A TWO-YEAR plan to help people from ethnic minorities into employment has been officially launched.

The Routeways to work in Bury programme is co-ordinated by a local partnership led by Bury Council and funded by the Government.

Central to the project is a dedicated Routeways to Work Centre based at the Asian Development Association of Burys premises at 14 Heywood Street, Bury.

The centre will offer daily surgeries, help with CVs and job applications, and bi-lingual support and training.

It will also promote vacancies in the community and organise job fairs.

The programme will also support a youth mentoring scheme, a basic skills project to help women who face linguistic or cultural barriers to learning, and an employer forum involving local and regional companies.

Volunteers will be recruited to work with the furniture recycling charity RE-BUILD, and offered NVQ training in child care.