About Us

About Us

East Birmingham Community Forum Ltd (EBCF)

In our 30 years of service, we have delivered Careers Guidance support to over 100,000 people, delivered 40,000 accredited qualification, and offered enterprise support to 1,550 businesses.

EBCF Ltd is a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee established in 1992 by Her Magesty’s Government mandated by the Secretary of State to establish locally managed community capacity building provision via East Birmingham Taskforce (1988). The Company established three main areas of focus, these being, Jobs, Enterprise, and Training. The business operated under the JET Shop brand for many years in the heart of East Birmingham and during the last 10 years successfully branched out to other inner-city areas of Birmingham and regionwide to meet contractual obligations and strategic objectives.

EBCF has delivered jobs, enterprise, and training related projects through Local, Central and European government funding, and including other philanthropic agencies. We are accredited with all leading exam boards and hold direct claim status (DCS) for many qualifications from entry level to Level 6 in various vocational areas. Our Careers Advisers are in-house trained and qualified to Level 4 and 6 with wealth of knowledge and experience to enable our customers to make a smooth transition from learning to work.

Our 30 years of local in-community delivery enables us to have a qualified perspective on what will work and what will not when engaging local communities. Our success to date has been possible by investing in local communities, establishing partnerships with likeminded organisations, and levering resources of benefit to our beneficiaries.

Our Resources

We have put considerable investment into our in-community resource centres to ensure we offer nothing but the best to our customers.

EBCF Head Office (JET Shop)

The recent refurbishment of our head office is testament to this fact, with state of the art training facilities, client centred careers guidance offices, onsite professional hair and beauty studio, and a designer brand retail outlet for our customers to gain valuable experience, qualifications, and an exceptional shopping experience at Alum Rock Road. Our head office is situated at a specialist retail destination for South Asian goods including jewellery, clothes, and textiles, attracting shoppers from all around the country.

Summerfield Community Centre

Our second and the largest of our in-community resource centres is the Summerfield Community Centre situated in Winson Green with large training rooms, masterclass type kitchen studio, hair, beauty and textile studio, community café, creche facility for our learners with outside play area and ample on site car parking facility.

Enterprise Centre

A large multipurpose facility based in Ladywood with onsite retail outlet, training rooms and office space for local businesses including new start-ups.

Our Staff

We attract and retain the most talented people by investing in training and development tailored to their needs and building on their strengths. We have Careers Advisers that are Level 4 to Level 6 qualified in Advice and Guidance.
Our training team has qualified staff, Internal Quality Assurance personnel with a team of highly effective and knowledgeable administration personnel all managed by senior team of management with extensive knowledge and expertise.
Our directors are all experts in their fields and provide a vast range of experience and skills which have built on the company’s successes over the last three decades.

Our Mission

EBCF strives for the relief of poverty, unemployment, low level of communication skills and isolation experienced by people living within Birmingham and its surrounding areas.

Over the last 30 years the organisation has grown from strength to strength empowering customers to make the best decisions about learning, training and work.

We promote job opportunities, job retention and economic regeneration.
We also promote and facilitate the establishment of community and co-operative enterprises; and encourage employers to recruit from within their local communities.

We endeavour to establish projects and facilities for the advancement of good health, independent living, enterprise, family values for the local residents in the communities in which we serve.

We promote and establish projects and facilities for the advancement of good health, independent living, family values and good parenting and for the provision of leisure and recreational activities.

Our Core Services

Careers Service

Careers Service information, advice, and guidance to help people access jobs and learning. We have qualified staff that will support you with all your job and learning support needs.

Training

Training is offered free of charge due to government interventions and includes ESOL, Vocational Qualifications, Apprenticeships and Advanced Learner Loans.

Enterprise

Enterprise support is offered through various initiatives to enable our customers to secure funding for business start-ups, hire facilities and attend seminars and training on various aspects of managing and developing business.

Employment support

Employment support includes liaising with employers and sourcing staff, offering vacancy matching service for customers, providing accredited qualification and on the job work experience opportunities etc. We also offer government funded Kickstart 6 months fully paid employment opportunities for 16-24 year olds.

Community Capacity Building

Community Capacity Building measures include supporting local community voluntary sector organizations, offering work placements and resources to help develop better communities.

Partners & Accreditations