Through a range of employment initiatives North Star are committed to helping people gain skills, qualifications and the confidence to start new careers and new lives.

North Star has helped over 300 people get back into employment through a range of community projects and employment initiatives. Their most recent success comes from Sarah Pybus, a Community Support Worker from County Durham.

North Star provided £7,500 to support the Faith in the Community project in the rural neighbourhoods of Evenwood and Cockfield in County Durham. Faith in the Community is a partnership between local housing associations, churches, One Point, YMCA, Evenwood and Ramshaw Community Association and local schools. This funding has enabled Sarah to lever in almost £30,000 from other sources in the last three years.

With the help of North Star, Sarah gained qualifications and obtained a job as a Community Support Worker with the Faith in the Community project.

Sarah Pybus said: “What North Star has been able to give the project is amazing. Thanks to their help I’ve gained qualifications in community development and youth work, and I’m working in a job that I love – I love helping people and families and now I can do that every day. At Faith in the Community we give people opportunities to do things they’d never possibly do, and this wouldn’t be possible without the extra help we receive from North Star.”

Sarah also features in a new national film and study called We Work, which shows how housing associations are helping people into work.

We Work draws together 15 powerful stories, demonstrating how lives have been transformed by housing associations, like North Star, who are part of a network called PlaceShapers.

Placeshapers are a network of more than 100 community focused housing associations who own and manage more than 805,000 homes, provide services to more than two million people and have helped more than 60,000 people find work since 2010.

Beth Danby, Community Investment Officer at North Star, said: “We’re delighted to be able to help fund and support projects like the one Sarah is a part of. We want to give the people living in our communities the best opportunities we can, through a range of inclusive, educational and beneficial projects.

“We also helped support this projects management committee, helping Sarah develop a community garden with play equipment and converted an empty property into a community hub. This allows the YMCA to run CV workshops from this space every week, helping local people seek and apply for jobs.”