Not-for-profit organisation Percy Street Collective is holding monthly sessions to transform an area of Neepsend Lane into a beautiful outdoor space.
The Neepsend Lane Pitstop Project runs sessions on the last Saturday of every month, and invites volunteers to garden, build planters and learn about herbs and edibles.
Project director Brian George said: “What some people said to us is, ‘we really want to come and get out screw drivers and drills and do things,’ I think it’s sometimes when people have jobs that are to do with sitting in front of laptops all day.
“People like to come out and get stuck in and build things.”
The project proposal is a collaboration between Percy Street Collective, Foodworks Sheffield, Lick of Paint and the Love Kelham group. The project is also supported and funded by the council.
Since 2021, Percy Street Collective has worked with young neurodivergent people from Sheffield to learn skills, build confidence and eventually find paid employment.
Mr George said: “What we’ve said to [the council] is that for every project that the council funds, we will directly employ a young person who’s out of work on our payroll.
“And I think that’s proving much more effective than a lot of the employment programmes that are proving very difficult to have positive outcomes.”
Official data shows that only one in five autistic people are employed. Percy St works to support young people practically whilst also contributing to the Sheffield community.
Mr George said: “The huge value of this project from the council and their support of us is that young people are building something real that really matters.”
Percy Street Collective have previously designed and built a herb garden at Alder Bar and a timber roundhouse shelter at The Zest Center in Upperthorpe, amongst other things.
On stigma around employing neurodiverse people, Mr George said: “I think in the general work environment there just isn’t time for employers to spend with young people who may, at first, come across as not understanding what they’re being told, which generally isn’t true, they’re just absorbing it in a different kind of way.”
The next Neepsend Lane Pitstop Project session will be held on 28 March at 2pm until 4pm.
More information can be found on their website.