History

1989
Unemployment in North Peckham over 20%
First Employment Preparation Course (EPC)

1990
First Pecan newsletter printed
Laundrette opens

1991
First successful bid to European Social Fund (ESF)
Start of Jobclub
224 individuals on EPCs, 55 found work

1992
Laundrette closes
30,000 homes visited
10% of unemployed in North Peckham trained

1993
First company in South Thames area to win Investors in People award
Launch of English for Speakers of Other Language courses
Launch of One to One literacy project

1994
Launch of Brandon mental health courses
Pecan help to set up Jobcare in Dublin

1995
Graham Kendrick fundraising gig raises £17,000 for Pecan
Launch of WECAN – replication of Pecan in Woolwich

1996
1000th client gets job through Pecan
Founder Simon Pellew wins Londoner of the Year award
North Peckham estates demolished

1997
Purchase of new office building
Launch of CLAIT computer training course

1998
All staff take pay cut to help Pecan survive

1999
Pecan launches Web Presence project to help clients learn web skills

2000
80 staff train over 1800 clients

2001
Big government contract awarded for ESOL and Literacy programmes
Refugee and asylum seeker programme launches

2002
Move to 121a Peckham High St
10,000th individual trained by Pecan
Winner of Inner City 100 award for fastest growing inner city organisations

2003
End of equal pay policy
Launch of Employment Preparation Course for over-50s
Simon Pellew leaves
Kevin Belcher starts as CEO
Simon awarded OBE for services to the community

2004
Over 100 staff help nearly 3000 individuals

2005
Launch of Morph furniture project
Launch of Workout ex-offender programme

2006
Launch of PEEP youth programme

2007
Launch of Create carpentry training course

2008
Launch of Step Up youth programme
Ben Stansfield starts as CEO

2009
Launch of Peckham Foodbank

2010
Total of 27,000 individuals trained since 1989

COMING SOON: an interactive timeline that will enable you to explore Pecan’s history through stories and images.