A Birmingham headquartered charity setup to tackle homelessness has announced that it is expanding to 3 new cities – Liverpool, Leeds & Bristol.
Standing Tall, which was founded in 2019, began its storey in Birmingham where Founder and CEO Christy Acton had been running night shelters in the city and had come across many individuals who were experiencing homelessness but were motivated, had skills that could be valuable to an employer but just needed some support to help them get an opportunity to reach stable employment.
The charity has an effective model where they match an individual up with one of their “Amici Hosts” who are there to provide accommodation for 6 months. The host scheme allows individuals with a spare room to earn rental income for that room whilst playing their part in tackling homelessness. They are fully vetted and provided with support from the Standing Tall Team throughout. At the same time, Standing Tall then works with their partner employers to match the individual up with a three month trial period, which then can be converted into a long-term position by the employer at the end of the three months. The aim is that by the end of the support the individual has a stable job and by living with their Amici Host, they have had the opportunity to save up enough to put a deposit on their own living accommodation. The model has proved highly effective with 80% of those supported going on to leave the streets for good.
After success in Birmingham, Standing Tall expanded to Manchester & London in 2022 and took on a Talent Scout to lead their work in each of these locations. At the Social Enterprise UK 2023 Awards, they won the ‘One to Watch’ Award – fantastic recognition of the potential of the charity at one of the UK’s most prestigious awards focused on the social economy.
Now, after successfully securing funding from The National Lottery Community Fund, they have announced that they will now be expanding into 3 more locations – Liverpool, Leeds & Bristol.
“We’re excited to be starting in more cities so we can help more people. It’s the combination of a stable job and a safe home that makes all the difference. We’ve been supported by BEC so we’re really grateful for that too”, said CEO Christy Acton.
BEC was fortunate to work with Standing Tall as a participant in the FORWARD Accelerator Programme in 2022. “When we first began to work with Standing Tall, it was extremely clear that they had built a model that was simple but highly effective backed by some fantastic people,” said BEC Chief Executive Daniel Evans. “It has been fantastic to see what they have gone on to achieve and are excited to see the rest of the journey play out as they continue to scale the organisation and the impact that it is having”.
Furthermore, BEC have named Standing Tall as their charity partner for an upcoming drinks reception to celebrate the 5th anniversary of BEC’s founding. During the night, a raffle will be held to raise funds for the charity’s fantastic work.
To find out more about Standing Tall, including how to register your interest as a partner employer or Amici Host, head to their website: https://www.standingtall.org.uk/
