The latest edition of our Community Spotlight series focuses on fantastic Newham-based ELBA community partner, Caramel Rock. We sat down with their Founder and Managing Director, Faith Johnson, to find out about the brilliant work that they do.

Hi Faith, tell us about Caramel Rock
CARAMEL ROCK is an educational charity that provides training and job opportunities. We focus on empowering and supporting young people to access varied training and opportunities. We provide services for people of different academic levels and age groups including young students on the verge of being expelled from school and seeking an intervention with our creative approach.

We are committed to developing the next generation by giving young people the opportunity to access resources, courses, opportunities and gain work experience and job training. We aim to advance education and job opportunities for disadvantaged young people to defend them and give them a second chance, working with some of the most challenging young people.

What challenges are there in east London with regards to the issues that your service users face?
At a local level the 2011 Census revealed that Newham is 3rd bottom in its percentage of the whole population with 5 or more GCSEs (or equivalent). Newham has a large number of low skilled residents, with almost 20% of residents lacking any qualifications at all, (compared to just 11.8% in London) making them particularly disadvantaged in the labour market.

Do you have any stories about your work you would like to share?
We had a young man referred to us from the youth offending team. He specialised in photography and showed signs of challenging behaviour. He also had preconceived ideas that the photography course was tailored for girls alone. However he soon realised it was for everyone and changed his outlook on Creative Arts and what he could contribute to the course. He changed his attitude towards himself and became a hardworking young student. During the course of the programme he had a court hearing; we helped him by providing a reference that stated how well he was doing. The reference was read out in the court hearing. He later went on to enrol at Newham College.

What are the current challenges that your organisation is facing?
We are always looking for employers who are interested in volunteering and supporting our young people. We find it hard to source more employers to mentor our young people.

Is there anything else that you would like to share?
As a fashion and arts academy we use creative arts as a tool to instil confidence and skills to those that are passionate about pursuing a career in this sector or for those that show true potential. Not only is fashion a profitable market but also the creative industry builds life skills by encouraging individuals to think creatively and solve problems efficiently. Our academy promotes creative pathways such as fashion, the arts and dance and these courses help to develop individuals and provide local people opportunities within the sector.