At the beginning of the year Urban Living carried out a pilot exercise engaging with local companies to begin to identify work opportunities for our local residents.

As we began to engage with employers a clear picture started to emerge. The traditional barriers that restricted companies from employing local people were not the only issues. There was also a raft of other challenges that businesses were having to face that excluded them from competing for locally generated work. This had the scope to affect their survival through the present economic climate.

As a direct result of the feedback from companies Urban Living has worked with Sandwell MBC to develop a procurement tool that can capture opportunities against which local businesses can tender. Based on the significant success of the “Find it in Sandwell” portal, the new “Find it in Urban Living” site will extend this success to the Urban Living area and companies.

We will encourage all our partners involved in the regeneration of the Pathfinder area to promote goods and services on this portal in a bid to redirect the economic activity and all the benefits associated with it towards local residents.

Of course any tool is only useful if you have the skills and opportunity to use it!

So the purpose of our breakfast meetings is to provide companies in the area with information on business support that is available through Business Link, colleges and specialist agencies. Over the next 2 years we aim to continue to use our influence to open doors for local people and local companies.

Our events are an opportunity to network and meet companies engaged in the Urban Living programme – Midland Heart and Family Housing Association are just two of the partners involved in our regeneration programme. We hope local companies will make the most of our events and find out more about how our partners procure contracts and what they seek in potential sub contractors.

This is just one of the find ways we can support you through the challenges of this current economic climate so please do use this new site and let other companies know about it too.

Steve Lilley
Urban Living Birmingham and Sandwell Pathfinder.