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Homeless and vulnerable people in Kent will soon be in with a chance of representing England at the Homeless Football World Cup in Milan this year.
Service users, supported by homeless charity Porchlight, will be going to trials for the competition at Tottenham Hotspur FC in February.
Trials will also be taking place across the country between January and March at several other football clubs including Birmingham City FC and Manchester City FC.
Following this there will be monthly trials at Manchester United’s youth and community training academy from which a final squad of 8 will be chosen.
As the name suggests teams from Argentina to Australia, South Africa to Portugal, Cameroon to Brazil and Germany to England will compete to lift the cup!
Richard Barnard, young person’s activity worker for Porchlight, recognizes the benefits sport can bring “We have been very fortunate recently in securing some good partnerships locally, such as that with Charlton Athletic. With the help of the Charlton Athletic Community Scheme Solution we have been able to give our young service users a much needed avenue in to sport.
“The World Cup gives our service users the chance to show off their skills at a professional club with professional coaches – it is an amazing opportunity. Football and sport in general can be a very useful trigger for people to become empowered to change their lives for the better.”
Mike Barrett, Porchlight Chief Executive says, “Changing attitudes and lives is integral to everything Porchlight does. The Homeless World Cup is an excellent opportunity to highlight the issue of homelessness globally and promote social inclusion of the most vulnerable and excluded members of our communities.”
The trials for the England squad are organised by Big Issue North in conjunction with a number of Premiership and Championship football clubs. For more information visit the Homeless World Cup website.
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Notes to the Editor:
1. The Homeless World cup trials in England are organised by Big Issue North in conjunction with a number of Premiership and Championship football clubs. For more information email Big Issue North or visit the Homeless World Cup website.
2. The Homeless World Cup requires players to have been:
•Homeless or vulnerably accommodated at some point after the 1st December 2008
•Or are in rehabilitation and have been homeless at some point since 1st October 2008
•Or are asylum seekers currently without positive asylum status or who were previously asylum seekers but obtained residency status after 1st December 2007.
3. Porchlight is an independent local charity that works to support single, vulnerable homeless people or those at risk of homelessness. It was established in 1974 as Canterbury Cyrenians and works throughout Kent.
4. Porchlight has accommodation based projects in Canterbury, Dover, Ashford and Ramsgate. The outreach team works with street homeless people as well as supporting former homeless people in their own homes, to prevent them returning to street life. Other services support people in their own homes who are at risk of becoming homeless.
5. In 2007-78 Porchlight helped over 1,400 vulnerable people. Porchlight projects include:
Kent Outreach: Our street outreach team work across Kent including working within prisons to help offenders who will be released from prison homeless.
Young Persons Services: This includes a direct access hostel, longer stay hostel and shared house, providing support for a number years, until each individual is ready to live independently.
Mental Health: We run a housing project in Dover specifically for people with enduring mental ill-health. We also provide support to 7 clients in another purpose built accommodation project in Margate. In addition we also have a young persons’ mental health service that enables young homeless people with mental health problems to better access the health services they need.
General Accommodation: We have hostels in Canterbury, Dover, Ashford and Ramsgate. They range in the levels of support provided from high support needs with staff available 24hrs a day, to medium support with staff available on a 9-5pm basis.
Floating Support: This is a preventative service that provides support to vulnerable people in their own home who are at risk of becoming homeless. Many of these clients have been through the hostel system and are almost ready to live independently but just need a little support every now and again.
Training and Service User Involvement: We have a team that works with people accessing any of our services and helps them develop their skills and education. We provide tailored training and encourage people to get involved in the running and improvement of their project, or volunteer on a more formal level in the organisation. Porchlight is committed to involving our service users throughout all the activities of the charity. They are actively encouraged to become involved in education, employment, volunteering and service user involvement opportunities.
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