jonbeech

About Jon Beech

I joined LASSN as the Director in December 2013. I've a particular interest in mental health, ethnicity, and helping people make sense of their world and their community.

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LASSN’s Annual General Meeting and Celebration: 29th September 2017

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2024-09-26T08:30:43+01:0022nd August, 2017|

Click here to book your place When? Friday 29th September 2017 Where? All Hallows' Church, Leeds (directions here) What time?  17:30: Drinks 18:00: AGM 18:30: Food 19:15: Celebration 21:00: Finish Our theme, this year, is bedding-in and sustainability and our venue and partners have been chosen with this in mind: All Hallows Church do lots of work with asylum seekers and refugees, and their work is entwined with many diverse groups and traditions in the community. Rainbow Junk-tion are providing us with a veggie and vegan feast, created from food that would otherwise go to waste from supermarkets, and restaurants. Hyde Park Source will help us to create a little pot of welcome - a plant-pot that you've decorated with a message of peace and friendship, with a bulb inside - that you can give away to a friend, a neighbour, or a stranger on your street. Doors will open at 17:30, when coffee and tea will be available. The AGM will start promptly at 18:00, and will last no longer than 30 minutes. Click here to book your place Please, bring your family and friends to help us celebrate the different ways of welcoming asylum seekers and refugees to Leeds. Everyone is welcome, and no-one is too old or too young to come to this evening of fun, food and celebration. And finally... and apology. After we had chosen and publicised the date of our AGM, we found it clashes with the Jewish Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. We're really sorry about this, and very sad that this mean some of our volunteers and supporters will not be able to join us. We'll make sure this doesn't happen again.

We’re looking for new Trustees – can you help?

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2018-11-09T12:00:35+00:0027th July, 2017|

A well run Charity needs great Trustees, so we thought we'd ask if you'd be interested in helping us out, and join the Board. The Board of Trustees meet every couple of months to oversee the work of LASSN, and to make sure everything we do is in line with our vision and values.  You don't need previous experience, but you will need to share our desire to make LASSN the very best it can be, and a commitment to providing the best support possible to asylum seekers, refugees, and our volunteers and staff.  Click here to see a Trustee role description which goes into a bit more detail and explains what we're looking for.  At the moment LASSN's Board could really use people with legal, financial and IT expertise, and people with personal experience of migration - but if these aren't your strengths, we'd still love you to apply. Enthusiasm and a willingness to get involved go a long way. If you'd like an informal discussion of the role, please call Jon Beech, our Director on 07845 298047 or email him on [email protected]   If you'd like to be considered, please tell us a little more about yourself, and what you have to offer the Board using this online form. There are seven questions in total. Please scroll down and press the blue "Done" button when you've finished.   

Grace Hosting features in the NACCOM Hosting Toolkit

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2018-11-09T13:50:07+00:0014th July, 2017|Tags: , |

We're proud that Grace Hosting features in this excellent toolkit produced by NACCOM  - The No Accommodation Network. This toolkit tells you everything you need to know about how to set up a Hosting Scheme, and to run it safely and effectively, and draws from a wide range of experiences, and different types of Hosting projects. Participants of Grace Hosting in Leeds explain in the Toolkit how hosting creates a stable environment where residents can concentrate on their asylum claims and find ‘hope and friendship’. One host explains their involvement; ‘We started hosting in March 2015 and have hosted many people, mainly from North Africa and the Middle East…. We’ve been able to connect with people through cooking and eating together and have met some really nice people as well as learnt some lovely recipes from different parts of the world… Sometimes we see people more than once, which has been nice because we’ve been able to get to know people more and have built up some good relationships. We’ve really enjoyed the experience and what we have always tried to do is offer a warm welcome. Having heard from some people who’ve stayed with us that they’ve experienced prejudice and hostility during their time in the UK, this is all the more important to us.’ Strictly speaking, you should sign up to issuu to download a copy of the toolkit, but we've posted it here to save you the trouble. https://naccom.org.uk/hostingtoolkit/

Playing Games for ESOL

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2018-11-09T13:49:52+00:0013th July, 2017|Tags: , |

David and Riley - our Volunteers Managers at English at Home  - have put together an excellent resource, explaining how you might use board games to help someone learn English. So far we've found 7 excellent examples, from Banagrams to Who Am I? but we are sure there are more - so we'd love to know if you have any more suggestions  - drop us a line with your favourites, and we'll add them to the list .  Click on the graphic below to see what's beein included so far... 

