HomeBoundHorizons
Empowering homeless individuals to overcome adversity and build brighter futures through comprehensive training and community support
HomeBound Horizons is an Erasmus+ co-funded project (ERASMUS-DE02-KA220-ADU-000364303) addressing the urgent issue of homelessness, which currently affects nearly 895,000 people across Europe. Recognizing that steady employment is the most secure pathway to social reintegration, the project is dedicated to "empowering homeless individuals to overcome adversity and build brighter futures through comprehensive training and community support".
Project's Focus
The project focuses on four main pillars
Developing a holistic support methodology for empowerment based on needs analysis, addressing the psychosocial barriers to inclusion.
Capacity building to upskill local learning center staff, reorganizing these hubs to meet market-driven standards similar to state-recognized institutes.
Implementation and piloting of support plans directly with beneficiaries to foster independence and a sense of ownership.
Community building and dissemination to raise awareness and actively engage stakeholders and local businesses in the workforce integration process
Objectives
- O1: A holistic support system emphasizing on homeless people’s (a) empowerment and (b) employability skills
- O2: Upskilling opportunities for homeless people
- O3: Improved operation of local learning centres
- O4: Active engagement of local businesses and stakeholders as part of the re-integration process
- O5: A closer collaboration between adult training centres and NGOs working with homeless
- O6: Awareness-raising on homelessness as a social phenomenon
Results
- R1: A training course on homeless people’s Empowerment and Employability skills
- R2: Reorganization of local learning centres
- R3: A Report on the implementation of the course
- R4: At least 80 homeless people and 40 businesses engaging into the project
- R5: Higher awareness on homelessness
- R6: Greater relevance of the training course with labour market needs
- R7: Better services offered by the local learning centres
- R8: Higher employability prospects for homeless people
Activities
WP1: Project Management
WP2: Designing a Holistic Support Methodology for Homeless Individuals' Employability
- WP2/A1: Needs assessment on homeless individuals' challenges of reintegration into the labour market
- WP2/A2: Development of an Empowerment and Employability Strategy adapted to homeless individuals
- WP2/A3: Development of a comprehensive training course on Homeless Invidivuals' Empowerment and Employability Skills
- WP2/A4: Adaptation of training materials in country specific context (labour market structure, job opportunities provided, homeless people's prior skillset and particular needs), including a Validation Workshop
WP3: Building the capacity of the Local Learning Centres
- WP3/A1: Development of a protocol for the operation of Local Learning Centres tailored to the needs of homeless people
- WP3/A2: Assessment of the structure of the current training activities performed in Day Care Centres and introduction of improvements as per the strategy of Local Learning Centres protocol
- WP3/A3: Development of a Trainers' Guide to carry out Empowerment and Employability Seminars adapted to the needs of homeless people
- WP3/A4: Organization and delivery of a 5-days"Train-the-Trainers" Upskilling Workshop to advance their competences for the implementation of the Empowerment and Employability skills workshops
WP4: Delivery of a 2-phase Empowerment and Employability activities
- WP4/Α1: Selection of homeless participants in the training activities
- WP4/Α2a: Implementation of a 5-days Empowerment and Employability Skills Workshop (group-level seminar)
- WP4/Α2b: Delivery of one-to-one sessions between an empowerment counselor/life coach and homeless individual and support in job application process (individual-level activities)
- WP4/Α3: Organization and delivery of "Be the Mentor of the Day" Workshop (3-day workshop/1 per country)
- WP4/Α4: Evaluation of the HomeBound pilot implementation activities
WP5: Community-building activities
- WP5/A1: Elaboration of an Advocacy Campaign to raise awareness on the challenges experienced by homeless individuals
- WP5/A2: Stakeholder Engagement & Establishment of Support Networks through mapping and identification of local actors (businesses, local/national authorities, community leaders)
- WP5/A3: Organization of Advocacy Events to be organized in each country (1 event/country/year)
- WP5/A4: Role-models of re-integration
