Brigit Nieuwburg - was Manager of Work & Activation 2010 to 2020 and established several reintegration and work projects.
How much guts does it take as an organization to pioneer on the edge? "We are not conscious of that at all," said Brigit Nieuwburg, manager of Work & Activation. "We have traditionally been a club of doers who continue to push our clients left or right. You can call that 'guts' or 'willfulness.' Either way it works. De Regenboog Groep is a hands-on organization. We are go-getters. In that respect, our current way of working is not much different from that of Pastor Douwe Wouters. He too was a doer. We still stick our necks out for a group of people who are known as 'complicated."
Focus on opportunities
Nieuwburg points out the importance of volunteers to the organization. "Every year about a thousand volunteers go out for us, where there is one-on-one contact between the volunteer and the client. We give both parties a lot of responsibility." In the eyes of other organizations, that may seem like too much responsibility, but practice shows, according to Nieuwburg, that it actually works well to give people more responsibilities. "Our help is not 'care.' We prefer to focus on the possibilities, on what someone can do. We do things slightly differently. That does indeed take guts, and it works. It stimulates people's development. It gives people self-confidence and often opens the way to paid work."
"De Regenboog Groep is a hands-on organization. We are go-getters."
A Different World
Nieuwburg talks about how De Regenboog Groep keeps going the extra mile. For example, with the social firm initiative. "These are commercial companies that want to make a profit. But social firms also have a social purpose in doing so. Rederij Kees is a good example. IJzeren Hein, the ship of Rederij Kees, transports goods from A to B through the inner city. Our clients sail along as skippers. Rainbow Popcorn, another example of a social firm, lets homeless people sell popcorn at festivals such as De Parade and Into the Great Wide Open. Our clients appear careful to manage the cash. What makes social firms even more interesting for our target group is the working environment. Whereas in the past most daycare projects took place in sheltered environments, social firms take our clients out of their comfort zone. Selling popcorn on the island of Terschelling while you never got further than the inner city - then a different world literally opens up for you."
Always new projects
Social firms appear to excite. According to Nieuwburg, what all the projects have in common is that they encourage the development of people to actively participate in society. "We will therefore definitely continue along the path of social firms. There is no shortage of ideas. Innovation is in our DNA, you could say. And even though we have less money to spend, this does not stop us from starting new projects. In fact: if no new project has been started for six months, that's when I really start to worry."