Health on the Margins Conference, 27th June 2017

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2018-11-09T12:34:44+00:0027th June, 2017|Tags: , |

I was asked to speak at Health On The Margins today, a conference organized by Leeds GATE, to discuss and spread ideas about collaborative ways of working with marginalised groups. The main theme of the day was how to work in collaboration and in solidarity with communities and individuals, using ideas and techniques drawn from the Asset Based Community Development movement. As well as sessions led by LeedsGATE (on Asset Mapping), John Walsh of Leeds Community Healthcare - formerly of York Street Health Practice), and Gemma Scire of Basis Yorkshire - I offered some reflections on how groups might work more effectively with refugee and asylum seekers, and made reference to some examples of excellence provided by other organisations in Leeds - from Leeds Refugee Forum, Women's Health Befriending before discussing the impact of LASSN's own Grace Hosting project. In particular I emphasised the importance of the small, inexpensive things that make life better and health more possible for people with limited options. A community centre that costs less that £30 an hour to keep open, but which provides space for more than 30 different community organisations. A conversation with someone who's been through something similar, that validates your experience, gives you confidence and helps you feel less alone. A bed for the night, and a friendly welcome that gives you a safe night's sleep and a base to work from. A bus pass that gives you the freedom to move, and to make the most of the city. I also suggested some specific ways in which allies and people working in health might show solidarity with asylum seekers and refugees. Here's the presentation

LASSN are moving offices

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2018-11-09T13:48:56+00:0025th May, 2017|Tags: , |

As of on 8th & 9th of June 2017 our new address will be Oak House, 94 Park Lane, Leeds LS3 1EL (click on the picture or on the postcode to see a map) We'll be shutting the office for a couple of days, and then reopening on Monday 12th June. If you need to contact us urgently during this time, please email us or call our mobiles [link]. Ebor Court is closing completely We're very sorry to be leaving after 5 years, but LCCT has decided not to extend our lease beyond August 2017, following a huge (attempted) hike in the rent. We'll be sad to leave - after sharing space with 20 something other asylum, educational, legal, religious and social justice organisations. However, the chance to co-locate with Refugee Council (our new landlord), Leeds City of Sanctuary, and Asylum Matters seems too good an opportunity to miss. Highlights of Oak House Lovely neighbours A door on the office Fair rent A working lift Decent loos Shared meeting and training spaces Air conditioning Wi-fi On main bus routes Marginally cheaper parking than Ebor Court Greater security of tenure - we'll no longer be on a 3 week notice period Will LASSN's telephone number stay the same? We hope so - we're still checking this out. For now, you should assume our number is still 0113 373 1759. But it definitely won't connect to us on 8th and 9th June 2017 Parking/how do I get there? We're really sorry - we won't have dedicated parking. City-centre car park spaces start at around £1,600 and this is not something we think we should prioritise. On the plus side, we should have use of the building car-park next to Oak House on evenings and weekends - which is when most people come to our offices for training or meetings. See below for a map of public car parks. powered by Parkopedia   I use a bus, or a bike The buses from town are pretty good - Numbers 19, 5 (get off at the Park Lane College stop) and 49, 50 and 50a drop off outside Park Lane College itself. You can use this planner to plan your journey [link]. There are cycle racks at Oak House, in the car park.

We’re expanding our Befriending Project

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2017-04-24T13:12:38+01:006th April, 2017|Tags: , |

Connecting Opportunities is a new project to increase integration in Leeds City Region by supporting the most socially excluded new migrants to tackle the complex barriers they face in integrating in their local areas, increasing their employability, or finding work. LASSN’s role in this partnership is to recruit and supervise volunteers who will provide befriending and mentoring support, to enable individuals to increase their confidence, improve their spoken English, and to understand and make stronger connections with their neighbourhoods and communities. We're looking for a Volunteers Manager to set up and oversee the work of LASSN’s Connecting Opportunities: Mentoring and Befriending Project, to enable refugees and other migrants with a right to stay in the UK to increase their confidence, improve their spoken English, and to understand and make stronger connections with their neighbourhoods and communities. Click here for more information and to download an application pack. Ten organisations that specialise in working with migrants will be working together to offer tailored support, cultural orientation, English language classes and other training options for project participants. Connecting Opportunities will also create new local connections, with opportunities for local people to be volunteer mentors and befrienders, and for employers to provide work placements to help people get a foothold in the job market. Connecting Opportunities is funded by the Big Lottery and the European Social Fund; it is a Building Better Opportunities project.

The Immigration Act, Bank Accounts & Refugees – Training resources

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2019-12-11T10:30:04+00:0020th February, 2017|Tags: , , |

Opening a bank account can be difficult  - if not impossible - for many refugees and asylum seekers. The Immigration Act and new European Anti Money Laundering directives are going to make this even harder. This short course was written to help people who support refugees and asylum seekers to understand more about why this is, and to provide some practical steps to help them. You can download all the materials from here 

We’re recruiting volunteer English Tutors again (at last)

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2018-11-09T13:47:58+00:0010th February, 2017|Tags: , , |

After almost 9 months, we're finally in a position to recruit new volunteers to our English at Home project. In exchange for a commitment of 6 months , we offer full training and support to enable you to share the gift of communication with someone who can't access mainstream ESOL classes. It's a challenge, but it's also a lot of fun, and equips people with an invaluable tool that will help them to take control of their situation, and to contribute to life in their new City. If you want to find out more, please visit our Volunteer page for more info, and to complete an application form

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