Yahoo!!!!!!!

HOPE has been awarded nearly 1/2 million pounds, to keep the Day Service running.  The Big Lottery Fund has been working with HOPE since the lottery was introduced and it's just as well.  Groups like ours have been funded through the BLF and the CRT (Coalfield Regeneration Trust) because they understand and value the contribution HOPE has made to the community. 

I know a lot of our community members will say HOPE is part of the problem rather than the solution, but to those I would say, imagine what it would be like without HOPE.  We deal with the people that nobody else wants to - well until a contract is up for tender that is.  HOPE works with some of the most disruptive people within our society.  Can you imagine if there was no day service for these people to come to?  Instead they are out on the streets, if not actually committing crime certainly making community members fear potential crime.

HOPE works with these individuals making small steps, and over the years we have had some real successes.  We have also had some failures.  Homeless people and drug user's die at a much earlier age then the rest of us.  We have seen a lot of tragedy in Worksop.  HOPE has certainly saved a number of lives, being there when someone has overdosed or helping someone off the streets and into accommodation or identifying serious illness and ensuring people get to health services before they become critical.  If this is all HOPE ever does it will be enough but we do so much more.  We are not here just for the 'down and outs' HOPE can help anyone - debt advice, independent housing advice, furniture, clothing, washing facilities etc.  But we also work on a one to one basis with people to help them get out of the rut they have found themselves in.  It is with these people were the real difference is made.  Our successes have gone on to find jobs and new lives, which benefits the rest of us because they are no longer a drain on resources and actually contribute (by paying taxes) to an improved and sustainable community.
 
So thanks to the Big Lottery Fund and the Coalfield Regeneration Trust - who accept these soft outcomes and support the work we are doing.

The small local charity is under threat!!  It's a sad state of affairs that small organisations are now expected to compete for funding with the giants of the sector.  Can it be fair or right that HOPE, who has spent the last five years trying to develop an accommodation service for hard to house people, should now have to tender for the funding to run the unit?  HOPE has provided this service for the last four years using local donations and some grant funding - we have done this because its part of what HOPE is about, not to make a profit.  HOPE owns the building (thanks to the Big Lottery fund) and has also purchased the building next door, which we are going to convert to a day service.  We have done this because we are committed to reducing health inequalities, putting an end to rough sleeping, attempting to help people come off drugs/alcohol and improving our community.

Well, thanks to the Maastrick Treaty (good old John Major) all public services now have to be bid for and that means any organisation in Europe can tender for our support service.  Thankfully HOPE is well organised and we have a real mix of funding, so most of our services can stay independent, however the support we provide to our clients in the accommodation unit is up for auction.  If we are successful in the tendering process, we will be very much 'managed' by Supporting People, who will dictate exactly what they want (fair enough if they are paying) however that means HOPE will have to comply with their way of working.  The strength of HOPE has always been its independence and creativity, that is why it has been so popular with the actual service users.  There is a danger this will be lost amongst the contractual agreements we need in order to run it.

A recent report by the Charity Commission has been deemed a 'wake up call' by the Chair of the Commission Dame Suzi Leather, the report found that only 26% of charities carrying out service delivery actually feel free to make decisions without pressure to conform to their funders' wishes. Dame Suzi said at a recent conference "Charities have a distinctiveness they must not lose. We must not see a fourth sector emerge - charities delivering public services which are charities in name only."  Well, in my opinion, we are already seeing this.  Housing Associations are becoming predatory in our area, they are bidding for any contract that comes up and they are not doing it because they 'care' about the client group, or because they are committed to improving the local community, they are doing it to increase their business.  It is these not for profit (so far) organisations that will swallow up small local organisations and they will do this because they have the expertise to prepare and submit tenders - they have whole departments working on just this.  What chance the small local group now?  It is only a matter of time before the Housing Association sector floats itself on the stock market and bingo charity becomes profitable.

The government on the one hand is promoting partnership working but on the other is pitting charity against charity, community group against Housing Association, local authority departments against private business.  I believe this contract culture will kill the charitable sector as we know it.   There is a real danger that groups set up to combat the ills of our society will fall by the wayside, I hope we are not one of them.

I had the flu last week!  (Shame).  I have never felt so ill in my entire life.  Lying in bed feeling excessively sorry for myself, I got to thinking..........
You probably know that HOPE runs an emergency accommodation unit.  Because of funding restrictions (and planning) the shelter shuts at 9am Monday to Friday.  Can you imagine what it must be like, to have the flu and have to get up and leave your bed every morning.  How absolutely miserable!  It must be awful.
I know lots of people think that homeless people are reaping what they have sown, but there are a lot of them that find themselves in this situation because of bad luck.  Imagine having to leave home because your step-dad beats you up and your mum doesn't stop him (it happens), or you have been the victim of repeat burglaries, or you are targeted by local yobs and your life is made a misery.  There is a different reason for every single person we see.  Life is hard enough.....so spare a thought for the people walking the streets, especially at this time of the year, who have often got more problems then most of us will ever know.  There but for the grace of God .........

I had the flu last week!  (Shame).  I have never felt so ill in my entire life.  Lying in bed feeling excessively sorry for myself, I got to thinking..........
You probably know that HOPE runs an emergency accommodation unit.  Because of funding restrictions (and planning) the shelter shuts at 9am Monday to Friday.  Can you imagine what it must be like, to have the flu and have to get up and leave your bed every morning.  How absolutely miserable!  It must be awful.
I know lots of people think that homeless people are reaping what they have sown, but there are a lot of them that find themselves in this situation because of bad luck.  Imagine having to leave home because your step-dad beats you up and your mum doesn't stop him (it happens), or you have been the victim of repeat burglaries, or you are targeted by local yobs and your life is made a misery.  There is a different reason for every single person we see.  Life is hard enough.....so spare a thought for the people walking the streets, especially at this time of the year, who have often got more problems then most of us will ever know.  There but for the grace of God .........

Thanks for the very generous comments.  Specially to the nice correspondent. 

To Mr DJ - I agree tax is an issue for most of us.  If we dont treat drug addiction in the way the GP's are doing, we run the risk of spending more of our taxes on police, social services and health services, which will cost far more then helping people come off or reduce drug use which has led to chaotic anti-social behaviour in the first place.  Its a matter of what our community wants!!  I remember when we were screaming out for treatment services - a user would have to go to Mansfield for assessment and then be put on a waiting list for months before they could access any form of support or treatment - that was only a couple of years ago.  Heroin in Worksop was of national interest.  Crime started to come down (granted its going up again) as a direct result.  We should never be complacent and paying taxes is part of what we do.  Make sure you get your self assessment in by 31st January we wouldnt want you to get a hundred pound fine now would we.

HOPE has been working, for some time, trying to provide solutions to rough sleeping. For a considerable period HOPE’s focus has been diverted because of the massive numbers of heroin abusers in the District and their focus on using HOPE’s services. Since John Mann’s heroin enquiry back in 2002, things have got much better. Treatment is now available directly through GP’s and has brought Worksop into line with the rest of the country in terms of heroin’s impact on the community. Yes there are still people using it and yes there is still associated behaviour. But!!! It is no worse then anywhere else anymore. Alcohol well that’s another problem and one I will blog about in the future.


Speak to you soon!!!!



Sandy