Arrels’ team is composed of volunteers, people who are living or have lived on the street, and a working team that guarantees the organization’s functionality.

  • Currently, more than 350 volunteers dedicate at least one morning or one evening a week to collaborate in the different services and departments of the organization. Arrels is a volunteer organization and without the volunteer team, we would not be able to open the doors. Become a volunteer.
  • More than 25 people who are living or have lived on the street participate in maintenance and logistics tasks, give talks on homelessness to sensibilize young people, collaborate doing courier’s tasks or in the Open Day Center’s wardrobe, etc.
  • The working team is composed of 89 people: educators, social workers, lawyers, nurses, communications professionals, computer experts, experts in financing, maintenance and logistics technicians, etc.

Areas of action

Direct care

This accounts for 77% of Arrels’ budget.
  • First reception team
    The street team walks around Barcelona’s streets getting in touch with homeless people and establishing a first contact with them. Once they arrive at the center, homeless people can receive first care. They can receive some orientation, accompaniment and essential services such as showers, our wardrobe, pharmacy, cloakroom, and mail receiving facility.
  • Individual support team
    They look after people linked with the organization in an individualized way. They work so that people can have their essential needs filled and find decent housing. Our goal is to strengthen people’s autonomy.
  • Workshop team: La Troballa
    They work alongside other workshop participants to improve coexistence, recovering old habits and creating home-made products.
  • Pere Barnés home team
    They give a residential space to homeless people and to those in poor health, with the goal that they can recover mentally and physically.
  • Hospital team
    They give logistical and practical support to people who are linked to the organization where they are registered. They are also concerned with relocation once they recover from their their hospitalisation.
  • Residence team
    They accompany people who have been assisted by Arrels so they can have access to a proper home according to their needs to make their settlement easier.
  • Juridical care team
    They give advice and deal to people who are linked to the entity, denounce cases of discrimination or violence, revise the rules related to homeless people and manages the legal aspects of the entity.
  • Concierge team
    It offers support to the different spaces of the entity guaranteeing the reception and safety of people.

Awareness and political action

This represents some 9% of Arrels’ budget.

  • Communications and incidence team
    Their task is to inform, orientate and sensibilize about homelessness, Arrels’ work and how to collaborate to make our goal #nobodysleeepingonthestreet possible. They also work to make proposals, revise and improve the social policies currently in place.

Internal management and voluntary work

This department makes up the entity’s structure and represents 13% of Arrels’ budget.

  • Internal management team
    They work on different areas -computing, maintenance, administration and finances- to guarantee the proper functioning and the continuity of the organization.
  • Volunteer work management team
    Their task is to coordinate one of Arrels’ mainstays: volunteers from different spaces and services, their tasks and their needs.

 

Arrels’ management team

Arrels’ management team gives support to the director in making executive decisions on behalf of the entity. They always focus on the mid and long term.

It is composed of:

  • Maria Vidal, volunteer.
  • Alfred de Etxabe, volunteer.
  • Paola Contreras, head of the human resources and the voluntary work management.
  • Ester Sànchez, head of the person’s supporter team.
  • Marta Pulgar, head of communications and incidence.
  • Beatriz Fernández, head of the juridical care team.
  • Elisabet Pascual, head of the internal management team.
  • Robert Walker, head of the first reception team.
  • Rocío Alonso, head of the workshop team.
  • Laia Vila, head of the Pere Barnés home.
  • Ferran Busquets, Arrels’ director.

 

Arrels’ patronage

Patronage is the main executive body of Arrels. They are in charge of drawing the strategic lines on the mid and long term for Arrels. The body is composed of people from different professional areas. They look after every action so they follow the mission, vision and values of the organization.

Currently it is composed of:

  • President: Josetxo Ordóñez.
    Lawyer, lecturer of the department of Applied Economics in the UAB and member of the Plataforma d’Entitats Cristianes amb els Immigrants.
  • Secretary: Maria Iglesias.
    Graduate in Administration and Business Management. Currently, she is the director of employability of the Fundació Nous Cims.
  • Spokesperson: Enric Gotanegra.
    He was an Arrels’ worker in the care team of associates and donors and currently he is a volunteer in the entity’s street team.
  • Spokesperson: Eduard Sala.
    Graduate in the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters and social educator. Currently, he is a coach, a trainer, and he is in charge of the Área Social de Cáritas Diocesana de Barcelona.
  • Spokesperson: Teresa Bermudez.
  • Spokesperson: Montserrat Lamoglia.
  • Spokesperson: Francesc Mateu.
  • Spokesperson: Francina Alsina.