June 2002, issue
11
Latest Forum Developments
The Ealing Refugee Forum Open meeting on 28th May was attended by
sixteen representatives from refugee community organisations and bodies
serving refugees with another twenty sending apologies. The main item
of business was an address by Mr. Ieuan ap Rees of London Borough
of Ealing who until recently was Project Director of the Locata project
which is a choice based housing lettings scheme active in Ealing and
Hillingdon. Ieuan introduced the scheme by stating that the Locata
project was a response to Best Value reviews of housing allocations
and replaces the complicated points system with one which places applicants
in one of four priority bands in date order. Applicants are then able
to bid for properties as they arise and often have a better chance
of accessing housing than under the previous system. Concern was expressed
at the lack of interface with refugee community organisations and
the difficulty for non-English speakers in accessing the service and
these points have been taken on board. All those interested in the
details of the Locata scheme which will affect all refugee communities
in Ealing should contact its new Interim Director Mr. Brendan Ryan
at PO Box 555 Uxbridge Middlesex UB6 1WH for more information.
This year Ealing Refugee Forum is hosting a Refugee Week celebration
at the Victoria Hall in Ealing Town Hall on Friday 21st June between
4 and 7 p.m. The Forum is grateful to RENEWAL for making funding available
for each refugee forum in West London to host Refugee Week events
this year. The event will follow our usual format which involves funding
local refugee community organisations to provide stalls advertising
their work around the hall and cooking their traditional food. The
programme will consist of addresses by invited guests and cultural
presentations by refugee community organisations which the Forum will
likewise fund. All groups wishing to take part this year should contact
the Co-ordinator on 8992-4612. Priority will firstly be given to Ealing
Refugee Forum members and then to refugee community organisations
with clients resident in Ealing.
The Forum has once again acquired new members. We are delighted to
welcome into full membership the Kenyan Society of London (KESOL)
which was previously accepted subject to producing evidence of client
numbers in Ealing which it has now done. The Management Committee
meeting of 30th April also accepted the Somali Teachers Association
based in Southall as a Full Member and granted Associate Membership
to the Great Lakes Development Network (GLAD) based in Northolt which
has not yet provided full documentation. GLAD serves clients from
the Great Lakes region of East Africa which includes Burundi, Kenya,
Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda and it is expected that it will soon be
able to supply the documents necessary to take out full membership.
As other membership applications have also been accepted conditionally
we expect to make further announcements of membership increases in
the near future.
The Ealing Refugee Forum Annual General Meeting has been brought forward.
It will now take place on the evening of 31st July replacing the ordinary
Open meeting scheduled for that day which will now be held on 25th
September. We hope that as many members as possible will attend as
only full members of the Forum have the right to vote in the Management
Committee election which will take place at this meeting. All those
wishing to stand for election should contact the Co-ordinator on 8992-4612
to request an application form.
Ealing Refugee Forum is now incorporated as a private limited company.
As of 2nd May we are registered as company number 4429827. An application
for charitable registration which accompanies this is in the process
of being signed. Our thanks go to Mr. Roger Bronkhurst of Interchange
Legal Services who continues to provide assistance with these matters
as part of an Evelyn Oldfield Unit consultancy.
Other Refugee Forum
Hillingdon Refugee Forum has become the fourth Refugee Forum in West
London to appoint a Co-ordinator. He is Mr. Ige Abdi who has previously
worked with Somali and Kurdish community groups in Haringey and other
parts of North London. The Hillingdon forum has now obtained office
space in Hayes Gate House on the Uxbridge Road and is developing work
plans and development plans for the coming year. For more information
contact Mr. Ige Abdi on 8561-6503 or igekos@yahoo.co.uk.
Brent Refugee Forum is holding a refugee week event at 3 p.m. on the
22nd June at Preston Manor High School. It meets every second Tuesday
of every month at Refugees Into Jobs and is finalising the job description
prior to advertising for a Co-ordinator. It is also liaising with
the asylum team at Brent Council about housing issues affecting newly-arrived
asylum seekers. For more information contact its Development Worker
Ms. Najah Deria on 8214-1434.
Local Strategic Partnership
Ealing Refugee Forum is currently one of the six voluntary sector
agencies represented at the Local Strategic Partnership (LSP). As
such it has undertaken to convey the decisions of meetings to the
membership to engage them in contributing to the LSP. So far this
has proved a difficult task. At the last LSP meeting of 27th May there
was much talk about ‘focussing on delivery in future’. This
is a polite way of expressing the fact that the LSP remains a collection
of senior decision makers who make no decisions although it has had
several meetings and an Awayday to establish itself. The only decision
made to date is that the next LSP meeting will focus on the Community
Strategy drawn up by the local authority which is seen as the key
to LSP development.
The Local Strategic Partnership is supposed to represent a broader
range of interests than the council alone. There are however very
few ethnic minority representatives or women or people under forty
or over sixty amongst its members. This issue will need to be addressed.
The exact relationship between the LSP and the local authority also
needs to be clarified as each sector represented on the LSP seems
to have different expectations of it. As refugee groups have often
found it is difficult to form an effective partnership with bodies
who have to give up some power to be a part of it.
