Our Education Service

Welcome to the Education section of our website. Hopefully, you should be able to find everything you need to know relating to our work in schools, colleges, PRUs and alternative education venues across the Bradford district by accessing the pages below.

However, if you have any unanswered questions or if you require any additional information please do not hesitate to contact me on 01274 776888 or by email at education@bradfordnightstop.org.uk.

Bill McCann.

Are You 16-25 and Homeless Tonight?

These pages contain information about what to do if you are aged between 16-25 and homeless in Bradford tonight.

Bradford Nightstop provides free emergency accommodation for young homeless people in the homes of trained volunteers or in a room at a local hostel. Our accommodation is for one night at a time.

Young People are provided with an evening meal and the chance of a bath or a shower.

We provide basic toiletries and socks and underwear whenever possible.

How do you get to your hosts?

Your referral agency will discuss travel arrangements with you. You will be provided with bus fare or train fare or a taxi will be paid for you.  You may be able to find your own way to the BCCP hostel by foot. Depending on the time of day when you refer and what else you need to do that day, you may choose to wait at a Youth Cafe. There is one on Toller Lane in Bradford and one in Shipley on Market Street. Please ask your referral point to tell you which one is open today. You may need to sort out benefits or ID etc and therefore you may want to take a taxi from a central point later in the evening.

Once you get to the host's house or the hostel you will be offered something to eat and drink and the chance to have a bath or shower.  You may be able to watch television, choose to be alone in your room or talk to your hosts.  If you smoke, you will usually be asked to go outside. You may not smoke in your room.

Our volunteer Hosts and hostel staff are friendly people, who are good and sympathetic listeners but they will respect your right to privacy, whist you are in their home or hostel.

In the morning after your breakfast you will be given bus fare and /or directions to walk to get to an agency who will help you further.

You may be offered a packed lunch to take with you but if you visit our 'Young Person's Page', it will tell you of places in Bradford and Keighley that offer free or very cheap meals.

Nightstop cannot accept everyone and so the agency will need to ask you some questions. The agency will make a call to Nightstop on your behalf, and pass on some information about you, with your permission, in confidence.  You will be asked to agree to our drugs and alcohol policy which means that you will not be permitted to consume alcohol or use illegal drugs on any of our hosts/hostel premises.  You may not arrive at a hosts house under the influence of alcohol.  If you are a young person who is known to have alcohol issues, you will be asked to wait at a Youth service provision before travelling to your hosts.

You need to be referred between 11.30 am and 9pm Monday to Saturday. We do not take referrals on a Sunday.

Sometimes we do not have a bed to offer you but we will be able to suggest other places for you to try

Volunteering Opportunities

Bradford Nightstop is a charity which is managed by volunteers and operationally run by volunteers with support from a small staff team. The staff team are based in Manningham whilst our volunteers live across the Bradford District.

These pages contain information about various volunteering opportunities with Bradford Nightstop. Some of the opportunities offer face to face work with young people and some offer work where no face to face contact with young people is necessary.

Our volunteers are our main asset. If you would like to join our outstanding team of volunteers please contact the office staff or attend one of the events listed on the events page.

Facts and Figures

These pages contain facts and figures about homelessness and Bradford Nightstop.

Our History and Development

In 1985 local churches in Leeds looked at how to respond to the recent Archbishop of Canterbury's report 'Faith In The City'. Advice centre volunteers were concerned that they had often not been able to help when 16 '25 year olds had needed somewhere to sleep for the night. On many occasions young people had been forced to sleep rough due to the shortage of emergency accommodation in the city.

The idea that developed in response became known as 'Nightstop' - one night at a time emergency accommodation in the homes of trained volunteers. Young people would then be signposted to 'follow up' agencies to address their longer term housing and support needs. Barnado's Church and Community Action worked with local people to develop this Leeds Nightstop scheme which became operational in October 1987.

In January 1992 the BBC broadcast a television documentary as part of their Panorama series - 'Entertaining Angels' - the story of Leeds Nightstop. This triggered interest all over the country and within two years the number of local Nightstop schemes had grown to ten. This included Bradford Nightstop who, alongside many of the other schemes established at this time, also developed the support available between projects at a national level.

The Bradford Steering Group was also set up in 1992. This group of local people concerned about homelessness was drawn from across the district and included people affiliated to various Christian denominations. A social work student who was placed with the Barnado's Church and Neighbourhood Action team supported this Steering Group. Their first task was to research the need for a Nightstop in the Bradford District. This involved visiting a number of different projects that worked in this area and they established that there was a need for a Nightstop in Bradford.

