History

LEAP started in July 1993 as initiative to help people from what was then known as the Harlesden City Challenge (HCC) area to find employment. In our first 18 months we achieved all the targets set by our only funder, the HCC. This success led to funding from other regeneration initiatives and we opened another site for the unemployed residents of South Kilburn and Queen’s Park from 1995 to 2000.

From our inception, we have recognised that we have two clients: unemployed people and employers. Our service is one that has the interests of unemployed jobseekers at heart, but at the same time meets the needs of employers. We made sure our service met our clients’ needs and made modifications to our service when we identified that those needs had changed. We also understood that without a steady supply of real jobs, our ability to help anyone into work will be severely limited, so employers were always a crucial partner for us.

In 1996, LEAP, which was previously linked to Brent Council, became an independent voluntary organisation and a registered charity. Our objectives were for the “benefit of the public in London and elsewhere in the United Kingdom who may be unemployed, by relieving poverty and distress through the provision of advice, information, training and education”

In 1999 LEAP launched a major initiative, STRIVE, adapted from an American model, becoming the first organisation outside the United States to do so. This innovative scheme is an empowerment programme that uses employment as the vehicle, and tackles some of the underlying reasons behind people being unable to find and keep work. The STRIVE Workshop has become LEAP’s flagship service and has attracted interest from practitioners from all over the UK.  LEAP holds the European licence for the STRIVE programme and in 2005 we facilitated its delivery in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

In September 2002, LEAP moved to purpose built premises (Harriet Tubman House) in Kensal Green and opened a brand new community centre for the local residents. Based just a few yards from a tube and train station and with bus routes equally close by, the move dramatically increased the number of service users from around 300 to over 500 a year. In addition to enhancing our STRIVE provision, we began running IT classes, at basic and intermediate level, in the evenings. We also started drama, dance and singing lessons and a youth club for local people.

To date LEAP has placed around 4000 people into employment through a hardworking team dedicated to assisting unemployed people, and we are committed to helping many, many more.