The charity developed from the outreach work at Glasgow City Church (formerly known as The Christian Centre). In May 2013 Ricky and Julie McAddock (pictured) started working with marginalised and vulnerable people in Glasgow City Centre. Ricky and Julie had direct experience of not only the life controlling effects of addiction but also the life transforming power of putting their faith in Jesus Christ. This personal experience continues to inspire them to help those on the fringes of society to find freedom from all life controlling issues. 

The Vision that started Street Connect

Reaching out to the marginalised has also been a long standing ambition of Glasgow City Church in line with their mission statement of: "Bringing the healing love of God to a hurting world". The Church was keen to reach out to those in the surrounding area and to see vulnerable individuals making positive changes in their lives. As the work of the Church's outreach cafe continued to grow it was clear that there was both a significant need and tremendous potential for these activities. The decision was taken to establish the project as an independent charity. Street Connect was officially born and given registered charity status on 23rd May 2014. Since that time Street Connect has made a difference in many hundreds of lives and it continues to grow and reach more people.​

In 2016 we had a vision to expand the work outside of Glasgow City Centre, and within the next year had hubs in partnership with local churches in 2 of Glasgow's most deprived areas, and real areas of need (Possilpark and Govan). As part of our vision we sought to empower the local church to reach the lost, and in 2018 expanded outwith Glasgow to the surroundings areas in Paisley and Clydebank, and our first project in England opened in Deal in Kent.

As part of our vision we sought to empower the local church to reach the lost

Where we are now

We currently have 5 full time and 15 part time staff members in a variety of roles in Operations, Income Generation and Business Support. You can read more about our staff team and their role in our work here. We also have around 70 active volunteers who are involved in a variety of our services and projects and another 20 involved in various fundraising activities. We have built up a fantastic team, and we are especially thankful to our volunteers, as without them, we would not be able to give the level of support we do. 

We work in partnership with a range of local and national organisations and our current services include street outreach, drop in cafes, One-To-One support, group work including our community recovery programme, befriending services, referrals to residential rehabilitation and aftercare support. We currently have 2 two-bedroom move-on flats to provide accommodation for those who have successfully completed a period in residential rehabilitation. In the future we hope to be able to offer further accommodation geared to the varying needs of those we work with, including a small supported accommodation unit for those at an earlier stage of their journey. 

You can read more about our core services and church partnership projects.