Prevention & Relief of Poverty
We deploy worklessness initiatives and community events designed to guide individuals out of severe deprivation, helping adults overcome barriers to become fully economically active.
CAST Trust is a community anchor organisation in Derby. Through essential skills training, digital inclusion, and community integration, we empower those facing severe disadvantage—including local immigrant, refugee, and asylum-seeking communities—to build resilient, independent lives.
CAST Trust is a small charity originally incorporated in 2000 to relieve poverty, promote education, and foster economic development. While the charity has been dormant for a number of years, our Trustees—working alongside local partners and the community—have identified an urgent, unaddressed crisis in our city.
Today, levels of deprivation in Derby are significant, but immigrant communities, asylum seekers, and refugees face severe, compounding disadvantages. These groups are frequently underserved by statutory sectors and traditional voluntary organisations.
CAST Trust has reactivated with an immediate, clear focus: providing these adults with the vital tools they need to integrate safely, gain essential skills, and achieve economic independence.
CAST Trust was set up in July 2000 to bring change to Derby's communities, regenerating neighbourhoods and the lives of those who live within them. Over an active 20-year period, we delivered:
…and many more than we can mention.
In accordance with our governing documents under the laws of England and Wales, our activities are built around three primary pillars.
We deploy worklessness initiatives and community events designed to guide individuals out of severe deprivation, helping adults overcome barriers to become fully economically active.
We provide pathways to gain essential life and workplace competencies, ensuring vulnerable individuals can confidently access technology and modern digital services.
We promote local community engagement and social enterprise models to empower residents to find local, long-term solutions to local issues.
Delivering direct, immediate integration support and foundational training to those who need it most.
Mobilising volunteers, mentors, and local experts to guide and walk alongside programme participants.
Creating welcoming environments, open spaces, and hubs for collaboration and community innovation.
While our governing documents allow us to serve where needed, our active everyday focus is entirely on Derby City and the wider Derbyshire area.
As we transition from dormancy back into positive, frontline action, we need a network of committed local partners, donors, and volunteers to help us scale our impact. Let's change lives together.
