A HOMELESSNESS campaigner from Bury has been awarded a prestigious grant to help her tackle the issue across the country.

Amy Varle has been awarded the grant from the Winston Churchill Trust’s new Activate Fund to set up a ‘mastermind group’ of cross-sector practitioners, who can then come together and deliver best practice models for reducing homelessness across the country.

She is one of only seven people nationwide to receive the award and plans to use the fund to explore collaborative working between different services.

Once the current lockdown restrictions permit, Amy will support a minimum of 15 organisations to participate in the project.

She will develop this through networking events, workshops and mastermind sessions, each focussing on best practice techniques for homelessness resolution.

The data will be then gathered to develop a technology-based assistance toolkit for services, providing up-to-date practical advice and support .

Amy said: “I am delighted to receive an Activate award from the Winston Churchill Trust.

" It is my hope that by driving a community of action forward, we can make meaningful and lasting impact together - and hopefully, positively alter the outcome for those who may face homelessness in the future.”

She has previously presented her research on new approaches to homelessness to Downing Street in January 2018 at the request of the Prime Minister.

Amy is a housing consultant and homelessness campaigner who experienced homelessness herself as a teenager. She was awarded a Churchill Fellowship in 2016, supported by the National Housing Federation, to investigate pioneering strategies in the USA for homelessness prevention and response.

The Activate Fund is a new programme from the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust which supports Churchill Fellows’ projects during the key period when they first return from their overseas research and start to make change happen in the UK.

This year the Fund is providing £101,000 in grants to seven Fellows, as part of a dedicated support package encompassing funds and non-financial assistance. The Activate Fund is a three-year pilot project, making its first grants in 2020.