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LASSN Annual Review 2016/17

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2017-09-29T15:37:56+01:0028th September, 2017|

We're proud to publish our most recent Annual Review, which describes our work for the last year, as well as outlining our plans for the future. As usual, it's packed with stories about the impact we have, and the difference we make to the lives of asylum seekers, refugees and other migrants at risk in Leeds.   Thank you to all our volunteers, friends, supporters, and allies, for the enormous contribution you make to LASSN and for being so generous with your time, friendship, kindness, and hope.  You can find a copy of our Annual Review here along with our most recent set of accounts, or by clicking on the picture below

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.

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.

English at Home receives £370k Lottery Windfall

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2018-11-09T13:45:16+00:0016th August, 2016|Tags: , |

We've just been told that we are to received more than 370k of Lottery funds to provide one to one English lessons to asylum seekers and refugees in Leeds who can’t access ESOL classes. Last year our English at Home programme enabled 140 people to learn English who couldn’t go to mainstream English classes because they had young children or disabilities. The 113 volunteer tutors provided 1,655 hours of one to one teaching. This grant will safeguard the service for the next 5 years, as well as increasing the number of lessons by 75%. "We’re really chuffed that the Lottery see the need for such a project in Leeds" said Jon Beech, Director of LASSN. “Cuts to mainstream English classes make it harder than ever to get a place, especially if you’ve got kids or a disability, or the classes are two bus rides away. 80% of the people we teach are women with children. The ability to write and speak English gives people confidence and enables them to take control of their lives, and to give something back. Saying hello to your neighbour, helping your child to read, or being able to understand your post – it sounds like a little thing – but it can be life changing. An hour a week spent learning English with one of our trained volunteers helps people make a home, helps people settle, and helps people to integrate.” LASSN will be recruiting two new Volunteers Managers immediately to meet the demand for lessons. “It’s such a shame” said Jon Beech “We have 5 or 6 people approach us each week, asking if they can volunteer to help someone learn English, and we have 5 or 6 people asking to learn English each week. For the last 2 months we’ve been turning volunteers away, because we don’t have the staff to train or support them. This funding is brilliant, because we can start saying yes again.” The two Volunteers Managers created by this funding posts have just been advertised, and details can be found here.

The difference LASSN made in 2015/16

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2018-11-09T13:54:06+00:0015th June, 2016|Tags: , , |

We've updated all the pages describing the difference we make through our various projects Befriending We matched 51 volunteers with 54 asylum seekers and refugees. Most referrals for befriending come from health and children’s services, who recognise the significant impact that loneliness can have on both physical and mental health. Volunteers provide support for about 9 months, although some matches can continue for several years. Volunteers also provide practical support to the people they are matched with: helping people to access health and social care services, to make stronger connections with community organisations and to make friends. Befriending underwent a full evaluation during this period and can be downloaded here. We secured 3 years National Lottery Funding to sustain and grow the project English at Home In 2015/16 we offered tailored English lessons to 140 people from 15 different countries, who would otherwise be excluded from learning English. We increased the number of volunteer tutors to 113, who in turn provided almost 1,655 hours of teaching. Our 6 month reviews with learners found that in all cases there had been an increase in the level of confidence, with nearly all clients reporting that they now used English much more outside the home. By building people’s confidence, we have supported 11 people to successfully take up college courses and 15 to move on to weekly classes outside the home. We've published all our learning materials online so that anyone can use them, and we also keep a list of online resources that other people have produced. In addition, you can download a full Evaluation of English at Home 2013 - 16 Grace Hosting In 2015/16  84 guests spent a total of 1289 nights staying in emergency accommodation – about the same number of guests as the previous year, with people staying on average 15 nights - a week longer than people did in 2014/15. The number of people staying in longer stay accommodation halved to 6 (from 12) and Guests stayed a total of 1587 nights. The average length of stay increased slightly from 40 weeks to 45. Between September and December 2015 we recruited and trained 27 new hosting households - making a total of 49 places that people can stay. Overall, in 2015/16, Grace Hosts provided more than 2876 nights of accommodation: more than 410 weeks, or the equivalent of almost 8 years. Information and Awareness We lobby Government and submit evidence to help improve the situation of refugee and asylum seekers We appear in the local and national media, commenting on issues, and trying to make sure voices of experience are part of the discussion We give talks and host discussions of asylum and migration issues, at community groups, places of worship and in schools and colleges - here's the presentation on Migrant Families Under Pressure that we we did for social care students at Leeds Trinity in March 2016  We collaborate with Journalism and Media students, to help broaden their understanding of the issues, and challenge misconceptions - here's the [...]

