Accent Regeneration and Community Partnerships was one of three organisations to be awarded the Housing Corporation's Gold Award for Tackling Worklessness in 2008.

"Brilliant…", "extremely replicable…", "no weaknesses…"and "a sector leader.." were some of the judges' comments.

The judges were overwhelmed by our success in training people from local black and minority ethnic (BME) communities to work in local construction projects in Bradford.

The award, for Tackling Worklessness, comes in recognition of our highly successful training and skills development projects, like Bradford YouthBuild and Women into Construction.

Sir Duncan Michael, Chairman of the judging panel said, "Congratulations to Accent Group for securing this coveted national award for tackling worklessness. Their brilliant success in training people from local communities to work in local construction projects in Bradford has made them a worthy Gold Award winner."

Since it began in Bradford in 1997, our YouthBuild scheme has delivered training opportunities to over 1,500 young people and helped them get around 1,300 recognised qualifications. It has helped 20 new businesses set up and given the young people taking part the skills to get more than 440 jobs.

We were shortlisted earlier this year with 18 other hopefuls from an original list of 70. A panel of judges visited the Bradford YouthBuild project to see first hand what its work had meant for the local community. The judges toured a number of sites and listened to presentations and supporting messages from staff, employers, funders, successful trainees and representatives of Bradford Council and Bradford College.

Derek Long of the National Housing Federation said: " The Bradford Youthbuild project has been a true success story. It has helped hundreds of young people into training and employment, making a huge difference to individual lives and the wider community. Accent's Gold Award exemplifies the massive impact housing associations make. This achievement demonstrates that associations operating in the North are providing a unique range of neighbourhood services beyond affordable housing. This award is recognition of the hard work and of everyone involved."