Hastings homelessness project wins prestigious award

Earlier this week The Seaview Project, an organisation which works with homeless people in Hastings and St Leonards, was named as one of eight winners of the 2018 GSK IMPACT Awards.

The award recognises charities doing excellent work to improve people’s health and wellbeing and comes with a £30,000 funding boost and access to support and development advice from The King’s Fund charity.

Annie Whelan, chief officer of the Seaview Project, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to be a GSK IMPACT award winner. It lets us know that what we have been doing to improve the health and mental health of a very excluded community in our little corner of the country has been recognised and has been measured as important.

“The awards are well-recognised and understood in the sector and beyond, and it is such a boost to receive one. It will also allow us to network and grow, learn from other winners and develop our practice and approach further. We are really looking forward to the opportunity to develop and profile our work on a wider platform.”

The Seaview Project will receive its prize at a ceremony held at the Science Museum in London in May, along with seven other GSK IMPACT Award winners. A further overall winner will be announced at the ceremony.

Lisa Weaks, head of third sector at The King’s Fund, said: “The Seaview Project does hugely valuable work in supporting its local community and combating health inequalities. Crucially, its work focuses on empowering people through improving confidence and increasing access to services. In particular, the judges were impressed by how the Seaview Project has a big reach despite being relatively small.

"It shows an organisation making the best use of its resources and making a real difference to people’s lives. It is a worthy winner of the award.”

Seaview worked with 1,381 people in the town last year.

Ms Whelan said: “We are likely to hit 300 individuals rough sleeping across the year locally by the end of the operational year and often as many as 40 people on any given day. Seaview outreach workers go out early in the morning, several times a week to check on peoples’ welfare and to invite them into Seaview and partner organisations to engage with a pathway of support.

“Much of the work we do is behind the scenes and often unrecognised, to receive this national, well-respected award means a tremendous amount to us, because it means someone is recognising what we do.”