All those interested in the work of the LSP should contact the Co-ordinator
on 8992-4612 who will endeavour to convey any ideas to the LSP through
the Forum.
News From the Sector
The Open meeting on the 28th May included an open session where attenders
conveyed information about their organisations and their work. Some
of these are reproduced below.
The Red Sea Health and Community Care Association which is a longstanding
Forum member runs a number of different projects. One of the most
prominent was the Somali Mental Health Project which pre-dated the
founding of the organisation. Although this project has worked very
well it has now come to an end and a new project proposal is being
prepared to enable its work to continue. The organisation also runs
an elders project and an educational support project which are continuing
as before. All those interested in the work of this multifaceted organisation
should contact Mr. Osman Ahmed on 9917-9293.
Another longstanding Forum member is The Lady’s Creative Centre.
This is an arts and crafts project for both refugees and non-refugees
which aims to develop skills and build confidence. Such occupational
therapy and employment and training development work is much needed
in refugee communities and particularly amongst women who always find
it more difficult to access these services. The Centre has held a
number of events at which the work of members is displayed and is
open to both sexes. For further details of this organisation contact
Ms. Nousha Pakpour Samari on 8997-4017.
The Somali Community Regeneration Programme has been working in Southall
since 1999. Its clients are mostly women and children of limited or
non-existent educational background. The organisation runs supplementary
classes and gives advice to parents but is not given due recognition
as it replaces a statutory service. This is a problem many projects
which deliver better services than statutory bodies have experienced.
All those interested in the work of this organisation should contact
Mr. Osman Ali on 8917-9309.
The Swahili Support Network is a relatively new organisation which
is interested in making more contact with other refugee groups. As
in most refugee communities the the Swahili speaking community includes
many people on low incomes who are penalised by losing benefits as
they try to build a better life for themselves. as a result of this
they are then further disadvantaged by the very schemes which aim
to help the disadvantaged. All those interested in the work of this
organisation should contact Mr. Ken Rugera on 8354-9404.
Forthcoming Events
Ealing Refugee Forum contributes to the consultation process for the
Race Equality Scheme being developed by the London Borough of Ealing.
The launch of this scheme will take place in a specially constructed
marquis in Walpole Park in Mattock Lane on Tuesday 11th June between
10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Lunch will be provided and there will be an opportunity
to talk to the decision makers in Ealing Council who will have to
put the scheme into action and thereby eliminate discrimination and
promote equality of opportunity within Ealing. Those wishing to attend
should contact Ms. Sabrina Joseph at Ealing Council on 8825-6793 by
7th June to confirm their attendance.
Social Action for Health will be holding the annual Refugee Mental
Health Conference in the Arcola Theatre at 27 Arcola Street London
E8 on 17th June from 10.30 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. Mental Health issues
have a big impact on refugee communities as they are either cause
or effect of many of the other problems refugees face such as poor
access to housing and health and difficulties in obtaining employment
or education. As last years conference was oversubscribed it is essential
to book early for this event by ringing Social Action for Health on
7247-1414 as soon as possible.
Ealing Community Network which is open to all voluntary and community
groups in Ealing is holding a conference in The Queens Hall at Acton
Town Hall on Saturday 22nd June starting at 10 a.m. This conference
will formally launch the Network and will elect representatives from
community groups onto its Steering Committee. One of the functions
of the Ealing Community Network is to determine the allocation of
the Community Empowerment Fund which enables groups to participate
in the Local Strategic Partnership so it essential that as many groups
as possible attend to ensure that the refugee community is seen to
be important and powerful. For more details contact Ealing Voluntary
Service Council on 8579-6273.
Funding Opportunities
RENEWAL has announced a new one-off funding stream known as the Capital
Project Fund. This fund enables refugee community organisations to
apply for capital items worth between ?5,000 and ?15,000 which they
could not apply for through the existing Renewal Community Chest which
has helped many Ealing based organisations. Unlike most grant regimes
there is a reasonable closing date of 23rd August by which to send
in applications and as always assistance will be given in completing
the forms. Examples of items that might be funded include computer
software, large office equipment, vehicles and building works. As
RENEWAL is the only regeneration project devoted exclusively to refugees
it remains the best and most accountable source of funding for this
sector. Those interested should contact RENEWAL Programme Manager
Mr. Stephen James on 8893-0318 or e-mail him at Stephen.james@ealingpct.nhs.uk
Refugee groups dealing with Health and Social Care may profit from
the Training and Information Small Grants Programme administered by
Ealing Voluntary Service Council. Priority for this funding will go
to user and carer led groups and groups with less than two staff as
well as groups working with people whose first language is not English
so most refugee groups should be treated as priority applicants. Applications
must be in by 10th June. For more information contact Ms. Polly Eaton
at EVSC on 8579-6273.
The Supplementary Schools Support Service has introduced a new small
grants programme for supplementary schools which are working in partnership
with mainstream schools. As many refugee groups either run or are
planning to run such schools this represents an opportunity to develop
existing projects and attract more funds. Applications must be in
by 21st June and for more information contact Ms. Alice Peters at
the Supplementary Schools Support Service on 7820-7688.
Ealing Refugee Forum is funded by RENEWAL, the London
Borough of Ealing,
Comic Relief and the Trust for London.
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