Blue Sky's mission is to help break the cycle of re-offending. It gives paid employment to people recently released from prison, with the aim of enabling ex-offenders to move successfully into a permanent job. Blue Sky employs solely ex-offenders in grounds maintenance and related work.
Read how Blue Sky has helped Dean turn his back on offending by offering him work experience.
Impetus support:
Impetus investment period: 2009 - 2014
Toatl funding: £450,000
Value of expertise provided to date: £19,000
Background to the investment:
The impetus for our involvement is that Blue Sky has already shown impressive growth with a very scalable model. It is achieving clear results in our area of focus, helping break the cycle of poverty. It has been shown that employment cuts the risk of re-offending significantly, but the majority of ex-offenders have no job on release, leading to the cycle of re-offending.
Focus of Impetus expertise to date:
Key achievements:
- Blue Sky has extended its reach beyond southern England, expanding into Manchester with its first franchise agreement.
- Blue Sky won a prestigious award from the Centre for Social Justice. These awards were set up to "recognise, reward and celebrate the work of exceptional poverty fighting organisations". Blue Sky was one of only seven winners, out of 335 organisations that applied.
Find out more about Blue Sky
Performance:
Average annual growth in income: n/a as in 1st year of investment
Average annual growth in no. of people helped: n/a
| Year prior to Impetus investment 2007/08 |
Latest year end draft 2008/09 |
|
| Income (in millions) | £0.68 | £0.79 |
| No. of short-term employment contracts offered | 50 | 62 |
All figures as of Blue Sky's 2008/09 year end.
The engagement with Impetus is very rewarding on a number of levels. It has helped to broaden our awareness and understanding of critical social issues and the impact that organisations such as Impetus can make.
Wol Kolade
ISIS Equity Partners, Impetus corporate donor