vinvolved Bournemouth & Poole

Have you been affected by homeless issues in the past? Are you living in a hostle or have lived in a hostel? Are you passionate about helping others less fortunate then youself? Fancy making a positive difference to the homeless community in Bournemouth? Like to get your point across and voice heard??? Homeless Voices is the project for you!!!

We meet every Friday 16.00 - 17.00 @ Fusion Youth Club for a hot meal and a chat and chill. Then 17.00 - 18.00 @ Vinvolved Offices for project work!    

Some examples of our work below:

# Working with "Add Kolor" and putting urban art up on the walls of Sevenoaks and Fortuna House.  

# Raising £240 for The Big Issue Foundation @ The Winchester on Sunday 30th May 2010. Bands were amazing,  best crowd in the world and team work at 100%. Big smiles all round!    

# Cooking for 65, we had visitors from Texas come and paint Fusion Youth Club, so decided they needed a celebration event at the end of their week of hard work. Tex-Mex was on the menu along with two acoustic acts upstairs and two bands downstairs. They loved it and gave us a big Texan thank you!

# Oh my god!!! We have been successful in getting the Groundswell Grant!! We can now get started on the 'grab bags' these little beauties will be made available to all 16 - 21 year olds in the local hostels/nightshelter. Stuffed full of joy: chocolate, deodrant, body wash and maybe a wee teddy. One of our members came up with this idea after having a rather negative first night experience wishing she had her own stuff to wash with.

# One of our members is hoping to start a young fathers group and is in the process of making this dream a reality! He has applied to the Princes Trust and is waiting to hear back from them.  

# Denis was interviewed by Hope FM, please listen to our podcast recording below, and told the universe about all the good stuff Homeless Voices have been up to and of course plug the up and coming gig at The Winchester.

# Homeless Voices will be coming to a youth centre near you with the film and booklet. Giving any young person the insight into what to do if they find themselves homeless!   

Case Studies

Hi i'm Phil and I am part of Homeless Voices because I would like to share my experiences with potential young people who are made homeless. This will hopefully help them to not make the same mistakes, others and myself have made. The council turned down my application for emergency housing because I was out of area. The Junction 235 referred me to Fortuna House. If it weren't for the Junction 235 I would be homeless living in London. This service at the Junction is no longer available and I feel strongly about this. Maybe HV can help?

One piece of advice is "make sure you follow your tenancy agreements, it could stop you from losing your accommodation."

I have seen residents get kicked out of hostel accommodation because they did not pay their rent!

Steph. I joined HV because I am in the catagory "young and homeless" and like many other young people I struggled to find accommodation. I was being turned down left right and centre. After sleepless nights dossing on a friends sofa I was finally helped out with somewhere to live. I don't agree with the way I was spoken to by the people that were "there to help" and I want to help others like me to make it easier and less stressful to find somewhere to live. I get a natural high from helping others as homeless issues is a subject I feel very passionate about. I'm excited about the 'grab bags' as I didn't have this available to me when I had nothing. I had to use someone elses second hand products. To give someone their own bare essentials, deodrant or body wash, and know that it will make them feel that little bit better makes me feel good about myself.    

Our Grab Bags!

 

       

Shirley.