19 : REBOPSE
Reducing Barriers to Opportunities for People Socially Excluded

Using on-line and real world networking technology the project will break down barriers between haves and have-nots to provide sustainable job creation. It will utilise existing active databases of 20,000 socially unemployed people and several thousand small businesses across London and the S.E and build on the weak ties theory of Granovetter (1973) which indicates that, paradoxically, unemployed people are helped to employment more by unrelated groups than those employment-based. It will:

Expand groups
- Build niche groups including unemployed disabled people, ex offenders, business leaders, academics and "green" groups.
- Connect unemployed people and businesses in a network of networks.

Widen Resources
- Link enterprises to relevant academics (system will network between academics based on co-authored papers).
- Connect enterprises together (networks based on co-directorships).
- Develop mobile networking technology.

Result in
- Connect unemployed people to skills, education, training and jobs.
- Link small businesses to local opportunities and labour markets building knowledge economy.

Theory and best practice
- Research methods - e.g. training, brokerage and in particular different types of network  to assist unemployed people into work to ascertain the most (cost) effective programmes.