Poverty is a vicious trap. Anyone can fall into it, through ill health or loss of income. The result is that people can enter a spiral of deprivation and depression with even more pressure on public services. We have repeatedly found that people living in poverty or who are unemployed don’t want charity. They simply want a chance to help themselves – many by starting their own business. These people, however, are typically ignored by the banks due to their poor credit score. Others feel trapped by their personal circumstances. They all need hope and support.

Why the community needs us

We are a charity and accredited real Living Wage employer based in Wales. Since 2013 we have provided 770 loans, totalling £1.8m, to 600 new businesses and 170 existing ones - helping 925 people out of  unemployment. The wider impact to the economy is 10 times the amount we lend.  Similarly, we facilitated 60 self-reliant groups, in Wales and the West Country, with tapered support over 12 months and assisting over 500 people. Each group is focused on something missing in their lives or their community. The groups save and develop new skills. Some become businesses. With your help we can do more!

Our impact on the community  

You can see our videos and other case studies at www.purpleshoots.org. Here are two:

Tal got into a fight and ended up in prison, where he learnt to be a painter / decorator. He could not get a job because of his criminal record or become self-employed because of his credit score. We supported him and he now has a successful business, employing 5 people.

Laura is a young woman with Downs Syndrome. She and her friend Clare (who is not disabled) were good at baking and with a couple of others started a self-reliant group (SRG), with our help, and started to run a pop-up café in a church. This multiplied with the SRG becoming a business, called Miss Tilley’s, running the canteen of a Fire Station HQ and 40 people now running cafes in 5 other churches, baking to provide cakes to sell and growing vegetables.