Midlands
In the East Midlands we have teams of support staff in Derby, Leicester, Loughborough and Nottingham.
Supporting asylum seekers
We receive, provide homes for and support over 1600 asylum seekers. This service is run under contract with the Home Office. The home Office reported that we provide one of the top three services nationally, and a local Nottingham research report shows that we are the city's best provider of housing services for asylum seekers.
Floating support
We provide tenant support services in each city in the region, supporting around 130 refugee tenants of local authorities, housing associations and private landlords.
Community investment
At the start of the NASS contract in April 2001, there was little infrastructure for community development for our residents. We have since developed partnerships and new projects. For example, we have supported the development of refugee forums, raised money for a drop-in centre and organised summer activities for our residents across the region. We also have a learning support project including mentoring scheme for refugees in Derby which we are expanding to other cities.
From Refugee to Employee in Leicester
This booklet aims to help asylum seekers and refugees who are looking for work in the local area to understand what to do and where to go for support. The first part of this booklet gives you general information on whether you can work and how to look for information and is in English. The second part of the booklet is a directory of organisations you can go to for help and is translated into seven languages: Arabic, Farsi, French, Kurdish, Somali, Swahili and Turkish.
East Midlands Refugee Community Resources Project
We successfully developed and ran the East Midlands Refugee Community Resources Project. The project, supported by the European Refugee Fund, aimed to promote the integration of refugees into the UK by supporting refugee communities to develop their own self help groups.
The project facilitated links between refugee communities and key funding providers, and provided capacity building training for new and emerging Refugee Community Organisations (RCOs) within the region. We also worked with the RCOs project participants to produce a short video aimed at funders and policy makers, highlighting the issues that new RCOs face in realising their organisational aims. The project culminated with a one-day conference in Nottingham, attended by a wide range of stakeholders including RCOs, funders, statutory organisations and mainstream refugee agencies.
Contact
Les Cloughley
Head of Operations, Midlands/ Yorkshire
Tel. 0116 242 4300
E-mail