New Start Highland gets a new start!
17/01/2025
Inverness-based charity and social enterprise New Start Highland is celebrating its 25th anniversary by starting construction on what will be Scotland’s first Training and Reuse Village. The £455,000 project, was awarded a grant of £40,000 from FCC Communities Foundation and is set to open in Carsegate, Inverness in the coming months, will incorporate pre-loved retail outlets, a bike hub, a tool library, café and training kitchen.
The Training and Resue Village has been a longstanding vision of New Start Highland’s founding chief executive James Dunbar. Its purpose is to encourage the local community to donate and shop sustainably whilst also providing traineeships and employment opportunities. It will be a pre-loved hub for everyone to enjoy.
He said:
“New Start Highland was founded 25 years ago to support people experiencing crisis, in many forms, including poverty, homelessness, mental health, social isolation and long-term unemployment. The opening of the Training and Reuse Village represents a pivotal point in our journey and through the café, training kitchen and enhanced pre-loved retail offering we will provide an environment where people can learn, thrive and build confidence and skills that pave the way to a brighter future.
“We are committed to being drivers of change, through our support services and how we help ease the pressures of issues such as poverty and homelessness, but also through our efforts to encourage a shift from a disposable culture to one focused on ethical reuse. The New Start Highland Training and Reuse Village would not be possible without our hardworking team and our generous funders. I am very grateful for their support.”
Thousands of people have come through New Start Highland’s doors in the past 25 years who have needed help. Over the past year alone the charity has served the local community over 120,000 times.
Patrick Mills, who spent six years serving in the army, came to New Start Highland as a volunteer to work in the upholstery workshop after suffering PTSD.
He commented: "I was referred to New Start Highland through the NHS when life had become difficult, and I had nowhere else to turn. I knew going into mainstream employment would not be possible and through the volunteer programme I was able to pick an area to learn and work in at my own pace. Having been previously taught to sew by my mum, I was drawn to upholstery and with the unwavering support of the team, I have now grown my confidence, skills and feel like I have purpose and life has structure again. New Start Highland, and my workshop in particular, is a haven, a place for me to express myself creatively and undoubtedly is at the centre of my improved mental wellbeing. I can now look to the future with positivity and hope, with a goal that one day I will be able to use my experiences to help others on a similar path."
The New Start Highland Training and Reuse Village has been made possible by several funders including Highlands & Islands Enterprise, Foundation Scotland - Social Investment, Wolfson Foundation, Randal Charitable Foundation, FCC Scottish Action Fund, The Highland Council Inverness Common Good Fund, The Hugh Fraser Foundation, SSE Sustainable Development Fund, The Gordon & Ena Baxter Foundation, Great Glen Energy Co-op Fund administered by Foundation Scotland and the Gordon Fraser Charitable Trust.
Starting out in 2000 by supplying starter packs, New Start Highland steadily grew to supply furniture, employability training and housing support. In 2008 the charity evolved into a social enterprise launching various services including retail, removals, storage, house clearances and fulfilment, which fund its charitable aims of alleviating poverty. Reuse is core to its mission and since inception, it has diverted 10,000 tonnes of furniture from landfill.
To find out how you can get involved with New Start Highland, and to keep up to date with developments at the Training and Reuse Village, please visit newstarthighland.org or follow New Start Highland on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn.
Photos kindly provided by New Start Highland.
