Taken from Depaul UK website
London’s Deputy Mayor James Murray and the Duchess of Norfolk today (Wednesday, 24 May) officially opened a new homelessness centre in central London.
The Endeavour Centre at Sherborne House, near London Bridge, is an innovative space that combines help in a crisis with support for those young people who are rebuilding their lives. The national headquarters for Depaul UK, the building also provides a hub for Depaul’s award-winning Nightstop service – Britain’s only national network for emergency accommodation for young people.

James Murray, London’s Deputy Mayor for Housing and Residential Development, and the Duchess of Norfolk, Patron of Depaul International, jointly cut the ribbon to open the centre, in Decima Street, Southwark.

Mr Murray said: “It shames our city that homelessness and rough sleeping in London have risen so much in recent years. We need to work together to support people who are at risk of ending up on the streets, and so I very much welcome Depaul’s efforts to help young people in crisis find somewhere safe to sleep, and their new Endeavour Centre, which will provide a safe haven for young people to access the support and advice they need.”

Depaul UK Chair of Trustees Suzanne McCarthy said: “It is a great honour to have both the Duchess of Norfolk and London’s Deputy Mayor opening our Endeavour Centre at Sherborne House this afternoon. It is a place that will bring hope to many young people in this city and further afield.”

Depaul UK CEO Martin Houghton-Brown said: “No young person should ever have to sleep in an unsafe place. The creation of the Endeavour Centre in London means that not only has Nightstop, with its brilliant offer of a safe bed for young people in crisis, got a base, but that young people who would otherwise be at risk on the streets can have somewhere safe to be during the day.

“Young people who need Depaul’s help in a homelessness crisis and who live in our accommodation will be able to use the centre to connect with the community, learning how to be active, creative, emotionally stable and how to get into education or employment.”

He added: “I am excited by the partnerships we are already forging to make the Endeavour Centre a real hub for community solutions to young people’s homelessness. For many visitors who come to see the Endeavour Centre for themselves, they are understanding for the first time the underlying causes of homelessness and the real potential to not only address the needs, but also prevent homelessness in the first place. The Centre has such vibrancy and hope written large all over it.”
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Mr Houghton-Brown thanked Depaul UK’s key partners who have made the Endeavour Centre possible: Sherborne in the Community, LandAid and players of People’s Postcode Lottery, as well as The Clothworkers’ Foundation, OVO Foundation, easyCoffee and the many individual donors.

We had an opportunity in our December trustee meeting to take a look back at what has been achieved over the last 12 months by Sherborne in the Community. I don't think anyone would have predicted the changes we've seen or the bright future ahead of us.

• We started the year trying to ensure the building remained secure. Evicting squatters and using the services of Live In Guardians occupied the closing months of 2015.
  
• Our next priority was to look at the future options for the building - should we find a new tenant(s); was selling the property an option to use the funds to achieve charitable objectives elsewhere; keeping the building maintained and secure. There was a great deal of discussion and we progressed every avenue.
  
• Our priority always has been to ensure we continue to offer opportunities and support for the young people of London as well as trying to preserve the history given to us for over 100 years. This meant that last Christmas was spent reviewing various proposals put forward by local and national charities to use the building to achieve these objectives. The quality of these assured us that there remained a viable option to lease the building and keep the history alive.
  
• Following various open days and meetings, the proposals were filtered down to a very small group. This allowed us to analyse these in real detail and meet the key people from the charities to understand their views on the future.
  
• While all of this was going on we continued to deal with the after effects of the closure of Kids Company. As trustees we've learned a lot but it's been an expensive process for a small charity such as us. Most of this work is now completed thanks to the great efforts of some of the trustees to achieve the best outcome for the charity.
  
• The Summer confirmed that our future should be with De Paul and the work on the lease continued at pace. Once all the paperwork was completed, we've seen real progress in the building work at the site and continue to work with De Paul on creating a positive outlook for our historic building in Bermondsey.
  

The final trustees meeting of 2016 also allowed us to think about what else beyond Decima Street we can offer as a charity. There will be more news to come in 2017 but we look forward to increasing our support for young people both near and far.

Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year from all at Sherborne in the Community!

At the end of the Summer we were able to announce the news that we have selected a new tenant of Sherborne House. Depaul will use the building to provide a range of services to young people throughout London, including as a base for its Nightstop programme for young homeless (uk.depaulcharity.org.) As well as being encouraged by the value and importance of DePaul’s work, the trustees were impressed by its ambitious plans for Sherborne House. These include a substantial investment in redevelopment - opening up the building, making the most of all of the space and offering some innovative services. The redevelopment work started in September and is due to be finished early in 2017. DePaul are also fully committed to developing contacts with the School and Old Shirburnians, and we hope to bring details of some specific initiatives soon.

Some of our trustees were able to attend the first reception event held at Sherborne House where Depaul UK CEO Martin Houghton-Brown shared the vision for our historic building. It was also an opportunity to thank some of the donors and other charitable organisations that have made this possible.

​Here are some photos from the event

Look out for more updates over the next few months