We would like to thank you everyone who supported our raffle for Refugee Week 2021 A massive thank you to Phil Dunnett for all his hard work in organising the raffle so brilliantly. The money that has been raised will go towards supporting our clients in the community here in Colchester. We are always very […]
Remaining open for face-to-face appointments throughout a pandemic has advantages and disadvantages. 15 Queen Street now has a fourth office which doubles up to house the Food from Home Foodbank. At the office, we have 4 caseworkers, a part-time operations manager, and a full-time fundraiser who also takes on housing casework. We are hoping to acquire […]
At Refugee Action – Colchester we have always been of the belief that any money we raise is better being used for the benefit of our clients than sitting in the bank. And we are proud of the fact that we have always been able to help those in most need, thanks in large part […]
Our AGM was held on 7th November at Firstsite – guests were treated to tea and delicious Syrian baklava and basboosa before the presentations began. Organisation Update Rosalind Scott, outgoing chair, reviewed how Refugee Action – Colchester CIC has undergone some major organisational changes during the year thanks to a Lottery Development Grant provided to […]
What do all children need in order to grow into healthy, happy members of society? Security. Stability. Love, care, the latest iPhone (even refugees just want to be cool!). But jokes aside, it’s vital for a child’s mental wellbeing to know where they belong. For three young people in our community, a group of siblings […]
For many of our clients, paperwork is a life raft. It’s the difference between a safe home and healthy existence, and the ongoing struggle to survive. But it can be impossible. A lack of English speaking and writing skills is an enormous barrier to filling in asylum applications, NHS forms, welfare statements, school applications, job […]
Around 40% of the people we help are NRPFs. This is a UK status that means ‘No Recourse to Public Funds’ – basically, no benefits, no housing. But with no legal right to work – being forced instead to rely on the generosity of strangers, or live on the street. Often this is a temporary […]
This week we celebrate two years as a fully-fledged CIC – a Community Interest Company. Why do we not have charity status? As a non-profit CIC, we can be more flexible with our income generation drives (which we need to pay rent, office supplies and services in order to do the work we do). It […]
As part of our work to make Refugee Action-Colchester into a sustainable organisation, we have started what we call ‘Stakeholder Meetings’, the first meeting being held in July 2019. We plan to have three meetings a year giving all volunteers an opportunity to come together and share information on new developments. We value our volunteers […]
RA-C central team has continued working on our development into a Community Interest Company, CIC. We are keen to understand the practices which have grown organically and to find a way of streamlining parts of the work we do so that we can be more effective. It turns out that this has revealed the nature […]
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