A WARRINGTON charity, which provides job opportunities for young people with learning difficulties, is set to close unless it receives an urgent funding lifeline.
Launched in 1995 by college lecturer Mick O’Gorman, SPARC has been funded by the national lottery for the past six years but the £125,000 a year grant ends on April 1st.
“Unless we get a funding lifeline the charity will have no choice but to close,” said Mick, who founded the charity while working as a special needs lecturer at Warrington Collegiate, which provides office accommodation for the charity which employs a project leader, two job coaches and an admin assistant.
SPARC, which recently received a glowing Ofsted report for its work with special needs students currently has 48 youngsters on its books, supporting 22 who are currently in paid employment with companies like Tesco, Matalan, Asda and Wilkinsons.
“Without the support of SPARC these kids would have found it extremely difficult to find paid employment and would have probably been stuck at home with little to do,” added Mick.
“SPARC has been a tremendous success story and has national recognition. We obviously don’t want to close down after all the hard work but without some serious funding we will have little choice.”
Over the past 13 years SPARC has enabled numerous youngsters to find paid employment by providing job coaching and independent travel support.
Any organisation which believes it can help the charity continue is urged to contact Project Manager Catherine Mannion on 01925 494423 or email [email protected]
