Louise Project Charity Glasgow operates The Space Govanill

Our Beginnings

In January 2013, after extensive research, the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul Charitable Trust (DC's) launched a new initiative, The Space, from a shop front premises to serve the community of Govanhill in Glasgow. This is one of the most impoverished neighbourhoods in Scotland and it is also the most ethnically diverse area of Scotland.

The Space offered a place of welcome where people were listened to and supported to meet their needs and after serving the community for a period of 18 months, we embarked on defining a strategy, thereby ensuring that everything we do as a project is based on the needs of the community and how we respond is centred on our Christian values, in particular:

Being alongside and serving people who are experiencing the hardships of poverty.

Honouring the dignity of each person and acting with compassion, kindness, and gentleness.

Building relationships based on honesty, trust, and accountability.

Enabling choice and change.

Acting in solidarity for justice.

To strengthen the sustainability of The Space, the Daughters of Charity created a separate legal entity in 2017, a Christian organisation called The Louise Project, of which The Space is an initiative.

The Louise Project

The Louise Project is an independent antipoverty charity that responds to those facing great hardship and it seeks to develop a pathway to break the cycle of generational poverty. We not only address the consequences of poverty in the lives of those we serve but we also aim to enable people to meet their own needs and we aim to tackle the causes of poverty and the issues that perpetuate poverty across generations of the same family.

The Louise Project welcomes all people. We provide a space where families are safe to be vulnerable; a space where families are nurtured and can dare to dream of a better life and are then supported to act on this.

We focus on families living with persistent poverty to enable them to meet their needs, access appropriate services, integrate into the life of the city, develop skills to lead independent lives and participate in the social transformation of their community.

The project supports people from many different ethnic backgrounds, but the dominant group supported at The Space are from the Roma migrant community, who started to arrive in Govanhill in 2011.

The Louise Project is an affiliate of Daughters of Charity Services (https://www.dcsvpservices.org).

The Louise Project's Theory of Change:

Breaking the Cycle of Generational Poverty

Our aim is to offer opportunities that provide a pathway for families experiencing disadvantage and marginalisation to break the cycle of generational poverty and to become self-determining citizens capable of bringing about transformation in their own life and the life of their community.

These opportunities are part of a well-researched systematic approach developed by The Louise Project called Model for Enablement. This Model enables families to meet their needs, integrate into city life, develop transferable skills, break down barriers, change attitudes and it enables people to recognise their own self-worth and work towards fulfilling their potential.

Clever children born to poor parents become poor adults who go onto have poor children who become poor adults … and so the cycle continues for generations. Research has shown that in Eastern Europe it can take 7 generations to break the cycle of generational poverty and at The Louise Project we are aiming to break the cycle within 4 generations.

It is important to state that whilst our support is focussed on the Roma community in Govanhill, generational poverty knows no ethnic divide and it is prevalent across the country. Thus, the Model for Enablement, is an approach that could be applied in any locality where there are people living with the hardships of persistent poverty.

Programmes of Support

To address generational poverty, we offer 5 well-researched, planned, comprehensive programmes of holistic support. All our programmes are underpinned by our Christian values as we seek to be alongside people to build authentic relationships to address the consequences of poverty and to tackle the causes of poverty.

With each program the capacity of the beneficiary is developed and as they move through the programs, we ensure people can access the material goods they need to maintain a level of dignity and when they are in a more secure position, they can buy their resources from the project shop at prices they can afford. We aim to enable people to be sociable, to access local and city-wide services and to develop the skills, knowledge and understanding they require to become independent and capable of meeting their own needs.

The programmes of support are as follows:

Community Drop-in focuses on building relationships, providing a space to be sociable, access to essential resources, home visits and a place ‘to be.’ We also provide a project community shop so that beneficiaries can buy what they need at prices they can afford.

Community Integration Service provides appointments to access statutory and voluntary services and provides advocacy support to manage complex issues e.g., settled status applications, debt management and welfare benefit issues…”it’s not a problem it’s a person”.

Building Better Futures focuses on developing transferable skills, such as literacy and numeracy as well as digital skills, such as emails. We offer entry level college classes and soft programmes, such as yoga.

Building Community builds social cohesion and social trust by providing activities across all the programmes that engage people from different ethnic groups and focuses on shared interests to build relationships.

Hopeful Futures focuses on developing life skills and the knowledge and understanding people require as they move into adulthood. It aims to raise self-esteem and for participants to develop a greater sense of agency and control over their lives, as well as enhanced insight into the world around them and the skills they need to progress.

Partnerships

Across all programmes we work in partnership and in collaboration with local, city wide and national organizations to bring about positive change for families, as follows:

NHS Social Care Partnership to develop cancer videos for the Roma community and podcasts on Mental Health, as well as immunisation videos for the community.
City of Glasgow College to deliver entry level college classes.
European Citizens Rights project to progress applications for Settled Status.
Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, Glasgow South East Foodbank, local churches and Locavore to provide resources for people.
Local housing associations, South Seeds and local law practices.
Referrals from local GP practices and primary schools.

Our Funders

The staff and volunteer team of The Space would like to extend a warm and heartfelt thank you to all the families we serve for allowing us to be alongside them to share in their journey as they build a better life.

We would also like to thank all those who have supported our work financially, practically and prayerfully. We would not be able to bring about a positive impact in the lives of vulnerable families without your steadfast support.

We are grateful to the private individuals who help us and to the organisations, both large and small who contribute to our work.

Testimonials

The Space is the first initiative of The Louise Project and it serves the dominant migrant ethnic groups in the area, in particular the European Roma.

VISIT The Space WEBSITE