UEL students take to the street to tackle homelessness

A group aimed at tackling youth homelessness in London has taken to the streets of Stratford in a bid to raise awareness of the subject. Team V Newham, which is led by UEL student Danielle Falcus, teamed up with the charity Streethands, founded by another UEL graduate, Soleha Khawar, to engage the public and test their knowledge of the issue.

Members of the public were asked to guess the correct answers to questions regarding homelessness amongst young people, and many were shocked to discover that every 5 minutes a child in the UK under the age of 16 runs away from home or care. Other answers revealed that there are 75,000 young homeless people in the UK each year with two-thirds of them in this situation because of a breakdown within the family. The event also included the handing out of over 250 leaflets with contact information of local services in Newham that deal with homelessness. Local rap artists and musicians also performed live to help gain the attention of the public.

"The day was a great success. The team of volunteers and I spoke with members of the public, and their enthusiasm towards the subject was massively encouraging,” said Danielle Falcus.
“Homelessness is such an important topic. In the 21st century, it’s shocking that young people still become homeless in the UK. By raising awareness we hope to put pressure on local governments to take more action so that people don’t have to suffer.”

Are you between 16-25 and want to make a positive difference to Newham through volunteering? I'm recruiting a team to help me run 3 national campaigns across 9 months to tackle some important social issues today thorough fun and community engaging events!

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