07 July 2010

Spark is a development and investment programme supporting social enterprises that prevent and tackle homelessness including organisations that work with people who are at risk of being homeless. The overall objective is to select those organisations that can achieve the most social impact towards the core aim: to prevent or tackle homelessness.

Spark has five specific goals:

•  To enable more homeless and vulnerably-housed people to move into independent living and employment

•  To champion and build sustainable social enterprise models

•  To increase sustainability and impact of sector in tackling homelessness compared to existing models of intervention

•  To develop more valuable connections and partnerships between the private, public and third sectors

•  To continue testing, promoting and disseminating the value of social enterprise and the Spark model.

Applications are now open for Spark 2010. The programme is offering shares of Spark's £1.6 million fund to charities, voluntary organisations, social enterprises, housing associations, local authorities and primary care trusts. Its aim is to give organisations and individuals the opportunity to address homelessness through social enterprise.
The deadline for applications is 13 August 2010, with the finalists announced on 1 September 2010. For more information, visit the Spark website here.