NewGround exists to help provide the opportunity to never re-offend.
We believe coffee can go beyond the cup and can be used as a catalyst for change right here in our very own communities. This is why we use our industry to create work and training opportunities for ex-offenders across the UK, giving some of the most overlooked people in society a new beginning.
We exist to provide training and job opportunities for prison leavers as we believe in second chances. And the best way to stop the cycle of re-offending (which costs the taxpayer close to £4bn/year) is by providing these opportunities.
NewGround is both a trading company (New Ground Group Ltd Company no 11446945) and a charitable entity (The NewGround Foundation Charity no 1207899). So how do these two entities work together?
To max out on our impact we created a structure of a business and a charity. They are intrinsically linked in several ways and ensure impact stays central to what we do.
The NewGround Foundation CIO is the largest single shareholder of New Ground Group Ltd which means profits = funds for the foundation. It also ensures significant representation on the board of New Ground Group Ltd, keeping impact in the strategy.
We have been running monthly training sessions at HMP Springhill as part of their in house hospitality course. To date we have trained over 30 individuals, with some returning for multiple sessions.
Each training session lasts two hours and covers a combination of theory and practical based learning. We cover content on green coffee, espresso and extraction, before moving onto steaming and pouring milk for a number of espresso based drinks. The sessions are kept as interactive as possible with plenty of time to practice and ask questions.
Long term we will continue running these training sessions once a month. In 2024 we launched The NewGround Academy – a more intensive 3 day course. Once completed, individuals will be at a good advantage to secure a job in the coffee industry.
In addition, we have arranged 11,500 hours of Living Wage employment for recently released or prisoners on ROTL which has included 550 hours of training to date.
The outlook for prison-leavers is not a promising one.
The experience of life in prison is universally challenging. More than a third of prisoners spend 22 hours a day locked in their cell – hardly conducive to reform. And their prospects on the outside are often just as bleak.
These sobering statistics paint a picture of the challenges prison-leavers face:
/ Only 17% of prison-leavers are employed within a year of release.
/ Six weeks after release, 11% of male prison-leavers are in employment, and only 4% of female prison-leavers.
/ 48% of all adults released from prison re-offend within 12 months.
/ This figure rises to 64% for those released from short sentences (less than one year), and as high as 70% for children released from prison.
These statistics make for painful reading.
Want to hear a more promising statistic?
/ Prison-leavers in employment are up to half as likely to reoffend compared to those not in employment.
How about another?
/ 100% of prison-leavers that NewGround Group Ltd has employed through The NewGround Foundation are in work and out of prison.
We know that employment is one of the most crucial factors in helping prison-leavers start a new chapter. So that’s why we’ve created our Employment Pathway to make sure we’re doing all we can to help offenders transitioning out of prison to secure employment, improving their chances of staying out and starting a new life for themselves.
At The NewGround Foundation, we want every prisoner to have the opportunity to never reoffend. In order to achieve this goal, we are going to need a lot of help.
We’re always on the lookout for organisations we can partner with in order to see a reduction in rates of offending.
Whoever you are, whether a large or small business, a social enterprise or a charity, if you think we might be able to work together to provide opportunities for prisoners and prison-leavers then we’d love to hear from you!
