Our brilliant advice and advocacy caseworkers and women’s project team continue to work tirelessly with refugees and asylum-seekers as they rebuild their lives. Behind the statistics and numbers are people and families claiming their rights and creating hopeful futures in London.
👇Have a look at a few snapshots from the last few weeks.
✨ Securing rights and entitlements – we successfully challenged a Universal Credit decision and secured £6,000 in backdated housing costs for a refugee family. They feel financially secure for the first time.
✨ Securing a safe long-term home – a refugee living with anxiety and PTSD faced homelessness for the third time in six years and was terrified when a move to a new area became an option. Our trauma-informed support, over several appointments, helped him reach a decision. He now has a stable home for the long term.
✨ Developing life skills – one refugee in our women’s group has started learning to drive. She spoke no English when she joined us but has now passed her theory test and begun driving lessons. She says that learning English has boosted her confidence and she’s excited to become more independent.
✨ Reducing isolation and loneliness – two women attending our English classes bonded over the problems they had getting their babies to sleep. One recommended a baby music group taking place in the Queens Park bandstand. They swapped numbers and went along together. Their babies are sleeping better, and the women are firm friends.
✨Supporting connection and learning – one long-standing student of our English classes, with no literacy skills in her own language, has joined a potentially life-changing reading and writing college course. A huge step to navigate, only made possible by joined-up local support from our team, Granville family hub and City of Westminster College