Youth and Philanthropy Initiative (YPI) Scotland
If you’re looking for a local charity to support as part of the Youth and Philanthropy Initiative (YPI), look no further!
Cyrenians is an Edinburgh-based charity which tackles the causes and consequences of homelessness. This means that as well as providing direct support to those experiencing street homelessness, we work to prevent homelessness in the first place by reducing poverty, tackling food insecurity and providing support to families and young people.
Cyrenians was established in 1968 by a group of Edinburgh students who were angry about the way people experiencing homelessness were treated.
They developed a residential community model where volunteers live alongside those who had been homeless.
Today we have more than 60 projects tackling homelessness, and our residential communities and the values-led approach they pioneered are still at the heart of what we do.
By choosing Cyrenians for your YPI project, you can make a difference for some of the most isolated and marginalised people in our society.
Young people's residential communities
Did you know?
One of the main causes of youth homelessness in Scotland is family conflict and relationship breakdown.
Our specialist Mediation and Support service works with families and young people to help them resolve any issues they may be having and make sure that no young person becomes homeless.
We also deliver Conflict Resolution workshops in schools and youth groups to provide practical skills for handling difficult conversations, managing anger and understanding conflict.
How can you help?
A £3,000 YPI grant would mean that we are able to offer our vital services to more young people and their families, stopping homelessness before it happens
Alex's Story
Find out more
We’ve put together a YPI information pack which is a great starting point for your project.
You can also find out more about what we do by visiting the How We Help and Our Impact pages on this website and read real stories from people we've supported on the Our Stories page.
If you’d like to meet with someone from our team who can answer any questions you might have, please get in touch with us at fundraising@cyrenians.scot.
We can also arrange for you to visit one of our projects and send you some lovely Cyrenians t-shirts!