Issue Based Workshop & Cohesion Seminars: A stepping stone to integration & community cohesion

As part of the delivery of the Migration Impact Fund a number of Issue Based Workshops will take place. The aim of these workshops is to support the integration of Migrants into local communities and help to break-down barriers and myth-bust.

Community Based Champions will act as key individuals in identifying some of the main issues facing their community groups.

These workshops will include invited professional speakers, and locally trusted Community Based Champions, and would cover issues such as:

• Safety in the home (including Safeguarding Children)
• Managing/understanding utility bills (reducing costs, reducing debts, protecting the environment)
• Legal responsibilities & the Law (driving without a license, using drugs etc)
• Housing rights & responsibilities (know your rights & fulfill your responsibilities)
• Building trust & respect within communities (promoting community cohesion & integration)

The first issue based workshop, New Communities Women Issues based Conference and Workshops, was organised in response to specific and serious issues of concern experienced by women from refugee, and migrant backgrounds in Coventry raised by newly arrived women themselves and those working with them.

As part of the Migration Impact Fund Project Commissioned by Voluntary Action Coventry on behalf of the Coventry Partnership, the New Communities Forum recently brought together a group of women from refugee and migrant background to discuss their issues of Concern and the event came out of the work of this group.

The full report is attached below.

Workshops

The next two Issue Based Workshops are:

Managing your money better

If you would like to take part in this workshop as an organisation to deliver talks on some of the above issues please contact Sabir Zazai, Migration Impact Fund Manager at Voluntary Action Coventry on 024 7622 0381 or email s.zazai@vacoventry.org.uk

Feeling Safe on the Roads

For more information contact Paul Smith at the CEMAP office on 024 7622 3388 or at paulsmith1961@btconnect.com

Events

Welcoming New Communities

For more information contact Paul Smith at the CEMAP office on 024 7622 3388 or at paulsmith1961@btconnect.com before 25th March 2010.