Cultivate London

Project purpose

Cultivate London is an innovative urban farm based across multiple sites in West London (eg Brentford, Ealing and Hounslow). The project was set up in March 2011 by a local charity, Pathways, a not-for profit organisation supporting local people and communities to transform their lives to achieve three main objectives:

• To generate training opportunities and jobs in practical horticulture for unemployed young people aged 16-25
• To convert derelict and vacant land across London into productive food growing space
• To increase the amount of local and organically grown produce consumed by Londoners

The farm produces a range of herbs and vegetables which it sells to London households, restaurants and shops. Cultivate London is funded by Pathways.

Project approach

All trainees are young people not otherwise engaged in education, employment or training (NEET).  Many trainees have learning difficulties, have left school without qualifications and subsequently have low levels of numeracy and literacy.  These young people are referred to the project by the job centre or by Connexions/Youth Services. Cultivate London also engages with young people who have finished school or completed qualifications, but who have found it difficult to move into employment.

Cultivate London uses a model that begins with volunteering, which then leads to work experience and/or an apprenticeship, and then employment.  The approach was developed following discussions with other local organisations that offer social enterprise options for young people. The project is committed to ensuring that volunteers, trainees and apprentices can see strong links between training and jobs. This is partly achieved by developing strong relationships with local companies, helping them to understand project goals, and getting them interested in employing a young person or offering them further work experience.

On a day-to-day basis, Cultivate London staff – the growers and those responsible for recruiting young people – make sure that employers are aware of their programme and that young people receive quality training. They constantly need to balance the demands of commercial food growing, managing trainees’ different learning needs, and meeting their training requirements.

Key benefits and impact

• Increase levels of confidence, self-esteem and aspiration exhibited by young people
• Development of new skills and knowledge by young people who, as a result, feel valuable in    the volunteering and work they do
• Increased awareness by young people and local community members of urban farming and local produce.
  
  

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