Greg Mangham, founder and CEO of Only A Pavement Away believes that his charity is going to help people get their lives back on track, all the while supporting the hospitality sector
Only A Pavement Away (OAPA) is a non-profit organisation set up by Greg and Gill Mangham in 2018 that helps reinsert ex-prisoners, homeless people and army veterans into society by training them up as hospitality professionals.
As well as accompanying them into work, OAPA supports people into independent living and gives them financial support for rent or utility bills.
As of the time of writing, OAPA has helped 170 people get into work and these people have then contributed £4 million to the UK economy through taxation, as Greg explained in an interview with The Staff Canteen, “if a person reoffends, that cost the taxpayer £48,000.”
On the flip side, he added, “if they get a job, by the time they’ve paid tax, national insurance, their rent, utilities, maybe bought a new pair of trainers, then that adds probably another £9,000 that they wouldn’t have spent.”
The cafés
This year, OAPA is embarking on a new mission, with plans to open 10 cafés across the UK to support more people into hospitality work, providing them with “a safe haven” to train and work in an environment almost entirely staffed by OAPA members.
Greg hopes that this will not only help the charity grow but also give people the chance to get discovered and hired.
He said: “If we can get one in every city, it will allow the public to see that people who have turned left instead of turning right are just the same as you and me. It will change perceptions.”
He hopes that the programme will give people stability through employment, tending to their most basic needs and allowing them to build a better life than they have lived so far.
After all, Greg remarked, it’s hard for many
