The Clink Charity has been presented with the Center for social Justice’s ‘Social Enterprise Award. The Award ceremony took place at Central Hall in Westminster on 21st of March.
The focus of the award ceremony is to celebrate the work of grassroots charities. The award has recognised the charity’s unique and effective approach to reducing the rates of re-offending by offering accredited hospitality training and education. The sponsors of the award, Deutsche Bank also has an enterprise called Made for Good, which donated a prize fund of £10,000 in order to support the charity’s continued progress with prisoner rehabilitation.
The Click is a charity that has been up and running since 2009 and has obtained a good deal of recognition within the hospitality industry as well as philanthropic businesses and the world’s more socially conscious diners. The concept started by this charity is spreading and expanding across Her Majesty’s Prison Estate, mostly because of the valuable support that has been received by the charity.
There are currently four restaurants around the UK that are in operation. These are HMP High Down in Sutton, HMP Cardiff, HMP Brixton and HMP Styal in Cheshire. Prisoners that work in these restaurants work for 40 hours a week and train alongside it to achieve their City & Guilds NVQs in food preparation and food service. This work experience and training is all in aid of helping the offenders find work when they are released.
In order to put in more quantifiable terms, the impact of THE Clink, a report that has been conducted by Justice Data Lab and the Ministry of Justice has found that prisoners going through The Clink’s programme are 41% less likely to re-offend in comparison to other prisoners of a similar circumstance who hasn’t been able to benefit from the scheme. With intentions to open three more projects over the next 12 months, The Clink’s good work should continue to help those in need.