Planning for our new bus
Since receiving the donation of a double decker bus in Summer 2022 from National Express West Midlands, we have been working hard behind the scene on the conversion designs, fundraising, also planning the launch and strategy to get the bus on the road...
We've got a bus!
Our new employability bus project will help create the opportunity to help even more people into employment. Our bus project is run by a small team from our existing volunteer coaching team who come from a range of professional backgrounds including; a rail industry procurement director, senior corporate business partner, executive sales manager and a business owner.
The team have been working together on a strategy for our new bus from the design, to raising funds, building partnerships also plans to launch and run the bus over the next few years.
The BIG conversion
We've been working with an international rail engineering company (the company name will be announced when we officially launch our new bus) who have given us some fantastic pro-bono support to on the conversion design for our bus. The design project was given to a young group of talented rail engineer apprentices managed by a senior rail engineer manager. The team were excited to swap designing trains for a bus and worked on ideas for our charity bus project.
After a couple of visits to Suited for Success and taking a look at our bus, our bus project team was invited to visit the rail engineering company West Midlands location for presentation on their design ideas for our bus. Our team was blown away to see our vision for the bus become a visual reality. We also received a £25,000 community grant from the rail company towards the conversion work.
The double decker bus conversion design includes an interview clothing provision boutique area, interview/ employment preparation coaching booths, and a computers station where people can apply for jobs online. Once converted our plans are to take the bus to areas of Birmingham that has some of the highest levels of unemployment in the UK so people can access our support into employment.
Developing our Bus Strategy with Balfour Beatty
Balfour Beatty has selected our Suited for Success employment bus project for its Future Leaders Programme 2023. A team of Balfour Beatty managers will be working with Suited for Success for 8 months to develop a strategy for our employability bus to deliver effective employment support over the next 2-3 years.
Our strategy will include: a suite of employability services to be delivered from the bus, outlining a plan of mobility for the bus, identifying areas for the bus to deliver support for the best social impact, developing an operations model that oversees the daily running of the bus, also identifying potential funding streams.
Working together with the Balfour Beatty team, Suited for Success will develop a sustainable strategy for deploying the bus across Birmingham and the West Midlands to deliver effective employment support.
Levelling the playing field
At Suited for Success our mission is to level the playing field for unemployed people to realise their potential and regain employment. We often hear the term ‘hard to reach communities’. Our bus will take Suited for Success on the road to reach and support more unemployed people living in communities across Birmingham and the West Midlands with some of the highest levels of unemployment in the country, helping people to access our charity’s support to gain employment.
Get Onboard and support us
If you're a business or individual who would like to know more about how to financially support or new employability bus project including sponsorship opportunities we love to hear from you, please get in touch Email: info@suitedforsuccess.co.uk
Donate to our new bus project
Your financial donation will help to fund the development of our bus project to support the unemployed into employment, research and develop new ideas, have stability and make long-term plans. We offer a number of simple ways to make a financial donation to us.
Help us to get our bus on the road
Love what we're doing? We would love more support to get our bus on the road! Our new bus will take Suited for Success on the road to reach and support unemployed people across Birmingham and the West Midlands into work. Donate and get your name on our bus too.
Get on board our exciting new Suited for Success bus journey helping even more unemployed people into work by donating to our bus launch fundraiser. Simply click the Just Giving button.
Thank you for supporting our work in making a real difference – helping people into employment and changing lives.
#highfive #getonboard
Donate by bank transfer
Account Name: Suited for Success
Sort code: 40-46-13
Account number: 42047632