A housing association in Northern Ireland has won the Prove It: Social Impact category at an awards ceremony organised by Social Enterprise NI.

Clanmil Housing scooped first prize at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast after it was commended for the the positive impact of its work in developing communities and promoting financial inclusion and employability for people who live in the homes it provides.

Tim O'Malley, Community Development Manager at Clanmil, said: "As well as great homes, we want our tenants to reach their full potential. Over the past two years we have been working with our tenants and a range of partners to develop and deliver community development programmes that really work.

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"Promoting employability has great potential for the communities in which we work and we have established a partnership with Women'sTEC to deliver a 5-year, £850k European Social Fund employability programme.

"In its first year 52 tenants have completed training programmes and five have progressed into employment. In addition, through our new homes development programme we have leveraged 25 apprenticeships and 39 work placements, and achieved a commitment from our contractors to substantial investment in community event sponsorship, community labour days and welcome packs for new tenants.

"We have also invested in a Money Advice Service, which achieved a total financial benefit for tenants of almost £500,000 in 2015/16."

(CD/LM)