…a little bit of history

Founded by Dave and Chris Bagley from their attic in 1990, the charity began by providing short term accommodation for young people experiencing difficulties with nowhere to stay. In the late 1990’s it responded to a growing concern for the street homeless by launching an overnight winter cafe called ‘Winter Watch’. This provided hot food, shelter and a place of warmth and friendship. The café became a place of safety for street sex workers and so the charity developed its outreach support to both rough sleepers and prostitutes, establishing an office base in what was then the ‘red light’ district of Bolton. As many of the men and women being supported had an offending history and had been child runaways, the Charity expanded to support men leaving prison, children missing from home and then female offenders. In more recent years, the charity has developed its work in health and complex needs, troubled families and food poverty.

…and today

Urban Outreach is an innovative charity which is well respected locally. We find solutions to difficult and intractable social problems. Today we deliver a range of commissioned and grant funded work in four main areas:

• Offender support
• Health and homelessness
• Children and families
• Food and cold weather support

We believe we can pull people together and make things happen. We have a well-established track record delivering excellent outcomes.  Over the past 12 months individuals have been provided with critical support on 110,984 occasions.

Helping us to do this we were supported by our wonderful volunteers who collectively volunteered  4,300 times – mainly in the areas of food collecting, sorting, preparation and distribution. We are greatly supported by local businesses large and small. And we are steered by a board of dedicated and broadly experienced trustees.

Get in Touch

Whether you are telling others about Urban Outreach, planning an event, fundraising, raising awareness or taking a church service or school assembly, please Contact Us. We can arrange for a speaker at your event and supply any promotional resources that you may need.