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Pivot Spring Programme at a London Homeless Hostel
London, England, United Kingdom
Aim
Help us take 6 young Londoners experiencing homelessness on a 12-week making and enterprise programme, and empower them to pivot their lives
We are Pivot, the social enterprise that empowers people experiencing homelessness by taking making and enterprise into hostels.
Our mission is to bring purpose, meaning and flexible employment to those who might otherwise not have access to it, and in doing so giving them the confidence and skills they need to take steps away from temporary accommodation.
Homelessness is getting worse in England.
Since 2010 there has been a 50% rise in homelessness in England. With an ever increasing housing crisis and lack of social housing, much of this rise can be seen in increasing numbers living in temporary accommodation - in 2020 Shelter estimated this to be 253,620 people. They are predominantly young and more likely to be BAME.
Despite its name, temporary accommodation is often not temporary. In London latest figures showed 65% of people stayed for over 6 months, with 30% staying for more than four years.
Many of these people feel trapped, suffer from mental health problems and find themselves unable to get out of a vicious cycle.
There are very real and practical barriers to getting work.
In supported housing residents are often reluctant to find employment for fear that it will impact their benefits. Living in temporary accommodation carries a high cost and whilst this is covered when not earning or earning only a small amount of money, residents are liable to pay an increasing portion of the cost if they earn over a certain amount, ultimately making them financially worse off.
There are other barriers too. The cost of travel is expensive so any job needs to be nearby. In a hostel meals are provided at set times, so the job has to fall within this timetable.
Disrupted sleep and poor mental health brought about by crowded living means flexible working is really important.
That’s where Pivot comes in.
We take creative opportunities into hostels by teaching people how to design, make, market and sell jewellery, whilst providing coaching and financial support. We capitalise on the market opportunity for British hand-made goods and recognise that work doesn’t need to be in a place of work.
Our whole production line is created specifically with the maker in mind. We’re pioneers in this field and have developed a system of manufacture which can be used to bring other products to market. At the moment, we specialise in making handcrafted jewellery.
Since launching in February 2020, we’ve created over 750 hours of work based training, delivered over 100 hours of 1-1 coaching and sold over £33,000 of product. We’ve worked with 22 makers across four homelessness services.
Our makers say that making jewellery has increased their sense of self worth and confidence and that they can now see a brighter future.
With your help we can run our next Spring Programme for 6 more people experiencing homelessness.
Covid has been tough for everyone. We are crowdfunding to run a 12-week programme at our main partner hostel in North London and support 6 more people experiencing homelessness. It consists of weekly sessions taking our Makers through the process of design, marketing, making and selling jewellery. We further simulate a working environment by giving our Makers tasks between sessions and we work with a behavioural change coach, providing group and 121 coaching.
Not only do we financially support our makers, but we bring many other things that employment provides: confidence, a skill set, purpose, meaning, stability, but most importantly: we are a community.
Every pound you support us with, every piece of jewellery you buy and every bit of love you give us on social media will help us to support those living in the hostel, and allow us to reach others. Together we can make hostels stepping stones to a better future and end homelessness.
Together, Let’s Pivot.
The money we raise will cover the cost of running the full programme for 6 people experiencing homelessness for 12 weeks. This includes facilitator time (including our Team Leader who was formerly a Pivot Maker living in a hostel), the behavioural change coach group sessions and a monthly 121 session for each person, the cost of materials, external specialists including sales training, food for our Makers and of course their financial support for the duration.
If you'd like to learn more about Pivot and the impact we've had in our first year, you can see our first Impact Report here.
This project successfully funded on 14th April 2021