for money services to commercial and domestic clients. Our hard working Outwork crews operate under an on-site Supervisor, delivering a range of maintenance services for individuals and organisations who not only enjoy great service but also know that by contracting Outwork they are helping to tackle barriers to employment. Our clients include the Belfast International Airport, Springfield Charitable Association, Alpha Housing Association and Blairs Caravans, as well as domestic clients. Big Loop Bikes
Big Loop Bikes is a circular economy enterprise with social and environmental impact at its heart. Big Loop Bikes teaches people skills in bike repair and management and takes unwanted bikes (donations, rescue from landfill and scrap), refurbishes those bikes and offers them for sale to the wider community at affordable prices. Bike Loop Bikes initially began operating within Hydebank Secure College, refurbishing unwanted bikes collected from individuals, police stations, universities and landfill sites. Since then, we have extended Big Loop Bikes beyond Hydebank, with a workshop and retail space on Queen's University Belfast's campus, and through a movement of people in the community working together to develop skills, transitional employment opportunities, and a framework of mutual support.
Having a workshop in the community allows us to deliver our transitional employment model in which people working in the enterprise pre-release can continue to work with us post-release, providing them with a framework of engagement and support at a critical point in their transition out of custody.
