London Community Response Fund Wave 3 - with MUSAWA BME Consortium

This project is delivered in conjunction with MUSAWA BME Consortium and is funded by City Bridge Trust's Wave 3 of their London Community Response Fund in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Project Aim:  

To offer multilingual practical and emotional support to 350 BME migrants; supporting access to food, benefits and other emergency help. Our advocacy, interpreting expertise, and practical help will overcome critical challenges to migrants’ survival, such as food poverty, barriers to essential services and severe isolation.

Background:

Many BME migrants are struggling to secure food and income during this time; living in critical situations exacerbated by COVID19. Building from successes of the services funded in Wave 2, we will reach a wider range of communities and provide 350 BME community members with essential practical and emotional support (online and telephonically):

• Practical advice and support on emergency situations clients are facing - e.g. benefits, housing, etc; help with benefit forms.
• Emotional support as we check in with clients
• Linking clients to emergency services and providing advocacy and language support in accessing these – e.g. food banks, social services, and domestic violence or medical help
• Food vouchers (£20 pp per week for up to 5 weeks) for families suffering extreme food poverty.

Through our previous Community Response funding our consortium of BME grassroots organisations identified the most vulnerable and helped BME migrants to access mainstream support for COVID19. We know from feedback that we reduced emotional and practical isolation as we supported our communities through anxiety and grief. But basic practical needs such as food and income are still going unmet. Our aim is to support and advocate for isolated BME migrants across West London to link them to vital, life-saving services.

Organisations delivering this project are:

• Eritrean Elders
• FAWA (French AfricanWelfare Association)
• Iranian Association