A free drop-in service to help adults with hearing problems is to be run at Nottingham charity The Ear Foundation’s new £700,000 Soundspace facility – which was built with grant help from the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership.
The Ear Foundation’s Hear2Help team will run monthly sessions on the third Tuesday of every month, between 1pm and 3pm, beginning on Tuesday May 19. Aimed at helping adults make the most of the hearing technologies they use, the first hour of the session will feature a themed discussion around hearing loss; then from 2pm visitors will have one-on-one sessions with the charity’s professional team to get hearing aids maintained, updates on the latest technology and general advice. More details and contact information is available via web link www.earfoundation.org.uk/news/articles/468
Sessions will be held at The Ear Foundation’s £700,000 state-of-the-art SoundSpace facility (pictured below), attached to its headquarters at 83 Sherwin Road in Lenton. The new facility was built with the help of a £120,000 grant from the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership.
Soundspace will be officially opened before an invited audience on April 22 and named The Sherman Centre, in memory of charity benefactor, the late Marjorie Sherman.
The D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership is a partnership of businesses, local authorities, and higher and further education providers which promotes economic growth within Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire.
Ear Foundation’s New SoundSpace facility
It is supporting the creation of 55,000 new jobs in its area by 2023, with the majority being in the private sector.
The SoundSpace facility will triple the number of people the charity can help (rising to 3,500 annually); double the amount of professional training offered through the Ear Foundation’s family, education and clinical services and research programmes; and will see the number of full-time employees rise from 11 to 18, with other jobs safeguarded.
The Ear Foundation has said the new facility would not have been possible without the £120,000 business support grant from D2N2, which enabled it to “open doors to other funding”.
David Ralph, D2N2 Chief Executive, said: “The business support grants provided through D2N2 are about delivering sustainable jobs, particularly in our key sectors such as healthcare, in which The Ear Foundation works.
“Social enterprise and voluntary sector organisations form a vital part of our business community. They provide growing, well-run businesses and real sustainable jobs.”
Soundspace’s funding came through D2N2’s Unlocking Investment for Growth (UI4G) programme, funded by the UK’s Regional Growth Fund and the European Regional Development Fund. UI4G grant awards are given by the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership‘s Investment Panel, chaired by Peter Gadsby. The aim of the fund is to create long term sustainable jobs.
UI4G is now fully committed and is no longer accepting applications. Grants already approved will create over 400 new jobs and safeguard a further 350 existing jobs. The programme has inspired business owners in the D2N2 area to invest over £20million, alongside the grant support of £4.7million, to grow their businesses. UI4Gis managed for D2N2 by EMB Ltd.
For more information on this article or D2N2’s work contact Sean Kirby, D2N2 Communications Officer, on 0115 9578749 or email: sean.kirby@d2n2lep.org
