Investing in Communities

Our Positive Futures scheme is a FREE service exclusive to St Vincent’s tenants.

Positive Futures provides one to one advice and guidance to help tenants to retrain, find the right courses, build confidence, apply for jobs and make sure you will be better off in work. We are able to visit tenants at your convenience in your own homes ensuring a personal service tailored to suit individual needs.

To find out more about our postive futures scheme click here.

If you would like to refer yourself onto this scheme you can fill in the online form here, or download a referral form here.

We also set up and manage funded projects which may tackle worklessness, social exclusion, community cohesion or environmental projects.

The Enviz project came about through St Vincent’s partnership
with Stepping Stone who provide accommodation and support
for vulnerable people at risk of homelessness. Both organisations
wanted to find ways of engaging hard to reach groups through
informal learning.

Funded by The Transformation Fund :- The main aim of the
project was to introduce a new culture of learning to social
housing tenants and service users and engage those least likely
to enter into formal education and training, and whose
experience of education, learning and employment is limited.

View our Enviz Toolkit here.

Our money management scheme is a FREE service to tenants offering guidance, support & signposting to help tenants to maximise their money.

Offering home visits with tailored advice to suit individual needs, including:

• Budgeting
• Setting up a bank account
• Using a Credit union
• Home contents Insurance
• Energy saving
• Financial health check

To find out more about our money management scheme click here or to refer yourself onto this scheme you can fill download a referral form here.

St Vincent’s runs an Ucan Centre in the Moses Gate area of Farnworth in Bolton.  The aim of the centre is to provide a community focal point, where all residents can access much needed services and training. The Ucan Centre runs a number of programmes including English for Speakers of Other Languages courses, a driving project, a Computer suite with FREE Internet access as well as providing meeting rooms for local communities groups and crèche facilities. There is a range of information available at the Centre from local jobs to educational and recreational classes. The Local Police Community Support Officers, help writing a CV and setting up your own business can all be accessed through the Ucan.

St Vincent’s Housing Association has always sought the views of its tenants through its local walkabouts, customer panels, customer conferences and focus groups, from our sheltered schemes to our young people’s foyers.

We have a dedicated member of staff who works with tenants to help set up residents groups, home watch schemes or help with organising events. These can bring people together to discuss issues that affect a neighbourhood or can help new tenants to meet their neighbours.

Tenants can address issues from Recycling to activities for children at these events and support and skills are passed on to tenants to enable them to find solutions to their local issues.

St Vincent’s Housing Association actively supports the principle that everybody has a right to volunteer, and are committed to promoting volunteering as a significant and positive contribution to improving the lives of vulnerable people and strengthening communities.

Involving volunteers in our activities brings a diversity of skills and experience to our work, assists us in meeting the needs of our clients and enriches the involvement we have with local communities.

Click to view our volunteer application and volunteer policy.

The Reach In placement and training scheme is part of a three year project part funded by the European Refugee Fund and managed by HACT (Housing association charitable trust). The scheme aims to:

• Deliver better housing advice and wider services to newly settling refugees;
• Develop structured training and volunteer placements for refugees in housing associations
• Develop mutual awareness and to improve employment prospects in housing for refugees
• Potentially address existing skills shortages in housing associations. 

Priscilla and Marian volunteered through the scheme at St Vincent’s in 2009. They gained skills and knowledge of housing and community development and completed a part qualification with CIH. Both have been able to secure employment in housing and education. In 2010 two volunteers gained experience at our Foyers working with young people.

St Vincent’s has provided 11 jobs to young people via a national programme led by Groundwork UK and the National Housing Federation. Each FJF employee is engaged on a 6 month temporary contract, full time, fulfilling roles within the association. The programme runs to March 2011, by which time we will have employed 33 young people and supported them through training and personal development to assist them into further jobs and training.