North East organisation marks 10th birthday with growth plans for 2022

Northern Rights, a Community Interest Company (CIC), was launched in 2012 by Katherine Murray and Dawn Brown, who had for many years worked together delivering Government-led employment support programmes.

The organisation which recently marked its 10th birthday helps disadvantaged people back into secure, sustainable employment.

As the company celebrated the milestone it announced further growth plans for the future.

The company initially started out in Peterlee where Katherine and Dawn specifically aimed at disadvantaged people who had faced physical or mental health challenges which had prevented them from entering or remaining in employment.

Fast forward 10 years, Northern Rights now has premises in Sunderland and South Shields as well as Peterlee, employing 63 staff with plans to recruit at least a further 10 people during the course of 2022.

Katherine said: “Our journey since launching 10 years ago has been quite remarkable and it’s only when we sit back and look at everything we’ve achieved that we realise how far we’ve come.

“The growth of our organisation has been significant, however what’s even more rewarding is when we hear from the people we’ve helped over the years who, thanks to the support they’ve had from Northern Rights, are now in secure employment, in jobs they genuinely enjoy but never thought was possible.

“We love what we do and know we do make a genuine difference to the people who come through our doors.”

Dawn added: “We have all worked extremely hard to compete and succeed in the welfare to work sector dominated by the financial might of national and multinational corporations.

“Through our localised model, which has been developed by people with a real understanding of our local communities, we can offer appropriate levels of support to the people who need it most, ensuring the vast majority of individuals leave Northern Rights in a stronger position and achieving their full potential.”

Northern Rights offers one-to-one and group support in areas including basic skills improvement, CV building, confidence building and interview technique training.

Northern Rights also works with a number of high-profile businesses and organisations including Gentoo, the Department for Work and Pensions, METEC, DXC, JETS and Sunderland, South Tyneside, and County Durham local authorities.

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