Both Alison and I discussed the importance and ongoing success of partnership working across the homeless sector in Leicester and the vital role the Dawn Centre continues to play in this.
Below are a few statements from partners
Dr Nigel Hewett
I am really sorry that I can’t be here with you to celebrate 20 years of the Dawn Centre. The name was chosen to remember Dawn, a patient who relied on the support of the health, housing and voluntary sector organisations that led to developing a building that mirrored our multi agency collaboration. That collaboration has persisted from the old days of the Jock Moon conferences, through multidisciplinary team meetings and daily negotiations. The work is never easy, but by now thousands of people will have passed through the Dawn Centre and benefited from your care. Thank you for continuing this vital work.
One Roof:
In 2009, We set up the EatnMeet project for the Islamic Society of Britain with the aim of providing hot meals for people experiencing homelessness. At the time, we didn’t really know where to start, so we met with Leicestershire Cares, who gave me some guidance and told me about the Dawn Centre.
Through that, we contacted YASC and asked if there was anything we could do to support the drop-in service. During the winter of 2010–11, we began providing hot food every Wednesday lunchtime at YASC, as well as bags with toiletries and essential winter clothing.
During one of those sessions, we met with the Outreach team, who were raising funds to provide emergency B&B accommodation for rough sleepers. With support from the Muslim community, we raised £500, which helped take several people off the streets that winter.
Then, in the winter of 2013, a number of us came together to support rough sleepers who had no recourse to public funds. We began meeting weekly to discuss individual cases and look at ways we could support people.
Those conversations eventually led to One Roof Leicester (ORL) developing the idea for the first ORL Home — a temporary home for Eastern Europeans with No Recourse to Public Funds status.
A clear example of how joined up working can lead to great things as we see ORL thriving in the city
Y Advice and Support Centre
YASC moved into the Dawn Centre and became operational there on the 12th of January 2006. At that time, YASC had a team of seven staff and several volunteers.
Over the years we delivered a wide range of meaningful activity sessions, including creative writing, cook-and-eat sessions, art workshops, IT training, spoken word and drumming workshops, as well as an allotment project and local litter-picking. These were run by staff, external tutors and partner organisations such as Soft Touch, Reach and Leicester College.
On an average day we would see between 60 and 80 people. Some came for practical help, advice and one-to-one support, while others came to access the specialist services and partner agencies based in the building.
There are many memories from those years. From hosting Christmas Day brunches for service users, to photography projects that led to an exhibition at the LCB Depot, where people were incredibly proud to see their work displayed. There were also community moments, like residents and service users litter-picking together outside the building.
We supported individuals in many different ways — from helping Tony E produce his Almost There magazine, to working with colleagues across the centre to support a father, his three sons and their dog so they could stay together safely.
There are far too many examples of partnership working to mention. But everyone who worked from the services in this building should be recognised for the difference they made in people’s lives.
Inclusion Healthcare
Inclusion, although at the time we were Homeless Primary Health Care Service, were present from the opening of the Dawn Centre, having 6 clinical rooms, a reception & 3 admin rooms on the first floor. It was our based from 2006 to 2012 before we moved to. Charles Berry House. It was our first operational base having previously worked on an outreach basis. It provided the platform for Inclusion and provided a close working relationship with many of our current partners and to build the service it is today.
Homeless Mental Health Services
From my perspective, we’ve always been really proud to be part of the multi-agency one-stop shop that is the Dawn Centre. When it first opened, there was nothing like it in the region, and even now it’s quite unusual to have statutory services, voluntary organisations and other support teams all working under the same roof day to day.
That made a huge difference to how we worked. Being in the same building meant we built real, face-to-face relationships with colleagues across the homelessness sector, which made it much easier to collaborate and get things sorted for the people we support. Even though we’re more connected than ever digitally, nothing really replaces those in-person connections.
There was also a strong sense of solidarity between the different teams in the building—whether that was our team, Inclusion, Leicester City Council services, or voluntary sector partners—and that support helped us keep doing our jobs even in really challenging circumstances.
Most importantly, it made a difference for people experiencing homelessness. Someone could walk in on their first day and, in one place, get a warm welcome, a meal, a shower, wash their clothes, register with a GP, access mental health or substance use support, and start the process of getting housing support.
Since the one-stop shop closed, it’s definitely affected our ability to reach both colleagues and the homeless community. So we’re really looking forward to the centre reopening and returning to that way of working, and to the city having a true one-stop hub again.