They produced a report called "Better to Light a Candle" which paved the way to secure funding to develop the project. Bradford Nightstop was registered as a charity and the Steering group became the Management Committee once funding was secured to recruit staff. In June 1993 two members of staff were appointed and worked from a small office in a garage - behind the home of Management Committee members.

The staff produced a Volunteer Handbook, which included working alongside the Committee to formulate policies and procedure. The first of many batches of potential hosts and telephone contact people were visited and trained. Whilst before they began volunteering references and police checks were organised. Meanwhile links were established with other organisations to ensure that there was a number of points from where young people could be referred and where they could receive follow up support.

Bradford Nightstop was first open for referrals on October 11th 1993 and soon after the first young person was hosted by Bradford Nightstop. From the start young people were very positive about their experience on Bradford Nightstop. Gradually the number of referrals increased as young people and agencies increased their knowledge of and trust in Bradford Nightstop.

From these early days Bradford Nightstop has been committed to awareness raising and campaigning as well as delivering a service. This has included some high profile events, which have involved MP's, local Councillors and the Government's Social Exclusion Unit. Talks and presentations have also been regularly taken to various groups, e.g. Neighbourhood Forums, Churches, Women's groups, Rotary; to increase awareness of youth homelessness amongst the general public. In 1998 three year funding was granted to develop Preventative Educational Work around housing and homelessness issues with young people. At the same time new area work was developed in Keighley, Great Horton, Bowling and Toller wards.

In 2006 a new partnership was set up with the City Centre Project which enabled a young person to be offered a bed in their emergency accommodation if there was no suitable host available. Around the same time Volunteer Drivers were recruited and young people were offered safe spaces to wait as a result of successful partnership working with the Youth Service.

In 2008 the project had almost taken 10 000 referrals of homeless young people who needed to use Nightstop. Also Bradford Nightstop had made major inroads through it's new education funding. In the first year of three year funding almost two thousand two hundred 13 to 25 year olds had experienced Bradford Nightstop's preventative housing and homelessness education work. Bradford Nightstop is still one of the busiest schemes in the country and there were over 700 referrals from 2007/8.

From the early days in the garage to now - Bradford Nightstop has clearly developed through rising to new challenges and ideas. The commitment by local people to young people in their District and their passion to tackle youth homelessness has without a doubt made an impact.

Information For Professionals Needing to Make a Referral

Please use the links below to access the information needed to make a referral on behalf of a young person, to see if they are eligible for the scheme and whether it is an appropriate course of action for them.

Talks For Community Groups

Bradford Nightstop over fifteen years has offered tailor made talks and presentations to groups across the Bradford district. This includes a commitment to reaching young people with preventative education through youth groups/projects and educational establishments.

This work has included speaking at conferences, seminars, church services and groups. Examples of groups we have been invited to speak at have included Neighbourhood Forums, Churches, Women's Groups, Rotary.

If you are interested in inviting Bradford Nightstop to speak then please call the Bradford Nightstop Office on 01274 776888.

Young Person's Page

Welcome To Our Young People's Page

Follow the links to the right sections.

We would welcome comments or questions from Young People who have used our service or who have faced homelessness. Please email your comments to admin@Bradfordnightstop.org.uk

Donations and Funding

We are extremely grateful to all the individuals, faith groups, schools, companies and voluntary organisations that have sent contributions over the last 15 years.

These donations allow our vital work to take place. We have been successful in finding larger grants for salaries over the 15 years for the development of project work but the day to day running costs are sometimes not covered in such grants and so donations are constantly needed to keep our service running!

The easiest way to make a direct donation today would be to click on our donations on line button and follow the instructions via justgiving.

Every pound really counts.

£250 would provide the cost of a facilitator for an Away Day for staff and Management Commitee members

£100 would provide part of the cost of our IT systems maintenance costs per quarter

£50 would provide the paper we use to take referrals on and for records etc for a month

£40 would provide an intial starter pack for a volunteer host

£30 would provide enough to provide refreshments at a volunteer training event

£20  is enough to provide underwear and socks to a young person for a week

£15 is enough for us to provide a night's accommodation

£7 is enough for us to arrange safe travel with a taxi or driver

£2 allows us reimburse our Telephone Contact People for the calls made from their phones

£1 would allow us to post out a pack to a potential voluteer

If you wish to speak to us before making a donation please feel free to contact us.