Community Story: Speaking Out UK CIC

"Our focus over the last few years has been to develop the company as a multicultural, bilingual and inclusive organisation that reflects the diverse population of young adults who live in hostels for homeless people."

In our latest feature on recipients of a grant from National Grid’s Community Matters Fund (Fuel Poverty) we travel to Birmingham and the Black Country for a chat with Ian Fellows, a Director at Speaking Out UK CIC, who do fantastic work supporting vulnerable homeless people. Our Head of Communications Luke Upton, learnt about the difference they are making to those in their community, and what this grant means to the organisation.

Luke Upton (LU): Thanks for speaking to us today, Ian, could you kick off by telling us some more about the community that you serve and why your support is needed.

Ian Fellows (IF): No problem, Luke.  Speaking Out UK CIC mainly supports the residents of hostels for homeless people that are in Birmingham and the Black Country (Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton). This is often referred to as “Exempt Accommodation". It is intended for especially vulnerable homeless people. We mainly work with young adults with special needs who have become homeless after being discharged from juvenile mental health establishments, Youth Offenders Centres, Local Authority Care or who have reached the upper age limit to live with Foster Parents. We prioritise young people who have communication handicaps and those who have Autistic Spectrum Disorders. Nearly all our Service Users have lost contact with their families. We therefore provide mature adult mentors to support, advise and encourage them. Our goals are to keep them as well and as safe as possible while they live in a homeless hostel and to help prepare them to move into suitable permanent supported accommodation as soon as possible.

LU: What’s been your particular focus in recent years?

IF: Up until 2020, Speaking Out only worked with young men. However, since then we have provided services to both young men and women. During the Covid-19 Lockdown we developed new links with hostels for homeless women which are now firmly established. Our focus over the last few years has been to develop the company as a multicultural, bilingual and inclusive organisation that reflects the diverse population of young adults who live in hostels for homeless people. We have also been working hard to protect our Service Users from the recruitment activities of criminal gangs in general and from modern slavery in particular.

"The project that our Community Matters Fund grant has funded will help us prepare formerly homeless young people to live independently by making sure they understand how to manage their own home energy budgets."

LU: You’ve just received funding from the Community Matters Fund from National Grid and Localgiving. Can you tell us some more about the project it will help to fund and what it aims to deliver.

IF: Speaking Out CIC appreciates the importance hostels for homeless people, but we also recognise they are very harsh places for young people to live in. Therefore, one of our main priorities is to help our Service Users move on to permanent accommodation but only where they will continue to receive support from Statutory and Voluntary organisations. The project that our Community Matters Fund grant has funded will help us prepare formerly homeless young people to live independently by making sure they understand how to manage their own home energy budgets. This includes the importance of Smart Meters, home insulation and thermostats. Our project is being delivered in the hostels where most of our Service Users live.

This grant from National Grid provides a very important part of our housing rehabilitation strategy especially during this winter when Service Users are afraid of moving into flats that they can’t afford to heat.

LU: Thanks, so how important is this kind of funding to your organisation?

IF: Speaking Out CIC doesn’t have any regular guaranteed funding or an endowment to rely on. All our income comes from grants and sponsorship. This means we need to apply for different grants regularly and launch appeals for sponsors, especially connected with sports events like marathons and wild swimming events. We also heavily depend on volunteers to work as mentors and advisers. Gifts of food, toiletries and warm clothes to distribute to our Service Users are also very important. In these circumstances, a grant like this one from the Community Matters Fund is very welcome because it directly helps us to achieve one of our most important objectives by paying operating costs that we couldn’t otherwise afford. A big thank you to National Grid and Localgiving for the support!

 LU: More money aside, what would help you most?

 IF: It would be very helpful if Youth Offenders Institutions and Juvenile Mental Health organisations would contact us in advance of discharging a young person who is likely to need a place in a hostel for homeless people. At present we are most likely to hear about them from the British Transport Police because they are loitering at one of Birmingham’s Railway Stations or from the City Council because they have been found ‘street sleeping’ in the City Centre. Also, a larger number of mature volunteers who are willing to commit 5 or 6 hours per week for 6 months to helping a Service User would be very helpful. In our experience this consistency builds an invaluable relationship between a Service User and the adult which is invaluable to developing the trust and confidence that eventually leads to the juveniles housing rehabilitation and reintegration into society.

LU: Fascinating, and is there anything else that you would like to inform our readers about?

IF: Perhaps I can just add that Speaking Out UK CIC provides interpretation services to the Courts Service and the legal profession in general for people who suffer from serious speech impairments. These include Tourette’s syndrome and Autistic Spectrum Disorders. All profits made from providing these commercial services are reinvested in the company.

LU: Brilliant, thank you so much for the time today, Ian, we are delighted to be able to support such fantastic work. Keep it up!