A new project to help up to 70 homeless people in St Albans increase their chances of finding work has been boosted by community grant funding.

Hightown’s St Albans Homeless Pathways to Employment project will start in September, enabling homeless people in the city to improve their employability through training and volunteering opportunities at local social enterprises.

The project has just been awarded a grant from St Albans District Council’s Community Grants Fund for 2015-16. The funds will go towards expenses including IT equipment as well as helping participants purchase essential clothing or kit needed to start in work.

People taking part in the project will attend employment training workshops provided by Oaklands College, St Albans, which will aim to improve their job-seeking skills as well as increasing their confidence.

Following completion of the course, participants will also get the chance to volunteer at the Emmaus homelessness charity in St Albans, who run several second hand furniture stores, or St Albans Wood Recycling, a not-for-profit social enterprise which collects, recycles and produces made to order furniture from waste wood.

The project will benefit the users of Hightown’s homelessness services in St Albans, including those using its Open Door night shelter in Bricket Road as well as its temporary accommodation for homeless people in Martin House and Kent House. Other homeless people in the area can also be referred onto the scheme.

Each course will be attended by up to 10 homeless people, and the year-long scheme aims to boost the employment prospects of around 70 local people by the time it comes to an end.