London Libraries win support to help reach homeless people » Housing » 24dash.com

London Libraries Development Agency (LLDA) has been awarded a grant of £80,000 by The JJ Charitable Trust, one of the Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts, to develop Opening The Doors, a project which will improve access to books, reading and library services for homeless and vulnerably housed people.

The project will work by encouraging mainstream library services in a number of London boroughs to consider homeless and vulnerably housed people’s needs. Research carried out for LLDA by Brent Homeless User Group (B-HUG) showed that while many homeless people use library services, they feel there are barriers to access and want to be more involved in service design and delivery. The project will pilot new approaches and aim to find ways of working that can be replicated in other library services up and down the country.

Key aspects will include improving access to lifelong learning and critically examining barriers to participation such as membership requirements. An important aspect of the project is the involvement of a number of homelessness sector organisations.

Jenny Edwards, Chief Executive of Homeless Link, said: ‘The funding from The JJ Charitable Trust represents a fantastic opportunity to make libraries more accessible to the homelessness sector in a variety of exciting ways. The focus of Opening The Doors is on developing connections and understanding between London's public libraries, the community and homelessness projects.  This will have a very positive impact on homelessness services in the capital and on their ability to enable people to move on to independent lives.’

Councillor Flick Rea, Chair of LLDA, commented: ‘Homeless and vulnerably housed people think libraries are an important service. With this funding we will be able to find ways of ensuring their needs are met and they are able to make full use of the wide range of services offered by London’s public libraries.’

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