Last year I did my placement in Cork Simon Communities Outreach project

Last year I did my placement in Cork Simon Communities Outreach stand. I re in whollyy enjoyed this placement and as I had a lot of knowledge on this project I decided to do my Community Development project on the Outreach project. I realised while schooling on the Outreach squad how important the portion was because when young pile first become involved in road life they do so because they see no other option. umteen leave situations of acute family breakdown or violent situations. They may assimilate been exposed to alcoholism, drug addiction, abuse and have lived under the strain of pauperisation and unemployment.Street life seems to me like an insecure, lonely, f justifiedlyening and dangerous situation for either person to find himself or herself in. Unfortunately quite a little living on the streets are quickly exposed to alcohol, drugs, crime and prostitution. Many population do not know how to get help and many have disjointed contact with services. For the mos t part people who are out of basis are not easily identified.They hang around and dress besides to other people. They have however, no consistent support or business and nowhere they c every last(predicate) home. For the most part they are invisible. This is where the Outreach Street Services immenseness comes in The Outreach police squad has a good understanding of the situation among people on the streets. Outreach contacts people out of home at risk. Outreach befriends people and builds swear relationships with people. The Outreach team provide information about services provided and the location of these services. Oliver Hoegener created The yellowish Leaflet which Simon published and the Outreach team always carry these leaflets to give to vernal people on the streets of Cork. Outreach also puts people in contact with services and all street make water is documented.HistoryThe Simon Community was established in Ireland in 1969, in that location are now 4 Simon Communi ties in the Republic of Ireland Dublin, Dundalk, Galway and of contour Cork which was set up in 1971.The philosophy of the Simon Community is the framework, which guides the alliances policies, invest and day-to-day fleetning of its projects. The guiding principles set the parameters inwardly which the cater work and residents live while in the community. The communitys philosophy is based on Acceptance, Community, long Care and Campaigning. The philosophy also embraces and includes, A commitment to merelyice, sharing, creating space for people, organism as democratic as possible, being part of the wider community, providing care, support and solidarity, valuing relationships, back up participation, inclusiveness. The community also has a strong voluntary ethos.The communitys policy is to clothe people, to encourage independence, to encourage people to take responsibility, to be inclusive and to relieve those who wish to tackle any difficulties they may face such as alcoh ol and drug addictions etc. Change is not a primary election focus, though it is facilitated where possible.There is a strong emphasis on Confidentiality in Simon, all matters relating to residents remains confidential and all people involved in Cork Simon Community must bear in mind that all clients have a right to privacy. This enables trusting relationships to be built within and in the midst of various members of the community. All players must respect clients as individuals with the expertness to make decisions and changes in their lives, in light of their beliefs and values.The Outreach project is a new-fangled project of the Cork Simon Community. Since January 2002, the two Outreach workers (Carmel Moore & Oliver Hoegener) have been doing intensive street work in Cork. The project is targeting shingly standoffs and offers easy access to support and purpose on a wide range of issues. One of the main aims of the project is harm reduction and prevention as well as do an d maintaining contact with service users on the street.The Outreach team liaises with other agencies such as do drugs and Alcohol Services, the Homeless Adolescent Unit and the other Drug Task Force Projects. Outreach links in with a wide quash of other groups in the city e.g. YMCA, Gardai, Southern Health Board, local community groups, youth workers etc. Outreach works in collaboration with the existing offspring Homeless Drug Prevention Project as well as with other Simon projects, such as (1) The shelter where the Outreach worker and shelter staff clear establish times that the outreach team can bring people into the building to gain access to the shelters services. (2) Day centre again the outreach team works from the day centre in befriending people and building new relationships with rough sleepers. (3)The Soup pass The nightly soup run meets between 60-80 people each week some are sleeping rough while others are living in the private rented sector or in corporation flats. The Soup Run provides hot meals, blankets, advice and companionship for the homeless.In March 2002 the Outreach team set up a Lunch run, they were cognisant of the need for a weekend service because places like the Upper dwell only provide a Monday to Friday service and a lot of Corks homeless people were dependant solely on the soup run at weekends as their only source of food, similar to the soup run, the lunch run gives out tea, soup, sandwiches and fruit in the evening around the streets of Cork city, I think this was an excellent service to set up because while on placement I did the lunch run and it proved to get precise popular after a few weeks of being established, it is only the Outreach workers which do the lunch run. The two Outreach workers work more closely with the Youth Drugs worker and liase with the volunteer co-workers on the nightly soup run.ManagedThe Crisis Services Manager who is responsible to the director of cork Simon manages outreach.FinancedA substa ntial amount of money need to run the Simon Community on a day-to-day basis is raise by the community itself through voluntary fund-raising such as sag days, church gate collections, Simon shops and sponsored events. The State also contributes to the Simon Communities running costs in the form of rent. While each Simon Community is autonomous and is responsible for finance and running its own projects, all Communities work closely unitedly and jointly form a national federation with the national office in Dublin acting as a resource, servicing and co-ordinating agency. Working together as a national body has many practical advantages and gives boldness to that founding principle which states that no one community alone can ever be Simon.EvaluationFrom working in the Simon Community I do believe that the organisation is a very successful one. From attendance weekly meetings where issues like barrings, a residents physical/mental health, issues that occurred in all areas of Co rk Simon etc, were being discussed, I realised how complex it was just to run the whole project and how some decisions that were made had such a massive impact on other people e.g. a rough sleeper being barred from the use of all Simons services, these decisions really annoyed the Outreach team because then as the Outreach worker it is your duty to go out on the streets, find this rough sleeper and try to get them into other services. til now though the whole organisation is so complex and controversial you just have to look back at Simons vision of society where there is no homelessness, and compassion, respect and empathy are the core of the communitys relationships, and justice, equality and social inclusion body are central to state policy.Also the mission of the Simon Community to stimulate preventative strategies that will divert people becoming homeless, to campaign for the right for appropriate registration and responsive services for the homeless, to provide quality car e, accommodation and services which support and empower people who are homeless, marginalized, vulnerable or socially excluded.I believe that the policy of Simon and the Core Values are very realistic, Simon does not discriminate and in theory the organisation is getting stronger and providing an essential service for the homeless of Cork.