Homelessness is destructive, FLACK is creative. FLACK - more than a magazine

FLACK is a charitable social enterprise which focusses on homeless people's potential rather than their problems. FLACK produces the only comprehensive what's on listings magazine created by homeless people for Cambridge. But FLACK is more than a magazine. We want to increase opportunities for homeless, help rebuild their lives, improve the public perception of homelessness and inspire other organisations to adopt our model.

Why the community needs this charity

Cambridge City Council and partners have worked tirelessly over several years to reduce the number of people sleeping on the streets. But offering rough sleepers temporary accommodation does not guarantee the homeless will start a meaningful life. FLACK is a first step opportunity for homeless people to engage in a constructive activity. FLACK helps trainees and volunteers to learn new skills. It creates work opportunities and supports local businesses who do not afford mainstream advertising.

Results and outcomes

From our experience, producing an article offered homeless people a boost in personal self-esteem which led to improved engagement with their personal interests, increased motivation to further learning and in some cases led to volunteering, self-employment and employment. Few examples of what FLACK achieved so far: 3497 hours contributed by homeless people 28 trainees improved their ITC literacy skills 6 people gained employment 5 people volunteering with other organisations and many others.

Latest activities and projects

Warmer Winter 2012

This grant enables FLACK to increase the drop-in times until April and host a bi-monthly film evening. The grant will be used to cover support worker time from 2pm-7pm instead of 2pm-5pm on Mon-Wed and from 11am-5pm instead of 11am-3:30pm on Sat-Sun; to cover the extra crafts materials and refreshments during the prolonged opening times; the Filmbank PVL license as well as basic refreshment provision, support worker time and late evening travel for 5 film evenings; cost of 2 volunteers. read more