Job hunting success has been celebrated in Bodmin as the long-running ‘Bodkin Project’ comes to a close.  

The project, financed by funding from the European Union, saw £100,000 being used to help identify the barriers that lay between unemployed people and getting back into work, and supporting them with sessions and resources.  

In a Bodmin Jobcentre celebration event held at the Shire House Suite, agencies which had worked with jobseekers came together with them to celebrate.  

Fay Fleming-Horner, from the Department for Work and Pensions, said: “The Bodkin Project was designed to help people in Bodmin, as it is an identified area of deprivation with a few large estates among the poorest parts of Cornwall.  

“The project comprised £100,000 of EU funding used to support customers through moving into work, supporting mental and physical wellbeing with the money being distributed to four different groups run by different agencies.” 

One of the four groups, for job seekers aged 18 to 24 years old, was operated by the Real Ideas Organisation (RIO).  

A RIO spokesperson said: “We undertook a range of different activities based on a survey of job centre customers to see what could support them best.  

“We found out that some of the barriers that we could help them overcome included things like help with transport, for example driving. RIO supported our group’s members with learning to drive and preparing for driving tests through the use of simulators.  

“We also worked on schemes where our groups did activities such as learning how to create digital content. We walked them through the process, which comprised seven different sessions with experiences which included the use of virtual reality, making the experience fun and feasible.”