Back in July Amey teamed up with social enterprise Ethstat Ethical Stationery C.I.C (Ethstat) and a group of South London charities to package and distribute face coverings to its 16,000 employees, including more than 10,000 keyworkers, across the UK. This saw over 18 homeless or unemployed people employed for two days, during the peak of Covid-19.
The partnership has gone from strength to strength, with Ethstat now supplying Amey with 100% Fair Trade tea and coffee across the business, as well as other office needs.
Ethstat are a social enterprise who invest their profits back into local communities. The profits made from this collaboration enable them to:
- Employ and provide full-time work for homeless people, ex-offenders and long-term unemployed workers
- Provide financial support and donations to dementia families; helping to support dementia families and carers with dementia dolls, music therapy, weighted blankets and donations, crucial particularly as the country continues to recover from COVID-19
- Provide mentorship and training for ex-offenders and former drug users to set up their own businesses
- Provide PPE for homeless hostels and community projects allowing them to continue their work throughout the Pandemic.
Working with Beam
One of Ethstats delivery partners is Beam – an organisation that uses technology to find scalable solutions to social problems. Ethstat has supported 48 homeless people into education, training and real jobs. 62% of those supported come from BAME backgrounds, 50% are female, many of whom were escaping abuse. Beam are experts in their field with an extensive network of support.
Each homeless person on the Beam platform is referred by an established homeless charity or their local council. They are then each given a dedicated support specialist and help to tailor a career plan, building on unique strengths and interests. Their individual story and a breakdown of budgetary requirements is then listed on the platform, for people to follow, financially support and engage with.
The impact
To date, the products and services purchased by Amey from Ethstat, has enabled them to support 34 individuals on Beam – helping them to kickstart their careers. https://beam.org/fundraisers/amey
“You don’t often come across people who are so genuinely kind and helpful but my support worker has been great. I really can’t wait to start this course and for all the opportunities it will bring me.” Haider was homeless and is now a Lorry Driver
“I'm pleased to say I've started full-time work as a Facilities Assistant. This is my first time working for a while and I'm feeling much more positive. I'm hoping to save up some money so I can move out of the homeless hostel and start renting my own room from October.” Caruntu was homeless and is now working as a Facilities Assistant.
“Working with Amey has allowed us the opportunity to innovate on a scale that has made a significant impact environmentally and socially in our homeless and care communities. With the power of their procurement spend we’re changing the face of office supplies and raising the bar in what we can achieve, together. For us, there’s no greater privilege than using our partnership as a vehicle for positive social impact and helping fellow social enterprises and cooperatives grow.” Yasmin Halai-Carter Co-Founder, Ethstat Ethical Stationery CIC.
‘Buying products from Ethstat guarantees someone has fully considered its full impact – it’s impact to people and to planet, in addition to cost. Ethstat open doors to new organisations, connect the dots and make every penny work hard to do good.’ Emily Davies, Head of Social, Amey.
Beam, is just one of the partners that Ethical Stationery engage in – with further partnerships with Lives not Knives, Croydon Nightwatch and Evolve Housing and Support, all of whom have been enlisted by Ethical Stationery to nominate vulnerable people in the Croydon community who would benefit from support and employment.