Spark finalists Congratulations to the fifteen organisations that have been chosen to compete in the Spark pitch event in May. Together they represent the best examples of social enterprises preventing and tackling homelessness in England. Throughout March, April and May all fifteen finalists will receive coaching to help them develop their social enterprises to help more homeless people move into training, volunteering and jobs. In May they will then pitch their business ideas to a panel of leading entrepreneurs, including Nigel Kershaw, Big Issue Invest chief executive and John Montague, The TREES Group chief executive. The best organisations will win a share of a £500,000 prize fund provided by Communities and Local Government. They could also win mentoring from the panelists and a two-day 'enterprise insights', plus potential loan finance of up to £500,000 from Big Issue Invest. Follow the progress of the fifteen by signing up to Spark’s fortnightly email updates.
The fifteen Spark finalists are:
Acumen’s social enterprise, Possibility Place, is the regional centre for “self-belief and employability”. Through the enterprise, people are supported to develop skills for life and to move into employment or self-employment.
Bradford-based Assisi House Project has been providing accommodation and day support services for people who have been homeless since 1994. Today it runs an outreach project and a day support centre plus a hostel for men, supporting their move into independent living. Assisi’s social enterprise, Travelling Light, is based on the belief that almost everyone has some appreciation of music. Travelling Light makes it possible for people from excluded groups to make music and radio, providing them with opportunities to develop new skills in music and IT whilst exploring their creativity.
Bikeworks plans to start up and develop the East London Bicycle Recycling project in Tower Hamlets, in partnership with the Metropolitan Police and London Cycle Campaign. This initiative will create the first of a series of four centrally-available public resources in London for the recycling of stolen/ recovered bikes, assisting in reducing landfill waste across the London Boroughs and offering intermediate labour market opportunities to homeless people.
Brent Homeless User Group (Bhug) is a user-led organisation in North West London that aims to empower homeless people to help themselves and to have a voice that is heard and listened to. It also aims to prevent homelessness by providing information and support. Among other things, Bhug runs a social enterprise called Community Insight which provides training and employment around customer research, surveys and mystery shopping to development service users’ skills, confidence and employment opportunities. The enterprise was recognised in the 2007 Andy Ludlow Homelessness Awards for its contribution to innovation and best practice in homelessness.
Dine! will provide catering to a range of meetings, functions and events while providing training and employment opportunities to help people get off the streets and move into independent accommodation.
Its activities will be focused around teaching people skills in painting and decorating and basic maintenance and construction, and it will work with a range of homelessness organisations in the community.
Gilead Foundations provides a complete holistic rehabilitation programme, which deals with addiction and other personal issues and helps to re-settle vulnerable people back into society. Individuals, who are referred from local authorities across the country, work on the farm, in catering and in administration for the organisation to learn skills and sell dairy products locally.
Noah Enterprise helps the most disadvantaged in the local Luton community, providing a practical, empowering social enterprise and caring welfare service to homeless, marginalised and excluded people. The organisation describes their social enterprise as “a unique blend of welfare support, counselling, healthcare and training with real work experience”. The social enterprise is based around a furniture restoration and white good refurbishment operation, through which Noah Enterprises provides reasonably-priced goods to the community and stops tonnes of waste going into landfills. Noah’s day centre was recently named as the Large Day Centre of the Year by the John Laing Charitable Trust and Homeless Link, recognizing their success in social enterprise.
Novas Scarman Group’s mission is to transform people's lives through arts, enterprise and community support. It has plans well underway to develop a talent agency called Can Do People LLP, which will go beyond a traditional employment agency to recognise people’s wider talents. Can Do People will teach skills to people who have been homeless and place them in work placements, apprenticeships, traineeships and interim and temporary appointments as they move towards independence.
Path plans to establish a not-for-profit letting agency in Plymouth. This agency will recruit landlords and charge them a competitive fee with the aim of creating an easier route into privately-rented housing for our existing and new clients.
Through the Spark project, Stride plans to establish a workshop to assemble flat pack furniture and a retail outlet in which furniture can be sold. This initiative will create a range of work experience and training opportunities which can also be sold.
Plymouth-based Shekinah Mission provides help and support to homeless, addicted, isolated, and otherwise socially-disadvantaged and excluded adults in the local community. It aims to develop their capacities and skills and help them back into employment, accommodation and independent living, leading to full participation in society. The Mission’s social enterprise provides a supported work environment for service users who have successfully completed training courses, but need a 'stepping stone' before holding down employment. The social enterprise teaches bricklaying, plastering and art and craft skills among other things and manufactures a range of products including hand-made slate and wooden boxes to sell.
One of StreetShine’s products is a shoe care service based in businesses in central London. The shiners offer shoe cleaning and shoe accessories, and in some cases, such as one Canary Wharf car park, the organisation has branched into offering additional things such as car cleaning.
In London, The Salvation Army plans to set up a social enterprise that will train and employ people who have experienced homelessness and are at a point of developing skills to return to the work place. The initiative will be centered around portable appliance testing (PAT).
The Society’s social enterprise, Jamie’s Computers, provides training and learning opportunities to those who have a history of homelessness, recent unemployment, mental health difficulties and substance misuse. Its services include IT disposal, computer sales, IT services and IT training. |
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Acumen Community Enterprise Development Trust believes that the biggest barrier to an individual achieving their full potential is their self belief. To address that issue, Acumen works in disadvantaged areas of the North East with people who do not have a job or who have low skills. 
Bikeworks is a community cycle organisation based in Tower Hamlets, East London, which offers a range of cycle-based services to organisations and to the public including: cycle training courses, rental, repairs, recycling, travel planning and sales. It also promotes the benefits of cycling while providing employment and training opportunities to local residents. 
Brighton Housing Trust prides itself on “combating homelessness, creating opportunities and promoting change”. The Trust’s team plans to roll-out its two-year-old “Dine!” catering project to establish it as a commercial catering service for Brighton and Hove events. 
Chester and District Housing Trust, which owns more than 6,200 social housing properties in the North West, is preparing to launch a social enterprise initiative called NEST (Neighbourhood Enterprise Skills, Training & Support). Through this enterprise, the Trust will work with large local employers and provide a dedicated training and learning facility for people who are homeless or vulnerably-housed. 
Gilead Foundations’ mission statement sums up its aim: "Unlocking people, releasing potential'. The organisation, whose operations centre around an organic Devon farm, currently provides accommodation for 25 men, women and children, who would otherwise be homeless.
Plymouth Access to Housing (Path) believes that every person has a right to decent, affordable accommodation. It works with people in housing need to help them to access and sustain appropriate accommodation and move towards living independently.
The people who work at Leicester-based social enterprise Stride (the trading arm of SHARP Trading (Leicester) Ltd) assemble, recycle, renovate, sell and deliver furniture. The enterprise aims to help disadvantaged people improve their chances in life by offering training and placements in a working environment. 
StreetShine is a professional shoe care service that provides employment and training opportunities for people who have experienced homelessness or suffered disadvantage in the job market and are in the process of rebuilding their lives.
The Salvation Army is a worldwide evangelical Christian Church and human service agency. As part of its mission it wishes to engage in a programme of practical concern for the needs of humanity. Its ministry is offered to all persons, regardless of race, creed, colour or gender.
The Society of St James reaches out to vulnerable individuals, providing progressive person-centered care, support, housing, education and life skill development to Southampton’s diverse range of homeless and vulnerably-housed people.