#refugeeswelcome – the Public Meeting at West Yorkshire Playhouse, 15th September 2015

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2018-11-09T13:43:47+00:0018th September, 2015|

On Tuesday night, a couple of hundred citizens of Leeds pitched up to the West Yorkshire Playhouse to find out how they could respond to the Refugee Crisis unfolding in Europe. The event was organised by Leeds City of Sanctuary, with help fromTogether for Peace, Migration Yorkshire and  Leeds Asylum Seekers Support Network. The focus of the meeting, was on helping turn concern into action, and to help people find the most practical and useful ways of helping out. Although Leeds has not yet seen an increase in the number of asylum seekers and refugees resulting from the current crisis, we are already home to people from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Sudan and many other countries from across the world. Many families are struggling with reduced financial support, and some are even having to sleep rough. After Ed Carlisle briefly set the international and local scene, Aster went on to speak movingly of her passage into the UK, and the reception she received when she arrived. The big group then split down into smaller workshops – themed around activism, campaigning, teaching english, collecting things, volunteering, arts and faith, health and other topics. The aim of each group was to help people find a way of helping out that suited their skills and interests. We hope each of those groups will feed back and give us updates on their progress. Many thanks to West Yorkshire Playhouse – the world’s first Theatre of Sanctuary – who also offered participants discounted tickets for that night’s performance of The Glass Menagerie. That same evening, Leeds City council announced their intention to help resettle 200 refugees over the next 2 years, and to ensure third sector organisations supporting refugees and asylum seekers receive money to safeguard their essential services.

Grace Hosting – an update for new volunteers

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2024-09-26T08:08:50+01:0011th September, 2015|

Many thanks to everyone who has contacted us to offer accommodation through our Grace Hosting Scheme. If you are offering to specifically house new refugee arrivals in the UK, you need to know that it is unlikely that the UK will be taking in any refugees direct from Europe. The Prime Minister has pledged to take 20,000 Syrian refugee (children) direct from refugee camps in the Middle East over a period of five years, and is relying on local authorities to find places for them. That may be with host families, but it will not be a quick process. The UK pledged to take 2,000 from those camps in 2013, and up to now we have only taken 216, so unless there is huge pressure on government to change policy, many offers of help will not be taken up. If you want to urge the government to do more, there are a number of good petitions being circulated. Hundreds of thousands have signed up already. You can find them on change.org , 38 degrees and avaaz People who come to the UK and claim asylum (31,000 in total last year) are given accommodation while their case is being heard. That means that there is little opportunity to accommodate them in host families, except for some unaccompanied minors, who may be placed in foster families. If you are interested in doing that, please contact your local social services for information.  Home for Good is an excellent initiative working with churches to place children in families, including refugee children. LASSN Hosts offer accommodation to asylum seekers whose claims have been refused, and who have been made homeless and destitute in the UK*, and refugees (people who have had their asylum applications accepted) who have not yet been able to sort out accommodation for themselves If you think this is something you can help with, then please complete our online application form, and let us know if you can attend attend one of our breifing sessions on Thursday 24th September 6.30 – 7.30pm Tuesday 29th September 6.30 – 7.30pm Saturday 3rd October at 11.00 – 12.00pm The briefing sessions will be held at our offices in town – Ebor Court, Westgate, Leeds LS1 4ND. Here’s a link to a Google Map: http://bit.ly/lassnparking  Please email Jo Carter, Grace Hosting Manager on [email protected] to book a place. *In the case of refused asylum seekers, our aim is usually to provide accommodation whilst they get help to apply for financial and/or housing support or putting in a fresh claim.

A guide to helping refugees and asylum seekers in Leeds and beyond

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2018-11-09T12:31:22+00:0010th September, 2015|Tags: , |

There are many ways to help out, and we know volunteering with LASSN won't suit everyone. There will also be a public meeting 5.30pm - 7.30pm, Tuesday 15th September at the West Yorkshire Playhouse to get an update about what's happening in the City, meet other people who want to make a difference, and find out how you can play a part in what comes next. You don't have to sign up to anything on the night. Come along for all of it, a bit of it. It'll be nice to see you.

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