UNLEASH - Church action on homelessness in London|

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About UNLEASH|

UNLEASH, also known as Church Action on Homelessness in London, is an umbrella membership organisation for churches, projects and individuals involved in homeless action in London. We provide a network for people to plug into and a forum where projects can share information, discuss concerns, find resources and develop good practice.

We support:

• Churches that offer services to people who are homeless, such as Drop-ins, Day centres and Winter Shelters.
  
  
• Individual Christians of every denomination who work in the fields of homelessness or housing in London.
  
  
• Any organisation or project working alongside or on behalf of homeless people.
  
  
• People of all faiths (and none) who want to hear a distinctly Christian voice in this field.

UNLEASH originally stood for United London Ecumenical Action on Single Homelessness, and started life at a churches conference in 1981. In January 2006 UNLEASH merged with Housing Justice and its work continues as Housing Justice UNLEASH - see the relevant section of the Housing Justice website www.housingjustice.org.uk.

What UNLEASH does:|

UNLEASH seeks to encourage Christian responses to homeless need and provide on-going support.

UNLEASH offers space for agencies working with homeless people to communicate with each other.

UNLEASH provides a London wide policy dimension to keep member organisations up to date.

UNLEASH debates the issues that affect members in their work, and campaigns on their behalf.

Through:

• Members meetings
  UNLEASH members have about 10 meetings a year. We invite innovators and experts in the field to present their perspectives. There is always space for members to share experiences and discuss concerns.
  
  
• Theology workshops
  About 4 times a year we set aside time to reflect on how faith can direct social action, on the tensions that arise, and to seek a theology that can relate to and inform these everyday realities.
  
  
• Forums
  UNLEASH currently runs a Winter Shelters' forum for the churches involved to discuss their experiences and seek practical advice. This takes place every 6-8 weeks between September and March. We are also currently in the process of setting up a Soup Run forum.
  
  
• Training
  As part of our on-going outreach service to frontline agencies, we regularly research the support needs of our members. As the result of a request from the majority of our members, we now provide free, professional training to all our members' volunteers and run management committee training with on-going support in Business Plans and Funding Applications.
  
  
• Newsletter
  The newsletter comes out 3 times a year, and is sent out to members and supporters. We give coverage to projects that deserve wider recognition, events and conferences, training and funding, as well as news and reviews.
  
  
• Website
  Many of the projects we seek to support have little or no paid staff and limited resources. Therefore we aim for this website to act as a shop front for those projects to advertise needs or share news, free of charge.
  
  
• Email bulletin
  Our e-bulletin is designed to keep members informed of policy changes and other issues, but is also used to circulate news from other projects amongst all our contacts in the field.

About this site|

• Diary|
  Click here to find out about UNLEASH Members meetings, theology workshops, forums, training, conferences and other dates of interest.
  
  
• News|
  Click here to get the latest news from UNLEASH including training news, as well as details of other events, relevant updates and useful information from across the UK.
  
  
• Members|
  Click here to find out more about our members' projects, and to find links to their websites. Job and volunteer vacancies are also posted here.
  
  
• Trustees and Staff|
  This page lists our current staff and UNLEASH Trustees. Short biographies coming soon.
  
  
• Join| will take you to membership rates and joining details, and a form to complete and email.
  
  
• Donate| to support the work of UNLEASH.
  
  
• Download| from the UNLEASH online library. Including the latest E-bulletins, Articles, Newsletters, Annual reports, Resource packs and info on where to volunteer.
  
  
• Contact| to send us a general enquiry, report website problems, send us news or request project specific advice.
  
  
• Links| will signpost you to other information in the homelessness field which you may find useful, including details of day centres and hostel accommodation.
  
  
• Training|
  This page has information on our autumn and winter training programme for volunteers and management committee members. If you have other training needs, we may be able to help; visit this page to fill in a training request form.
  
  

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