Spark Ignition - Fifteen Finalists Chosen
March 2008
Congratulations to the fifteen finalists that have been chosen to compete for a share of the Spark prizes - £500,000 of cash and hundreds of thousands of pounds of in-kind support - to build their social enterprise to get more people off the streets.
All fifteen finalists will pitch their business ideas to a panel of leading entrepreneurs, including Nigel Kershaw, Big Issue Invest chief executive, at an event in May.
John Montague, The TREES Group chief executive, said "the competition among applicants has been fierce and it was a very difficult decision to decide which 15 went through the next round. It is inspiring to see how Spark has ignited social enterprise through the homelessness sector."
The competition is part of a major new partnership between Government, the private and third sectors. It aims to increase the number of social enterprises in the homelessness sector to give homeless people opportunities to enter training, volunteering and employment opportunities as well as provide a sustainable source of income for homeless services. The TREES Group, Big Issue Invest, Eastside Consulting, PricewaterhouseCoopers and property and regeneration group Places for People are working alongside the Department to deliver Spark.
The fifteen finalists are:
Acumen Community Enterprise Development Trust
Assisi House Project
Bikeworks
Brent Homeless User Group (Bhug)
Brighton Housing Trust
Chester and District Housing
Gilead Foundations
Noah Enterprise
Novas Scarman Group
Plymouth Access to Housing (Path)
SHARP Trading (Leicester) Ltd
Shekinah Mission
StreetShine
The Salvation Army
The Society of St James
The scheme follows the success of the Department's £160 million investment into improving hostels which has funded social enterprises like the Crisis Café in Newcastle which is giving homeless people a route into catering.
