We currently run a welfare benefit advice project funded by Trust for London. The overall project aim is to improve the lives of new communities in London. The specific aims are to:

• enable new communities to access welfare benefit entitlements
• enable new communities to access welfare benefit entitlements
• improve new communities' understanding of the welfare system

The objectives are to:

• provide advice and information on welfare benefits.
• refer and signpost to advice agencies for further support.
• provide interpreting and translation services on ethnic languages.
• support building self-support networks to offer volunteering opportunities.

Furthermore, we plan to organise cultural coffee gathering sessions followed by advice sessions on welfare benefits.

This is a unique way of service provision in a safe and friendly environment.

Organising educational workshops on understanding cultures and how racism impacts people from other cultural backgrounds in the process of creating a stable family unit is the next planned activity.

We aim to organise visits to potential employers and housing providers with beneficiaries to understand the ‘myth of I am homeless or I cannot find a decent job because I am a refugee or I do not speak good English or I am black or I am not a Christian etc’. Tackle issues appropriately and not mess the experience of racism with incompetence.

We aim to provide weekly advice and support on where to look for free interpreting & translation, how to write complaints and signposts to other support agencies. Many of our organisation's support mechanisms came from the service users’ needs and recommendations.

Most of them say that they live without saying hello to their neighbours for years and this makes them feel alienated and sometimes even hated, and obviously, this kind of barrier must be bridged. Our services are service users lead, and we operate on open door basis. We monitor our services through client feedback.

see my email for asmerom.wold    Funded by