Hastings Residents and Businesses Get Boost Through Free Support Programme ‘RISE Hastings’
RISE Hastings is a support programme in partnership with Hastings Borough Council, Let’s Do Business Group, Southern Housing and Education Futures Trust and is funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. This has brought a huge new programme of support for the town to support businesses, individuals and households in Hastings, East Sussex.
The RISE Hastings programme came to fruition after Hastings Borough Council’s successful bid for UK Shared Prosperity funding in 2022, with the North Hastings area being identified as a location that would benefit from increased investment in business support and local skills.
Focusing primarily on the Broomgrove and North East Hastings area of the town, the RISE Hastings programme is a 2-pronged project; led by local not-for-profit organisation Let’s Do Business Group, who offer 1:1 skills support and workshops for business owners and entrepreneurs with an aim to create economic growth in areas across the South and East of England, and skills providers like Education Futures Trust (based on Elphinstone Rd, Hastings) and Southern Housing, who provide a support package for people in the town looking to secure employment and gain qualifications and new skills. Launched in late 2023, RISE Hastings has already had several successes in its aims – engaging with and supporting over 100 Hastings businesses and local residents to learn new skills to help them to succeed, create more local job opportunities, secure employment and more.
Through Let’s Do Business Group’s offering, Hastings’ residents have been able to access free 1:1 support as well as events and workshops, varying from Jobs and Opportunity Fairs, Start Up Business skills and Digital Marketing workshops, levelling up the digital skills gap in the town and aiding local people to set themselves up for success. Also through the RISE Hastings programme, a new Peer to Peer Network was also launched, named GAIN (Growth and Innovation Network) that brings together local business owners to learn new skills and tackle their challenges together.
Cllr Glenn Haffenden, Deputy Leader and lead for Housing & Community Wellbeing, Hastings Borough Council, said:
“I am really pleased to hear that Hastings’ residents are benefiting from the RISE Hastings Programme, and start-up businesses in the area have access to support through the networking and business skills initiatives”.
Through Southern Housing and Education Futures Trust’s side of the project, residents have benefitted from access to support to gain skills and employment to boost their incomes - with everything from cooking and baking courses on offer, to support with job interview skills and more. This new support has widened access to certain certifications too – helping local people gain qualifications and higher education, reducing barriers to employment in the area.
As well as these events and skills workshops, the RISE Hastings programme acts as a signposting service to help Hastings’ residents to gain additional support from organisations such as Citizen’s Advice, Hastings Voluntary Action, The Salvation Army and Job Centre Plus, to aid with accessing benefits and entitlements as well as any other support they need.
Running until Spring 2025, the providers of RISE Hastings have planned more ways to engage with local residents to help them gain the skills they need to succeed. Coming up for Spring and Summer 2024 are more skills workshops focusing on digital skills for anyone wanting to learn how to utilise social media marketing for business and try their hand at video creation and editing, as well as practical workshops covering skills and hobbies like Floristry and Horticulture from Education Future’s Trust.
Can you learn something new or benefit from the RISE Hastings programme? Find out more:
Free Support and Workshops for Businesses https://www.letsdobusinessgroup.co.uk/rise-hastings
Employment Skills support and workshops for Hastings residents https://www.educationfuturestrust.org/courses-3
