About the grants
Aims
Crisis’ Changing Lives grants are designed to enable individuals to take more control of their lives and help them achieve their career goals.
Our specific aims are:
- To improve the work related skills of grant recipients
- To allow recipients to move towards achieving financial independence
- To give recipients the opportunity to engage fully with society
History
The grants were introduced by Crisis in 2002 to offer financial support to single homeless people moving toward a chosen line of work. Since then, our partnership with Barclays has been central. Six years of funding has provided the base with which to assist over 1500 people. Alongside Barclays, the project also receives substantial and invaluable funding from Linklaters and Marsh.
Project Structure
Applications
Applications are accepted throughout the year apart from during the summer period (mid July to mid September)
The grants
There are three possible grants: the Education Grant; the Self Employment grant; and the Into Employment grant.
The grant panel
Decisions are made by a panel of professionals from Education and Business sectors, some of whom have experienced homelessness themselves. The panel considers all eligible applications on the basis of suitability, focus and need.
Evaluation
Monitoring information is collected from grant winners after 6 and 12 months. The two monitoring forms are sent to applicants; support workers are contacted for assistance if there is no reply
How the grants are administered
All grants are transferred to local support organisations which administer and control the grant on behalf of their client. The project requires that invoices and reciepts of purchases equaling the full amount of the grant are returned to Crisis. In the case of grant money not being spent or being unaccounted for, the grant money is returned to Crisis
Successes
Since its inception, the Crisis Changing Lives grants have funded over 1500 previously homeless people, totalling over £1 million.
