A UNIQUE café providing employment opportunities to people with disabilities and mental health issues is going from strength to strength.
Known as The Ability Café, The Foundry is situated at the Spectrum Centre on the Shankill Road. A second café, The Stables is located at Lady Dixon Park. Both cafés are operated by USEL, the North's leading provider of employment services for individuals with disabilities or health conditions.
Their mission is to empower people to achieve their full potential by providing access to employment, training, and support services.
We visited the Foundry café on the Shankill to learn more about the project.
The café is opened Monday to Saturday, and offers hot drinks, cakes, breakfast, and lunch – all while providing supported employment opportunities for people with disabilities. It represents a first-hand example of how employing people with disabilities
can benefit an employer, the workforce, and customers.
JJ Lyttle, Operations Manager, said: "The idea of the Ability Cafe is all about providing great food and job opportunities for people with disabilities.
"We provide accredited onsite training in health and safety, food preparation, kitchen hygiene and customer service, before giving them practical work experience.
"Projects like this are so important. The Ability Cafe is like a community hub. We are totally cross-community. The staff here love coming in to work. They gain so much from it.
"I think the future of the project is very bright. We do a lot of outside catering which helps create more jobs.
"The Ability Café provides an important opportunity for employees to develop the skills and confidence they need, to progress into employment in the hospitality sector. This supports and strengthens the local economy, which is currently facing recruitment difficulties.
"Some of our young people have gone on to land full-time jobs in the industry so we know that this type of project is so worthwhile."
