News
Providence Row Panel Debate
On Tuesday 30 March 2010 Mick Clarke Chief Executive of The Passage joins leaders of other charities working with homeless people in a public debate of the motion ‘Homelessness can be a state of mind’.
Click here for more details and to see the Providence Row Debate Panel poster.
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Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of homeless people
On the 2nd October 2009, our Chief Executive, Mick Clarke had the honour of addressing the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of homeless people in Vatican City, Rome.
Mick’s presentation focused on how our founding values still inspire the mission of The Passage, and are particularly relevant in the midst of the recession.
Commenting on the event, Mick said:
“It was a fantastic occasion and an honour to represent the clients of The Passage and speak on their behalf, and it was great to learn from others experiences of working with homeless people and share with people from all over Europe how The Passage works.”
“Our founding values ensure we work in partnership with our homeless clients to enable them to transform their lives, seek innovative solutions to complex issues, achieve practical and lasting solutions, but most of all treat each homeless person as an individual and with utter respect. “
“In a time of recession it is always the poor that get hit the hardest and this type of approach is needed more than ever.”
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A Night Under The Stars
Join us for a fantastic evening of music helping the Passage raise money for London's homeless
Click here to see a promotional flyer and for more information
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The Passage wins first place in Third Sector Excellence Awards
The Passage’s Education, Training and Employment (ETE) team, as part of a consortium of other homelessness charities, has won first place
in the Charity Partnership category of the Third Sector Excellence Awards.for their Skills for Jobs for Homeless People work. The ETE team is part of a London wide consortium lead by Crisis - along with St Mungo's, Broadway, The Salvation Army, Connections at St Martins, Brent Homeless User Group, and Business Action on Homelessness - which, earlier this year, signed up to delivering increased job outcomes for homeless people.
This entailed setting up a whole new recording system, new working practices and increased focus on sustainable job outcomes for our clients. The team have systematically achieved the outcomes agreed over the year - even more remarkable given the current economic situation.
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Christopher Macklin's challenge
I have now returned home after a fantastic experience in the Himalayas. I was fortunate enough, with a lot of help from my team, to summit Mt Everest.
Click here to visit my fundraising page
Click here to view my diary.
I have now returned home after a fantastic experience in the Himalayas. I was fortunate enough, with a lot of help from my team, to summit Mt Everest. It was an incredible mental and physical challenge and I believe that I have learnt a lot from my experience. I was unfortunately quite ill on summit day and our team also reached the summit during a storm so I am afraid and sorry that the photo is not the best. There was not a view from the summit but I can assure you that it is the top of Mt Everest and not Ben Nevis!!!!!
Many thanks to erveryone who sponsored me and in so doing supported the great work of The Passage.
Chris Macklin
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Appointment of a New Chief Executive at The Passage - January 2009
The Board of Trustees of The Passage has appointed Mick Clarke as the new Chief Executive in January 2009. Mick, aged 40, has been the Deputy Chief Executive of the charity for the past two years.
He has taken over from Sr Ellen Flynn, who has been CEO for eight years. Ellen will, at a date to be agreed, become chairman of the Board of Trustees and Peter Macklin, the present chairman, will then become vice chairman.
Following an open and competitive recruitment process, Peter said: “We were most
impressed with the calibre of the applicants who applied. But Mick’s long
commitment to helping some of the most disadvantaged in our society shone
through, together with his understanding of what makes The Passage distinctive.
“We’re delighted that he has accepted our offer of moving into Ellen’s shoes – no
mean challenge in itself. We also recognise that this is a particularly challenging time
for our charity and that Mick has proven himself to have both the leadership and
team-building skills needed at this time. “
Mick has a postgraduate degree from City University in Voluntary Sector
Management and started his career in youth work. Since 1995 he has been involved
in the homelessness sector, starting as a volunteer and project worker. He has
worked in senior management roles for the past eight years, having been Head of
Services for the young homelessness charity, the Depaul Trust UK. He is currently a
Trustee for Depaul Trust Ireland. In 2006 he joined The Passage as Deputy CEO.
Mick said: “I feel privileged and absolutely delighted to be taking over from Ellen
and helping to build on her successes over the past eight years. By working in
consultation with our service users, and with the support of our staff, our volunteers and our many friends, I am confident that we have the capacity to strengthen and develop the high quality services The Passage provides to some of the most vulnerable in our society.
“The vision and mission of Vincent Depaul inspired the creation of The Passage and
still inspires our values and ethos today. I’m also inspired by these values and
believe they are as relevant today as ever, and they will influence the decisions that
myself and my team make to help homeless people to transform their lives.”
Sr Ellen resigned as CEO following her appointment to the Provincial Council, the
national leadership team of the Daughters of Charity.
She commented: “During the two years that I have been working with Mick,
I have come to rely on his commitment and skills in finding solutions to the
many and diverse problems that we have to deal with day by day. I am
delighted that he is taking over as Chief Executive as he has so clearly
demonstrated his commitment to the mission and ethos of The Passage.
“I would like to pay an especial tribute to Peter for his chairmanship of the
Board. No Chief Executive could ask for a more inspiring chairman. I am
delighted that, in taking on that role, I will still have Peter at my side as vicechairman.“
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New apointment to Provincial Council - October 2008
We are delighted that our Chief Executive, Sister Ellen Flynn, has been appointed to the Provincial Council , the national leadership team of the Daughters of Charity. This is a great honour for her and reflects on her leadership of The Passage over the past eight years.
As a consequence, she tendered her resignation as our CEO on September 1. The Board of Trustees will be conducting an open and competitive recruitment process in line with our recruitment policies.
We are very pleased that we are not losing Ellen. She will continue as Chief Executive until a new CEO is in post. She will then become chairman of the Board of Trustees.
As promised in our statement in March, we want to keep you informed of plans for redeveloping our Carlisle Place building. We are making progress, however this has been much slower than anticipated.
We are continuing our negotiations with a potential development partner and Servite Houses. We are also consulting with the Daughters of Charity, who will continue to live in St Vincent’s Centre, about their continuing role in the services offered in the building after the redevelopment.
In these circumstances, a planning application for St Vincent’s Centre will not be submitted this year and, as a result, any building work is likely to be several years away.
Peter Macklin
Chairman of the Board of Trustees
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