Pictured above:(l-r) Carlo Ropos, Deputy Chief Executive of The Jericho Foundation partners with Ben Reaney, assistant design coordinator from Willmott Dixon celebrate their Spark success

Willmott Dixon's support of Birmingham based Jericho Foundation in its pitch for the Spark Challenge has paid off with the Foundation being awarded the £80,000 investment they were seeking for a new wood recycling venture.

The Challenge, now in its third year, saw a large number of social enterprises from across the UK compete for £1.6 million of private sector funding. The investment is intended to launch or sustain business initiatives designed to improve the lives of homeless people by providing opportunities for employment and independent living.

Ben Reaney, assistant design coordinator from Willmott Dixon and team leader on the project adds: "Willmott Dixon was one of six influential project partners selected by Spark to mentor the social enterprises in their bid to win funding. Although Jericho's plans for their wood recycling business were well underway, the Spark Challenge offered a great opportunity to boost their funding and get this valuable initiative started ahead of time. It's a great business model; one that can be expanded to other regions in the future to help even more people."

Jericho, which formed in 1993 as a drop-in centre for the disadvantaged people of Balsall Heath, already operates a number of successful social enterprises from its Birmingham hub, including a printing business, construction and landscaping services, on and off-site catering provisions, a contract cleaning business and a charity shop.

Securing this funding allows the Foundation to drive forward the wood recycling initiative, aimed specifically at providing skills opportunities for the homeless community throughout Birmingham. The recycling scheme is based on a national franchise model from the National Community Wood Recycling Project (NCWRP) which recently completed a feasibility study that confirmed the excellent viability of just such a venture. The initiative will initially focus on recycling the region's old canal locks as British Waterways replaces old timbers for new.

Those joining the scheme will receive full on-the-job training and the opportunity to gain accredited woodworking or administration qualifications, which ensures they leave the foundation with a transferable skill-set and improved employment prospects.

Ben continues: "We have been incredibly impressed by the proven business acumen and enthusiasm of the dedicated team at Jericho. The amount of quality research and planning they have already invested in this venture is immense; we will continue to help them well into 2011 with our specialist knowledge and resources. We will do all we can to ensure this venture succeeds, we want our involvement to ensure Jericho make a real difference to employment prospects in the City of Birmingham"

Carlo Ropos, Deputy Chief Executive of The Jericho Foundation commented: "We are delighted to win this crucial funding which enables us to create a whole new enterprise - from staff to equipment, premises to marketing - establishing a meaningful and worthwhile venture that offers good products and services, while tackling homelessness in an innovative and engaging way.

"We are very fortunate to have already secured support from British Waterways, Be Birmingham and the Ministry of Justice, but guidance from the individuals behind a respected brand like Willmott Dixon is immensely valuable."