Get Ready!! Job Success Already?

Money Skills Workshop leads to Job Opportunity!

Today 16 Whitechapel service users attended a Money Skills workshop today at the Lord Street Branch of Barclays Bank. 

The course ran as part of the Get Ready! Programme which aims to give homeless indivdiuals the confidence and motivation to think about moving into work. 

 The participants covered a wide range of issues during the 2 hour session including how to set up a bank account and understanding banking terms. 

At the end of the session one of the participants had particularly impressed the Barclays staff and was invited to apply for a vacancy.

Barclays staff commented on the enthusiasm and commitment of the group and a fantastic morning was had by all. 

A Packed Room at Barclays

Barclays Staff Leading a Group Session

Certificates were awarded at the end of the session



Further Get Ready! Sessions are planned throughout April and May and many of the participants will move on to a Ready for Work Programme on completion of the course.

For more information on services available please see our website at: http://www.whitechapelcentre.co.uk/

No Second Night Out - N2NO - Latest News

Liverpool City Region’s Rough Sleeper help line has just received its 100^th call – and as a result successfully found accommodation for a gentleman who would have otherwise spent a night on the streets.  He had become homeless because he had lost his job, exhausted all his options of with staying with friends and when he asked an agency for help, they phoned the helpline.

The help line was officially launched on 2 Feb 2012 and offers members of the public a single point of access across the six council’s of Liverpool City Region (Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helen’s and Wirral) to inform agencies about rough sleepers.  Once the call is taken outreach workers are dispatched as soon as possible to visit the site, make contact with the rough sleeper and help them find somewhere to stay. Calls have been coming in from across the boroughs and while the majority of reports are from concerned members of the public, calls have also been received from family members, the police, other homeless agencies and even rough sleepers themselves.

Each case is unique and a whole range of options are offered to individuals who find themselves sleeping out, for example:

Mike (not real name) and his partner had been sleeping in a Liverpool park after they lost their home.  Mike’s mum rang the line to ask for advice and, after a visit to The Whitechapel Centre, they were helped to move into their own flat.

Viktor (not real name) had been working in England but lost his job and ended up on the streets.  He was assaulted and was seen sitting in a door way on Bold Street by a member of the public.  Viktor was picked up by the outreach team and taken back to The Whitechapel Centre.  Staff were able to liaise with Viktor’s family and help him to return home.

Help us to help a rough sleeper by phoning the helpline 0300 123 2041 as soon as you see someone sleeping rough.

Like our Face book page: http://www.facebook.com/nosecondnightoutmerseyside

For more information please go to: http://www.nosecondnightoutmerseyside.co.uk/

Get Ready! Drop In Day..

This coming Monday 26th March, 1pm to 3pm is our Get Ready! drop in day at The Enablement Centre, Langsdale Street.


Do any of the following apply to you?

þ  Never had a job or been out of work for a long time?

þ  Not sure if you’re confident enough or quite ready yet?

þ  Scared of losing benefits if things don’t work out?

þ  No chance of a reference? Petrified of interviews?

If this is the case the Get Ready! program could be just what you need to change your future.

Our Get Ready! team will be available for you to speak to, and can give you all the information that you need, remember, there is no obligation to sign up.

If you do take advantage of this great opportunity there will be lots of different activities made available to you, and a chance to meet and make new friends.

You can pick and choose from a whole host of fun events which take place between March and June 2012 including:

·        Tour of Everton Football Club

·        Introduction to IT

·        Introduction to the world of banking with Barclays

·        Help your local Community Centre at Kensington Fields

Come along and get stuck in!  Build your confidence, meet new people, find out more about the world of work from top employers.

 Get Ready! members taking part in a painting event to help the community.

If you are interested please call Pauline, Cath or Julie on 0151 207 8617, why not give it a go?

For more information on services at The Whitechapel Centre please go to our website http://www.whitechapelcentre.co.uk/

John Bishop Meets Whitechapel FC for BT's Sport Relief

As promised, here are a few photos from John Bishop's visit to The Whitechapel Centre football team's training session. John visited the team as part of the lead up to his 'Week From Hell' which he completed a couple of weeks ago.


The Whitechapel Centre Football Team
sponsored by Everton Football Club (from left, Dennis, John, Sean, Dave, Danny)

 The 45-year-old cycled, rowed and ran from Paris to Trafalgar Square, covering more than 290 miles in five days, and finished to the strains of Liverpool anthem 'You'll Never Walk Alone'.
He battled exhaustion, severe aches and pains, sickness and sleep deprivation. His final stint was almost unbearable after being diagnosed with acute shin splints. His trip has raised more than £1.6m through the BT Sport Relief
Challenge.
During his visit he spent a good 2 hours with the team chatting to them and training and even joined in on a few games! He was so impressed with all the lads and what the Liverpool Homeless Football Club achieves  that he is considering being it's patron . Liverpool Homeless Football Club are now in their fifth season with a growing number of teams each year. The club organises a regular football league for homeless people, helping improve their confidence, self esteem and physical and mental health.



John with our Enablement Centre Manager, Sheila McCormack

 The Whitechapel Centre's team are now 2nd in the league!

