Mission's+and+Agencies

//We now know that homelessness is a problem. So what is Melbourne doing to help? This page will tell you about four major organizations that help the homeless and disadvantaged in the city.//
=**// Urban Seed //**= ===//Urban Seed began in 1987 and was founded by the Collins Street Baptist Church by reverend Ron Ham with the support of reverend Tim Costello. Its original name was the Urban Mission Unit but changed to Urban Seed in 2001. It is a Christian based organisation and its priorities are relief, education, confrontation, formation and transformation. It has bases in Melbourne, Footscray, Bendigo and Geelong.//=== ===//Urban Seed runs many activities such as art and writing groups and Credo Cricket. It also runs a cafe called Credo Cafe. This cafe provides free lunch to those who need it. The cafe aims to get the homeless community interacting with the mainstream population.//=== =// The Big Issue //= ===//The Big Issue was created in Australia in 1996. It sells magazines in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane. Perth, Canberra and in regional Victoria. Over its 14 years, vendors, who are sometimes homeless people, have sold over 5 million magazines and have made over 10 million dollars.//=== ===//The Big Issue sells its magazines using vendors. The vendors receive training and also sign a code of conduct. Anyone can be a vendor and The Big Issue is non judgmental. 85% of all the vendors are male. This is because women are more likely to get assaulted. They also may have a family to look after.//=== ===//Of all readers of the magazine 47% are male and 53% are female. The Big Issue has many principle partners including The Body Shop, Australia Post, Community Support Fund Victoria and the Weasly Mission Victoria. The Big Issue is also a member of the International Network of Street Papers. This network sells 80 papers like The Big Issue in 26 countries around the world.//=== =// STREAT //= ===//STREAT is a social enterprise that provides the homeless with job opportunities They are self funding but they rely on other businesses to provide food at a low cost for their stands. They have two stands. One is at Federation Square, which sells food and another is at Melbourne Central, which sells coffee. STREAT started in 2008 as a trial to see how it would go. It was a success and in 2009 they started building the organisation. It was completed 2010 and they kick started the program. By 2013, they aim to have seven carts selling food and// //coffee around Melbourne. They also want to be 100% self funded without needing help from other businesses.//=== ===//They provide 2-6 hour of employment a week for homeless young people. They also provide youth counseling. At the moment they get funding and support from businesses including: William Angles institute, Welfare Agencies and the Abbortsford convent bakery. The choose the most suitable candidates from The Salvo's/city missions to be workers for STREAT. They employ 40-50 young people a year.//=== //**Thank you to Rebecca Scott from STREAT for taliking to us and helping us in our research.**//

[[image:city_living__streat_1.jpg width="133" height="98" caption="A photo of a STREAT cart we saw at the STREAT HQ in the CBD"]]
=// The Salvation Army //= ===//The Australian Salvation Army began on the 5th of September 1880. It was founded by Edward Sanders and John Gore. Edward was a railway worker and John was a builder. Their first meeting was at a green grocers cart in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens. Their aim was to feed the homeless. John and Edward had no previous training.//=== ===//The Salvation Army have established a number of different support networks in their organization. In the late 1950s they opened the Red Shield Appeal. In the late 1960s they opened the drug, alcohol and gambling rehab center.// //In 1985 The Salvation Army created the 24 hour counseling service.//===

We went on a mini excursion to the Salvo's, STREAT, Melbourne City Mission and Urban Seed. Only STREAT and Melbourne City Mission could talk to us. This was the result of the interviews

 * ORGANISATION || HOW DO YOU SUPPORT PEOPLE? || MEN, WOMEN? || WHAT DO YOU DO TO RAISE MONEY? || DO YOU HAVE ANY OTHER BRANCHES? || HOW/DO YOU GET SUPPORT? || HOW DO YOU INFORM HOMELESS PEOPLE THAT YOU ARE OUT THERE? ||
 * STREAT || We provide employment 2-6 hours a week and we also provide counseling. || Half of each. || We have a cart selling coffee and a cart selling food so we get money from there. || William angles institute, welfare agencies and Abbotsford convent bakery. || We buy products at low prices to sell in our carts. || Word of mouth and welfare agencies. ||
 * MELBOURNE CITY MISSION/FRONT YARD || We assess the needs of people aged 12-25 and direct them to the right places. || Used to be more men but now getting even. || We rely heavily on donations. We also do school tours. || DID NOT GET ANSWER || We get support from other charities and the government. || We are well know to the police and to the public. ||

include component="page" page="Living in Melbourne Links"