Galway Simon Community
Galway Simon Community was set up in 1979 by a group of volunteers who refused to accept homelessness on the streets of Galway. With the support of the wider community, we have grown, developed, learned and adapted over the years to become a leading provider of homeless and homelessness prevention services in the region.
At Galway Simon Community, we support a person's right to security, dignity and well-being in their own home. We are relentlessly committed to finding answers to the questions faced by real people at risk of, or experiencing homelessness. It is our belief that early intervention is the most effective means of reducing the trauma and cost associated with homelessness.
We work with a clear vision in mind: a community where everyone has aplace to call home.
overview
Galway Simon Community supports a person’s right to security, dignity and wellbeing in their own home. Our services focus on three key areas; homelessness prevention, housing and health & wellbeing:
-
Our Homelessness Prevention Services support those within the community to prevent them from becoming homeless in the first place. These services work to keep people in their own homes or when this is not possible, they help to resettle them to a new home.
-
Our Housing Services provide a home for over 100 people at any one time across Galway City and County. These services vary in levels of support from independent living, to shared, transitional or high support housing. The focus within these housing services is to support clients towards independent living where appropriate.
-
The Health and Well-being team provides specialist support in areas including physical and mental health, addiction, relapse prevention, life skills and access to training, education and employment.
where your money goes
Your money will go directly towards funding Galway Simon services which include a Community Outreach Prevention Service, a Rapid Prevention Service, dedicated Youth Service, specialist Women & Family Service, a wide range of Housing First and Housing Led Services, a drop in Resource Centre, and a Health & Well-Being Team that provide professional supports in a number of areas including physical and mental health, life skills and access to training education and employment. .
history
The Simon Community was originally founded by Anton Wallich-Clifford, a probation officer working in London in the fifties and sixties, who noticed that many of people he worked with had one common factor; several of the names were followed by three simple letters, NFA – No Fixed Abode. Behind these letters lay a complex and overlooked deeper social issue: homelessness.
In 1969, Anton Wallich-Clifford came to Ireland to recruit volunteers to work with the many Irish homeless people he was meeting in England. Through his inspiration and through meeting like-minded people, the first Simon Community was established in Dublin in that year.
Today, there are eight Simon Communities around Ireland and together we provide a support network to over 7,000 people experiencing homelessness.
Unit 28B,
+353 (0) 93 52467
