About us
OUR STORY
The identified need..In 2015 we set out to address the increasing need to support young people at our Priesthill Youth Club with job searches and CV support. We set up a group called Greater Pollok Maintenance Scheme with a vacancy page on facebook called Greater Pollok Vacancies with the intensions of establishing a garden maintenance training scheme for young people.
Moving on 2017Sanctuary Housing supported this group by funding a part time Glasgow Guarantee engagement worker post and our job clubs were set up in public places like the Pollok Civic Realm and Cineworld Silverburn. The majority of our clients surprisingly were adults and the job clubs and training courses increased in numbers. Our partners Trust Care, Glasgow Clyde College, People Plus and Workngi Rite teamed up to provide support. This continued to run successfully.
Greater Pollok Services CIC 2018
We where not able to set up the garden maintenance scheme as we found other outlets like Action for Children Youthbuiild Programme for young people. A decision was made to change the organisations name to Greater Pollok Services in December 2018. We continued to increase our job club days and engage with employers to move even more people into work until the Covid19 lock down.
Covid19 March 2020Over the years we had established relationships with organisations and residents as all our members and volunteers where local people. We where in a position to respond to the Covid19 crisis in the area as a go between services and our community. We set up a G53 Covid19 support group facebook page to ensure our neighbours could reach out for support and a what's app group adding more organisations. As we went through the Covid restrictions we adapted to the ever changing need in Greater Pollok. We where in a position to support re-establishing activity and providing practical support like organising outdoor family and kids clubs and increasing opportunities for our volunteers.
2021 Volunteer Programme
We employed a volunteer coordinator who was able to coordinate our pool of volunteers to continue opening up activities around Greater Pollok and wind down our Covid response. Moving into the cost of living crisis and mental health demand we decided to revisit our job clubs and develop an outdoor space at Glenlora wild garden while our community sought our help to set up activities for youth and families.
2024 Youth and Family groups
We are a partner along with the Cardwardic WIN project and the Virtual school with Glasgow Clyde College Community Hub where young people age 12+ and families can attend fun activities and receive support in training, education or employment or simply fun filled sessions of sports, cooking gardening, IT. As a result of this partnership we made an application to the whole family fund and have had a successful family group running in Nitshill since March 2025
Our aim To open up opportunities for the people of Greater Pollok by supporting access to training, education and employment. By working closely with local groups and city-wide partners across Glasgow, we're building stronger pathways for our community to grow, learn and thrive together