Ex-offenders
Our Ex-Offender programme covers Greater Manchester. We work with people of all ages and backgrounds, regardless of the offence committed.
Reducing Re-offending
We help reduce the number of people reoffending on leaving prison. Less than 5% of ex-offenders who receive our support reoffend, in contrast to approximately 28% nationally.
“You’ve opened so many doors. Meeting all these new people has helped me learn so much, helped me settle and helped me find security. I love my volunteering. If it weren’t for you and all these people [at the volunteering placement] who helped turned my life around, I could never see it in my mind. Now I can”
Aimen, Step Together client
Why Volunteering Works
For many, the complex circumstances individuals face on release, present a set of barriers which can seem insurmountable. With the right support many have little chance of breaking out of a cycle of criminality which is often engrained in their attitudes, social networks, and families.
Volunteering enables people to participate in positive and purposeful activity, improving integration, building a sense of belonging and involvement and developing a resilience to turn their back on the past.
“Step Together makes a real impact on people’s lives. People who haven’t worked for a very, very long time. [The clients] come back from their volunteering placements beaming. Their whole demeanour changes. It builds their confidence, and develops a work ethic. It gives them a sense of purpose, and a self-respect they never thought they would get back. I know if I pass someone on to Step Together, things will happen. Many of our clients feel let down by other agencies, but never by Step Together Volunteering”
Referrer