If you would like any more information about The Whitechapel Centre and the work we do please visit http://www.whitechapelcentre.co.uk/ .
For more about Liverpool Homeless Football Club www.liverpoolhomelessfootballclub.com or follow them on Twitter @LivHomelessFC.

John Bishop's journey will be shown tonight on BBC1 at 9pm.

Read More http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/corinthian/2012/03/03/corinthian-liverpool-homeless-football-club-working-wonders-100252-30448098/#ixzz1pfipw8Rg

  

Who loves their team??
We know John loves LFC but doubt he beat our goal keeper Sean's Everton tatoo!



25 Accommodation Solutions Found!

Another week of improvements!

This week we have found accommodation solutions for 25 individuals!

It is through the sheer determination and tenacity of our team here at the Whitechapel Centre that we are able to continually support individuals into hostels, flats... a place they can call home.  This is the 3rd week in a row that we have been able to improve on the amount of individuals that we have helped and means that we have managed to find accommodation solutions for 62 people over the last 3 weeks! Outcomes like this go a long way towards us meeting the No Second Night Out Standard in the Liverpool Region.

Working in partnership with a wide range of other agencies, The Whitechapel Centre delivers long term solutions to homelessness through a variety of different projects including Resettlement & Housing Support, Hub & Homelessness Resolution Service, Outreach, Street Resettlement & Bond Scheme and our Enablement Centre. The wide range of the services that we provide enable us to provide a broad range of support services that aim to meet a diverse range of needs. If you, or someone you know needs our help please either drop in at our Enablement Centre on Langsdale Street or fill in our referral form here http://www.whitechapelcentre.co.uk/make-a-referral.html ; or if they are rough sleeping call 0300 123 2041 and one of our outreach team will help them.

Help us fundraise while you shop online!

You can help us with our fundraising efforts by doing your online buying via Mashbo.com. 

The system is simple – we have registered The Whitechapel Centre as a group. Your part is dead easy – just create yourself a log in (if you are a facebook user you can use your facebook login for this too) and choose to support The Whitechapel Centre . The team at Mashbo have signed up a huge amount of stores such as ASDA, John Lewis and Comet who have all agreed to pass on a small percentage of your purchase value to whichever group you choose to support at no cost to you. You just need to make sure you log into your mashbo account and then follow their link to the shop you want in order to make your purchase. …easy peasy! It’s a 3 step process for fundraising:

1.       Create login

2.       Choose a group

3.       Shop

For more information or to join,  go to  http://mashbo.com/ 

Our group page is at http://mashbo.com/g/whitechapel

Let all your friends know about this!! All money raised will go a long way towards helping us to continue doing our work providing support to homeless or vulnerably housed people in Liverpool and to be able to provide a complete service that we feel people deserve.

Get Ready! Information Event

• Never had a job or been out of work for a long time?

• Not sure if you’re confident enough or quite ready yet?

• Scared of losing benefits if things don’t work out?
• No chance of a reference? Petrified of interviews?

The Whitechapel Centre  will be holding an information day on Monday 26th March 2011 starting at 1pm where you can come and find out about what the Get Ready! programme can do for you.

Join us on the day to find out more about this fantastic programme with loads of fun activities to get you motivated and increase your confidence. The programme can even lead to a 2 week placement with a recognised employer!

Get Ready! compliments the Ready for Work programme in supporting disadvantaged groups, particularly people who have experienced homelessness, into employment.  

For more information please contact Pauline Baysan, Cath Brown or Julie Prendergast on 0151 207 7617.

Get Ready! For Work Programme

The Whitechapel Centre is proud to be working alongside BITC to deliver Liverpool’s Get Ready! For Work Programme. The aim of the programme is to work with businesses to provide early opportunities for people who have experienced homelessness to build skills and confidence to take the next steps towards employment.

Pauline Baysan, Get Ready Co-ordinator said “We want to inspire our clients, show them a variety of options and career paths and help them overcome they challenges they face in gaining employment. To deliver the programme we are working alongside local businesses as well as running sessions in house”

Practical training and activities such as business-led workshops, events and taster days will raise aspirations and help to build the confidence for clients to take the next steps towards employment. The workshops or events often start with a visit to a business premises to have a look around followed by a talk by someone from the business providing information and an insight to how it all runs behind the scenes and what is like to work there.

A recent event was a visit to Kensington Community Centre where participants took part in a gardening workshop.

Future events include:

·         Everton Football Club

·         Barclays Bank Plc

·         Marks & Spencer

·         Merseytravel

The Get Ready! programme forms part of the Government’s ‘Vision to End Rough Sleeping: No Second Night Out Nationwide’.

If you want any further information regarding the programme please contact Pauline Baysan on 01512078670 or e-mail on Pauline.baysan@whitechapelcentre.co.uk

Accommodation count

This week we have made an improvement on last weeks numbers  -  we have found accommodation solutions for 20 people over the last 7 days, this includes reconnecting 5 people back to their families!

Enabling people to reconnect with their families and return to their home area is an important part of the work we do. The team based at our Enablement Centre provide new rough sleepers with support and advocacy services to help them to access accommodation, engage with thier families, and also provide the means and support for people to return closer to home.