The Congregational Community Excellence Award

Barnabas Workshops
in South Ilford, equips people with the skills, training and confidence to succeed in a competitive job market, motivated by the passionate belief that employment is a doorway out of deprivation. They are recognised for the respect and bespoke advice that they give to each person who accesses their services.

Crossroads Christian Counselling Service
provides long-term, low cost, professional counselling to residents of Tower Hamlets who are struggling emotionally. The service, which runs in partnership with many local churches, aims to relieve the pressure upon statutory services by identifying gaps in provision.

The Door Youth Project
is a community drop-in/coffee bar in Stroud, established in consultation with the young people of the area. It is open to all young people six days a week, and incorporates sessions for those excluded from mainstream education. The project has service contract agreements with local schools to deliver woodwork, music and graffiti art sessions.

One 25 Limited
is the lead agency in Bristol for dealing with the multifaceted problems of prostitution. Through street outreach and drop-in sessions, they offer practical support and care to women trapped in street prostitution. As well as serving acute physical needs, the team also provide advocacy and long-term support as the women move towards a new way of life.

The Terminus Initiative
is a community hub based on the Lowedges estate in Sheffield. It comprises a low priced community café selling second hand clothes, a youth café, a drop-in centre for elderly people as well as a befriending scheme for asylum seekers and refugees. This enterprising initiative provides a much-needed social environment for the local community.

The Trinity Family Centre
in Westcliff on Sea, exists to strengthen family relationships. It provides support to the whole family through parent and toddler groups, after school clubs, education and skills training and parenting skills training. Through a holistic and highly relational approach, they seek to improve lifestyles and generate opportunities for those living in the local area.

Woodside Bereavement Service
in South Norwood is an accessible and caring counselling service supporting bereaved people of all ages through one to one and group based sessions. This excellent service is run on a voluntary basis and responds to complex cases including those affected by loss through suicide or murder, via referrals from local authorities, GP’s and the Primary Care Trust.

The Spring Harvest Community Innovation Award for Developing Projects
Awarded to projects that have been delivering services for one to three years.

The Beachy Head Chaplaincy Team
talk would-be jumpers down from the cliffs and offer after care services including counselling, debt advice and a safe house. This well-trained team, recruited from a partnership of local churches, performs nightly patrols 365 days a year and are on call to the Sussex Police force 24 hours a day. The suicide rate has dramatically decreased since they began operating in 2004.

Community and Family Counselling – Social Prescribing
based in Holywood is a Christian-based counselling service available to anyone suffering emotional or mental health issues. It provides GPs with an alternative to prescribing medication, offering a more positive and holistic approach which tackles the underlying causes of depression, stress and anxiety. The service brings together faith-based, voluntary and statutory agencies with primary carers in a joined up approach to mental health services.

The Glamis Adventure Playground
is an open access playground offering a packed programme of free supervised activities to children aged 8-15 years old. The playground, situated in the middle of Shadwell, has been transformed from a decaying waste ground into an attractive community hub. The church-led project is staffed by full-time workers who practice Best Play theory.

New Hope – Kids First PSI Project
in Runcorn, aims to minimize the serious problems of marginalized and excluded young people through their alternative curriculum called Progressive Social Inclusion. Kids First PSI provides the foundation that underpins the local Pupil Referral Unit’s whole programme, and delivers it in partnership with five other specialist providers.

The Open Blue Trust
covers critical gaps in service provision in the small, isolated hamlet communities of rural Wiltshire. Their impressively refurbished double decker bus is used across multiple hamlets for toddlers’ clubs, residents’ cafés, after-school clubs and self-esteem courses. A resident community champion is designated in each hamlet to act as a point of contact in the community at all times.

St Andrews Memory Club
in Great Yarmouth addresses the particular problems and needs of those suffering from Alzheimer’s, dementia and amnesia by providing a social environment where this potentially isolating problem is normalised and members can share a meal together. Cognitive therapy is embedded into the club, which responds to the physical, sensory, mental, emotional and spiritual needs of its members.

The Spring Harvest Community Innovation Award for New Projects
Awarded to projects that have been delivering services for less than a year

The Bridge Bond Scheme
gives those who have been sleeping rough in Coventry and are ineligible for housing due to addiction problems, a route into stable accommodation. It establishes relationships with landlords and estate agents, and provides bonds and follow-up support. This innovative scheme gives homeless people a permanent base and support, to attempt to break the cycle of homelessness and addiction and build a new life.

Open Door - Tyneside
accommodates and supports ‘failed’ asylum seekers who are destitute in Newcastle upon Tyne and aims to eradicate the need for people in this situation to sleep outdoors. Through a thorough audit, the church identified ‘failed’ asylum seekers as the most vulnerable and marginalized people in the city. The project seeks to provide advocacy and lobbies to challenge the system that leaves asylum seekers destitute.

Restored Ministries
in Coleraine provides material assistance to people who are rehoused due to difficult circumstances such as marital break-up, loss of income and addiction problems. By providing quality furniture, fabrics and redecorating, the team welcome people to the community, restore a sense of dignity and enable families to escape the poverty of bad physical living conditions. Over 200 families have already been helped by this vital service.

Sanctuary in the City
will be a trendy overnight café bar based in the busy city centre of Glasgow. The cafe will be staffed by well-trained Christian youth workers, who will be on hand throughout the night to provide young people with good food, good friends and practical and spiritual support in time of need. It aims to be a place of sanctuary amidst the pubs, clubs and restaurants of the city centre.

Shine Girl
was developed for the Townsend Estate in Bournemouth, is a self-esteem course for year seven and eight girls. The rolling programme of nine sessions tackles issues ranging from skin care and make up to feelings and willpower. The well-developed course culminates in dining out at a 5 star restaurant. This much needed initiative will be run with the local secondary school, as part of the PHSE curriculum.