Homeless intervention project shortlisted for award

2 October 2007

St Christopher’s homeless intervention project has been shortlisted in the preventative work award category of the Children and Young People’s Services Awards 2007.

The awards ceremony is being held at the Hurlingham Club in London on Thursday 22 November.

The homeless intervention project, run in close partnership with the London Borough of Greenwich, aims to reduce the number of individuals presenting as homeless by educating young people about the realities of homelessness.

The project trains young people – all of whom have experienced homelessness – to prepare and deliver information sessions in schools, community colleges and youth groups across the borough.

Due to their age and experience, many young people find our peer educators credible, understanding and fun, all of which are important when working with a group that can be difficult to engage.

Early indications show that the project, less than one year old, has already been extremely successful in those schools where it has been implemented. The pilot project in Greenwich has been extended for a further two years.

St Christopher’s is expanding the project into additional boroughs following recommendations from the CLG (Department of Communities and Local Government). Expansion of the project into a number of boroughs would be highly beneficial

• allowing the development of a pool of young people as trainers, enabling the project to respond to requests immediately
• enabling St Christopher's to take a much more peer-led approach to developing the service, with decisions taken by peer educators, with guidance from St Christopher's staff
• addressing the fact that many young people go to school in a different borough to where they live
• ensuring that information is consistent across the area.

We are currently seeking funding from additional sources to enable this service to reach as many young people across each borough as possible.