rural supported learning

An inspiring story of what can be achieved supporting people with learning difficulties into employment in a rural setting. This article tells us:

If you go to the Outside the Box cafe in Ilkley, West Yorkshire, at lunchtime you might struggle to get a table. Business meetings jostle for space with parents and toddlers, here to enjoy the artisan coffee and locally grown fruit and vegetables.

The cafe was set up as a charity by Ilkley Community Enterprise five years ago to provide unpaid work experience for adults with disabilities. Initially open just at lunchtimes, the cafe became so popular that it’s now open seven days a week, from 9am to 4pm. In 2016 it won Ilkley Business Forum’s Hospitality Business of the Year Award, and the following year it picked up the People’s Choice Award.

The enterprise team quickly realised that some of the adults they were working with needed something beyond the cafe, so they set up OTB Works in 2016. With an eight-week work club delivered in partnership with the North Yorkshire adult learning and skills service, the project helps members of the scheme prepare for work through qualifications in occupational and employability studies, cookery and customer service.

The club covers CV development, meeting employers and employees, and interview preparation.

The scheme’s first graduate, Imogen, now works in a local store eight hours a week. “Before Outside the Box, I spent my time just at home, doing nothing,” she says. “Now I have a job at Specsavers, I am out and about and never bored. OTB supported me in getting there.

“Before, I was left to my own devices. I would have been terrified even thinking about working – but I am much happier to go for jobs now with their help. I have lots more confidence, I am customer friendly and can do more than I thought I could.”

OTB Works has more than 55 members, aged from 17 to over 60, who have physical or learning disabilities. Most start working at the cafe before moving on to other opportunities – or doing both.