Port of Dover Community Fund awards £6,500 to Southern Housing Group

As a project based in the East Kent region, and with a policy to recruit locally wherever possible, the Port of Dover’s Dover Western Docks Revival (DWDR) development has been a good source of employment for mSouthern Housing Group, a not for profit organisation that provides housing and employment support to local communities, has been awarded £6,500 from the Kent Community Foundation, through the Port of Dover Community Fund.any local people.

The funds will be used by the Dover Job Club, part of the Community Investment Department, which provides local people with important help and advice on employment and housing.

This donation has already made a huge difference to the service, paying for four more laptops that will be used by local residents to research and apply for jobs. It has also enabled the group to employ a special employment advisor, who will provide continuous professional support during the Dover Job Club’s opening hours of 10am – 2pm, once a week.

Jenny Beacon, CSR and Internal Communications Executive at the Port of Dover said:

“We were really pleased to offer the Southern Housing Group this funding recently, and I’m delighted that we are already seeing the great impact this is having on their service. The donation is clearly helping the Dover Job Club provide a higher level of support to the community, which is what the Fund is all about”.

Southern Housing Group has 28,000 properties across the South, with 8,000 of those in Kent. It provides a range of tenures, social housing, affordable rents and intermediate and shared ownership schemes.

Sarah Hampton, Employment Skills Officer at Southern Housing Group Limited said:

“I set up the job club back in 2016 and have been overwhelmed with the support received from other agencies and partners in Dover. Together, we have been able to offer this weekly support for residents and supported over 35 people into work in the last year alone. The funding has been essential to us, enabling the service to continue to meet the needs of customers.”

For more information, and to hear success stories and case studies please contact Sarah Hampton, Employment Skills Officer at Southern Housing Group – sarah.hampton@shgroup.org.uk

ENDS