Can you help us make a step change in how we communicate with the people who need our services, our staff, volunteers and supporters?

Central London, like many cities across the world, is an exciting and stimulating place. However, for some, it is a place to go when things have gone profoundly wrong and there is nowhere else. When people are on the edge, homeless, isolated and in despair there must be a place to turn. The Connection is there to be with people as they overcome that isolation, recover and move on to a meaningful, fulfilling life. However, this is not enough. The experiences of people on the edge matter. Their story must be told to those in a position of power and influence, so that homelessness, exclusion and isolation are not acceptable features of life in the UK.

The brief:

We are looking for an experienced communications consultant or agency who can work intensively with us for 3 months to help shape our communications strategy and enable us to put in place the practical plans to achieve this.

What’s involved:

We want to build our capacity and improve how we communicate in order to:

– Make sure the people who need us can find us

– Significantly grow our fundraising income to deliver our expanding services

– Recruit and retain excellent staff and volunteers.

You will work with us to review and improve how we engage with our key audiences and partners including what we say, when and how we say it, particularly across our digital channels and alongside our sub-brands. This will enable us to finalise a 3-year communications and advocacy strategy, including how we best plan and use our communication resources to support our mission of empowering people sleeping rough to move away from the streets for good.

Please let us know if you are interested in taking forward the work by providing an outline of your relevant experience and expertise, as well as a proposal outlining how your approach would meet the brief on time and within budget.
We will be selecting individuals or agencies for a further discussion during the week of 5th July with the aim of awarding the contract by mid-July. The project will start in August, finishing in October.

Details of the consultancy brief can be found attached here.

Closing date for expressions of interest: 28th June 2021 – 9am

The Connection at St. Martins (CSTM) is based in the heart of London, near Charing Cross Station and Trafalgar Square. The Connection has been helping homeless people since the First World War and is one of London’s largest homelessness charities.

The Connection has been growing, both before and during the Pandemic and as a result, has been through an extended period of change. Our team have worked incredibly well to meet the challenges of the past year, including the design of a new service model.

We are moving into a period of consolidation, before we move into further growth, around three key service elements:

• A focus on rough sleepers in central London who face severe and multiple disadvantage;

• An innovative temporary emergency accommodation in a hotel, for rough sleepers who are uncomfortable in traditional hostels (The Bridge) and;

• The development of our supported accommodation project in Clapham including capital investment and changes to the support model (St Martins House).

The Director of Services is a vital role for us and an incredibly exciting opportunity for someone who shares our passion for tackling rough sleeping. The role requires someone who places a strong emphasis on the quality of relationships internally and externally, along with extensive experience in a homelessness, mental health or addictions recovery setting.

The psychologically informed environment, trauma informed care and systems change are all important underpinning principles for us. We also value collaboration in everything we do. This guides how we work with our clients and a wide range of partners to enable rough sleepers to move away from the streets. We also work closely across the St Martin in the Fields family of organisations.

Our Director of Services will:

• Ensure excellent service delivery, staff wellbeing and a focused, highly effective team;

• Manage external relationships and partnerships to maximise good outcomes for our client including developing opportunities with health organisations to improve treatment options for clients;

• Take forward our emerging accommodation models at St Martin House and The Bridge with a view to scaling these models up in the future;

• Provide financial management and secure resources for service delivery;

• Oversee the development of our case management and impact measurement work;

• Ensure all service staff are recruited, inducted, supervised, supported and receive an annual review using consistent systems. Take any appropriate action in consultation with the HR Manager;

• Be the key lead Executive for service delivery, reporting to The Board of Trustees.

So, are you interested in this rewarding role that comes with some really great benefits? To apply, please submit an application form highlighting that you meet the requirements of the role set out in the person specification. Only candidates that provide this, and who meet the essential criteria within the person specification, will be considered for an interview.

Details of the role including the person specification can be found attached here.

Please find the application form attached here.

This is a permanent contract.

Closing date: Monday 12th July 2021 – 12pm

Interview dates: Wednesday 21st July (first interview) with a second interview in the following week.

Central London, like many cities across the world, is an exciting and stimulating place. However, for
some, it is a place to go when things have gone profoundly wrong and there is nowhere else. When
people are on the edge, rough sleeping, isolated and in despair there must be a place to turn. The
Connection is there to be with people as they overcome their problems, recover and move on to a
meaningful, fulfilling life.

However, this is not enough. The experiences of people on the edge matter. Their story must be told
to those in a position of power and influence, so that rough sleeping is not an accepted feature of life
in the UK.

The Connection at St. Martin’s tackles rough sleeping by:

• providing services designed to help people to recognise their own strengths, recover from crisis and move away from the streets for good;

• collaborating with others to achieve this – a person’s rough sleeping situation is rarely addressed by one agency working alone;

• Sharing our learning with others, to deepen our own understanding and create a more socially just society for those on the margins not just in London, but other parts of the UK and the world.

The Engagement Lead will take forward our Engagement and Assessment work including our Resource Centre, Triage and Brief Intervention Team, Street Engagement Team, Emergency Accommodation Team and System Change Project. The role requires someone with a strong track record in service delivery with people who have complex needs.

They must have experience of strengths-based assessment and case work, supported housing and provision of practical help such as washing facilities and meals. Alongside ensuring high quality service delivery, they must have experience of developing new approaches and working with fundraising specialists to secure resources. The Engagement Lead will be a well organised and focused manager who uses coaching techniques to develop their team. Finally, they must be a positive role model with the personal credibility to build confidence in the charity both internally and externally.

So, are you interested in this rewarding role that comes with some really great benefits? To apply, please submit an application form highlighting that you meet the requirements of the role set out in the person specification. Only candidates that provide this, and who meet the essential criteria within the person specification, will be considered for an interview.

Details of the role including the person specification can be found attached here.

Please find the application form attached here.

This is a permanent contract.

Closing date: Monday 12th July 2021 – 9am

Interview date: Thursday 22nd July 2021.