Established 2005 Registered Charity No. 1110656

Scottish Charity Register No. SC043760

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Crisis, what crisis?

December 07 2009
Plans for a new Skylight centre in Oxford are set in motion Crisis is defying the recession and its impact on charity donations as plans for its new Skylight centre in Oxford are set in motion. Crisis Skylight Oxford will offer up to 50 workshops per week, as well as training and work opportunities for everyone, particularly the homeless or vulnerably housed. Like the existing Skylight centres in London and Newcastle, there will be both practical and creative workshops, such as carpentry, IT or song-writing. The new centre will be located in the Old Fire Station at Gloucester Green, and forms part of a wider redevelopment of the historic building. There will also be facilities for the local community, including a cafe/bar and dedicated spaces for performances, rehearsals, social enterprise and exhibitions. The project is being carried out in partnership with Oxford City Council, with almost ¬£2.9m in funding from the Communities and Local Government's Places of Change Programme. Ciara Devlin, Project Manager of Crisis New Developments Team, said Oxford City Council will be putting around £300,000-400,000 into the project, while Crisis is to contribute in the region of £200,000 - although both figures are yet to be confirmed. Like many other charities, Crisis has been hit hard by the economic crisis. In its Annual Report 2008/2009, chief executive Leslie Morphy noted: "The collapse of parts of the financial and banking sector has not helped our fundraising effort. Our corporate donations have been significantly lower this year than last, and sponsorship was pulled with little notice". Despite this, Ms Devlin told The Pavement: "We don't want to hold back. We're determined to continue with this project, despite the economic situation". In order to help weather the financial storm, Crisis increased its reserves by 10 per cent (or £850,000) between February 2008 and June 2009 in recognition, noted the annual report, "of the fact that significant funds will be required in the 2009/10 financial year to fund major capital projects including Oxford". These reserves will also help Crisis achieve its other aims, such as expanding aspects of its Skylight services into Birmingham. The money to run all the Skylight centres comes from voluntary donations and, in part, contracts awarded to Crisis by further education colleges, local authorities and the Learning and Skills Council. However, Ms Devlin said it was hoped the new Oxford centre would prove profitable too, such as through the renting out of rehearsal space. "We're always looking at ways of becoming more self-funded," she added.
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