The Homeless Navigator Project is a new Comic Relief and Essential Edinburgh funded service within Cyrenians that seeks to address a visible problem with rough sleeping in Edinburgh. The project aims to offer an alternative opportunity for people who are experiencing homelessness and cannot, for whatever reason, make use of the current support services that exist in Edinburgh. Continue reading Cyrenians launch Homeless Navigator Project
Social Bite’s waterfront village homes to be ready by Christmas
A new village for homeless people will be up and running before Christmas. The Social Bite Village on Granton’s waterfront will be made up of 10 two-bedroom homes that can be moved and transported. Continue reading New homes for Christmas
15% of Scots think young people are homeless by choice
A Scottish charity has launched a new Facebook Messenger “bot” to teach Scots about the real causes of homelessness amongst young people after research found nearly half believe it is through choice or a refusal to accept assistance. Continue reading Ask Alex: new Messenger “bot” to teach Scots about causes of youth homelessness
Cyrenians are excited to launch a new venture in partnership with the St Martin-in-the-Fields charity. The St Martin’s Frontline Network is designed to bring together workers on the frontline of homelessness in Edinburgh and will provide a space for mutual support, sharing best practice, and engaging with public policy. In time, the Frontline Network will nurture an innovative and collective response to tackling homelessness in the city. Continue reading Charities partnership launches homelessness initative
Twenty Edinburgh Napier students took part in a 24 hour ‘Hackathon’ at Edinburgh Napier University on Friday 3 to Saturday 4 February. Cyrenians, Bright Red Triangle, Scottish Institute for Enterprise, and IBM co-hosted the event, along with staff from Edinburgh Napier University who also provided the facilities. Continue reading Students harness tech to tackle homelessness
Muirhouse film maker Garry Fraser, whose film Everybody’s Child about his journey from addiction to recovery won a Bafta in 2014, is to open an exhibition of photographs by photographer Patrick Keast on 2nd December at 4pm in the My Front Room Café on Sallisbury Place. Continue reading Garry Fraser to open photography exhibition
Last year’s event
Some of the country’s top chefs will team up with Cyrenians and Edinburgh College to lay on a gastronomic spectacular and raise money for people excluded from family, home, work or community tomorrow evening. Continue reading Creme de la creme: Top chefs to take part in Cyrenians Cook Off
Pilton Community Health Project, Granton Community Gardeners, Dr Bell’s Family Centre and Pilmeny Development Project are among twenty-one projects to benefit from a share of a £900,000 fund to tackle food poverty. Continue reading North Edinburgh projects to benefit from Fair Food Fund
Cyrenians launch TELL YOUR STORY campaign
More than a quarter of Scots believe poverty is a result of laziness according to a new poll published by a Scottish charity seeking to challenge public perceptions of those in need.
The poll, commissioned by Cyrenians as part of their newly-launched “Tell Your Story” campaign aimed at changing public perceptions of those living in poverty, found that 28% believed poverty was a result of laziness on the part of those living in poverty. 24% believed a lack of willpower was another contributory factor to people living in poverty
The study found that the majority of Scots think that unemployment (76%), addiction (59%) and family circumstances (56%) are main causes of poverty.
Scottish people believe early intervention and working with those most at risk, along with providing more jobs, are the best ways to reduce poverty, with only a tiny minority backing reductions in benefits.
The poll found that Scots believed providing jobs (59%), working with families at risk of poverty (58%), early intervention (53%) and providing education (51%) were the best ways the Government should help those living in poverty in Scotland; with only a tiny minority (6%) believing cutting benefits would do so.
In order to tackle poverty, Cyrenians aim over the next five years to increase the number of people they support annually from 4400 to 6000 people in a major expansion of their work in Scotland as they respond to a rise in demand from those who feel excluded from family, home, work or community. These interventions include:
The leaders of Scotland’s five main political parties, along with major celebrities such as Irvine Welsh, Mark Greenaway, Brian Cox, Grant Stott, Bill Paterson and Mark Cousins have backed Cyrenians call for people to tell their own personal story to remind us that everyone has a past, a present and a future. Cyrenians aim is to shine a light on the different ways anyone can find themselves in poverty in order to change public perceptions of those in need.
To encourage others to tell their story, Cyrenians has published a series of case studies of people they have worked with and who, for a variety of reasons, have been excluded and fallen in to different types of poverty, only to turn their lives around with help from the innovative work of the charity.
Announcing the expansion at an event with award-winning TV chef, Mark Greenaway, at Cyrenians Good Food depot in Edinburgh, Cyrenians Chief Executive Ewan Aitken, said: “The Scottish public clearly believe that the type of support provided by Cyrenians, such as working with people in danger of becoming excluded from their family or home at an early stage and working with those most at risk, are the best ways to reduce poverty rather than blunt financial instruments or stigmatising language. We want to build on that and challenge any perception amongst the public that those in poverty are only there through laziness or lack of willpower.
“Politicians, along with the rest of society, must stand-up and tackle the causes of poverty and change public perceptions. To do that we must work to prevent people from feeling excluded from family, home, work or the wider community. Through our own stories and those of people we support, as well as they services we provide, we can achieve that change.
“We should remember that we all have a past, a present and a future, so we are urging people to come forward and, please: TELL YOUR STORY.”
Cyrenians, the charity committed to supporting those excluded from family, home, work or community, has been awarded living wage status.
The charity has 110 staff who deliver services in seven local authority areas as well as providing training across the country through their Scottish Centre for Conflict Resolution. Cyrenians were able to finally achieve Living Wage status by moving a Community Job Scotland trainee and a Youth Employment Scotland trainee into employment directly with Cyrenians.
CEO Ewan Aitken said: “We are delighted to have achieved Living Wage accreditation and to put our shoulder to this vital anti-poverty campaign. As part of our employability work, we have helped over 500 people into jobs this year so we know the difficulties that low wage economy causes. This achievement is a sign of our commitment to live out what we want our many partner employers to do also.”
He went on: “We know that austerity politics is going to bite even harder and those in poverty will continue to get the blame. The Living Wage is one way of helping people out of poverty whilst challenging the many myths perpetrated by those who want to deny the reality that poverty is a symptom of a broken system and not a lifestyle choice as some would have us believe.”
The Living Wage is an hourly rate set independently and updated annually, currently set at £7.85 per hour. It is calculated according to the basic cost of living in the UK. Living Wage accreditation enables employers to be recognised for paying their staff a fair, decent wage.
Peter Hunter, Director of the Poverty Alliance, congratulated Cyrenians on becoming an accredited Living Wage Employer. “Cyrenians have shown fantastic leadership in becoming a Living Wage Employer,” he said. “The continual rise of in-work poverty in Scotland is an issue that needs to be addressed as a priority. The response requires cooperation from private, public and third sector employers. The fastest way to tackle in-work poverty is to curtail the acceptance of the minimum wage and put an onus on paying the Living Wage.”
