The Breadwinners Model: What We Do and How We Do It
What does Breadwinners do?
So, you’ve seen that we sell great artisan bread. You might have even seen that we support refugees. But you’re wondering how... in what way… to what end… why? Today, we are going to answer all of those questions.
Breadwinners was founded 2016 with one aim: to develop a model of selling bread that also supports people in need.
Over the years, our mission has developed into helping refugees improve their wellbeing. Improving wellbeing and mental health, and helping our Breadwinners have a positive and hopeful future, is the core of what we do at Breadwinners.
The main way we achieve this is by focusing on work and employability. People with refugee status in the UK often struggle to find work; TENT estimates that unemployment may be as much as 70% for refugees.
Okay, so why employment if you’re trying to improve wellbeing?
Employment has been found to be the number one factor that leads to successful integration into the UK. Think about your life - without education and then work you enjoy, would you have formed as many social connections, and would you feel satisfied, and feel like you were part of the world around you?
Valuable employment also means that our Breadwinners can support themselves and their families, leading to better security, prospects and confidence. With government support not even nearly enough to live on - only £35 per person per week - developing a secure, valuable career path is essential for refugees and people seeking asylum. I think we can all agree that being able to earn enough to live on is essential for wellbeing.
Employment and work experience - especially one that involves a lot of contact with the public - also builds a huge amount of skills that are essential for integrating into the UK, such as experiencing UK culture and building language skills. Work is the perfect place to practice and develop these skills so our Breadwinners can feel positive and confident about life in the UK.
How else do you support your Breadwinners?
All our programmes - Risers, Breadwinners, and Proofers - take a three-pronged approach. As well as paid work or voluntary work experience (for young people who do not yet have the right to work in the UK), all our members also take part in employability training, such as interview skills. This works in tandem with their work experience, so that everyone gets the most out of the experience as possible.
Every member of our programmes also has a personal mentor who helps them with their integration, personal development, career goals and social network. Mentees meet with their mentors to discuss how they can improve their lives in the UK now and in the future, and plan how to get there. We think this is one of the most important parts of our programmes, and mentors and mentees often stay in touch long after the programmes finish.
What does Breadwinners achieve?
The combination of training, work and mentoring helps us work towards our goal of helping as many people seeking refuge in the UK improve their wellbeing and their future prospects. 100% of Breadwinners graduates go on to find full-time work, and 84% of our Risers (who are granted the right to work) go into part-time work. Others often go on to more training or education.
As we explained above, our model helps our graduates integrate into the UK, with better language skills, cultural understanding and social networks. They can then go on to be valuable, dynamic and talented members of their communities in the UK. And when that happens, Breadwinners has achieved its goal.