Action Foundation

Tell us about your organisation (history, aims, vision):
Action Foundation is an award-winning charity based in Newcastle upon Tyne providing support to disadvantaged refugees, asylum seekers and other migrants across Tyne and Wear. Through our supported housing projects; InterAction Drop-in; Digital Inclusion project and English language school, we aim to plug a gap in existing provision and enable vulnerable migrants to:
- avoid homelessness and extreme poverty
- access vital services
- increase their skills and employability
- access legal support
- integrate and live independently.
To do this we work closely with local and national organisations including the British Red Cross, North East Law Centre and the West End Refugee Service. Our work with these organisations has enabled us to arrange family reunions and secure legal support for our beneficiaries with no recourse to public funds amongst a range of other support provision.
Who do you serve? How do they access services?
We serve asylum seekers, refugees and other migrants. People can access our services through our weekly InterAction Drop-in which happens every Thursday or they can visit our website to apply for English language classes or to find out about our Digital Inclusion project and our housing provision.
What are you current projects or services?
- InterAction Drop-in in the Turbine Hall at City Church, CastleGate every Thursday between 11am and 2pm. (Note we are closed two Thursdays this summer: August 25th and September 1st).
- We are holding registration sessions for our English language classes on Tuesday 16 August/Tuesday 23 August/Tuesday 30 August between 1pm-3pm at CastleGate, Melbourne Street, Newcastle NE1 2JQ.
- Over the summer we are running weekly activities for learners. More details here: Weekly Activities
- We also have a digital inclusion project you can read about here: Digital Inclusion Project
- We can also help with accommodation enquiries here: Housing Enquiries
Have you adapted your service during the pandemic?
During the pandemic all of our English teaching went online and post pandemic, we have continued to provide some of our classes on Zoom as we found some refugees – particularly women with children – prefer the classes delivered in this way.
What are your three main concerns at the moment?
- The new Nationality and Borders Act is likely to have a negative impact on our beneficiaries. The new laws mean that only refugees arriving through extraordinarily restricted “official” routes, such as refugee resettlement, will be allowed to claim protection. All others will be deemed “inadmissible” to claim asylum and the Government will seek to deport them. If they cannot be deported, they may be allowed to claim asylum in the UK but if they receive refugee status as a result they will not be given the right to settle. Instead, they will be regularly reassessed for removal, with limited rights to family reunion and benefits (Thanks to Refugee Action for this explanation).
- The fact that so many asylum seekers are abandoned in unsuitable hotel accommodation – sometimes a long way from our city centres which means accessing health advice/legal advice etc can be almost impossible. Action Foundation, along with other refugee charities, recently ran a Just The Ticket campaign, which raised £10k for travel tickets for people in hotels. However, this will only help in the short term.
- Accessing the right funding to sustain the quality of our projects is a continuing challenge. We rely on people's donations and fundraising to support our services. If anyone wants to take part in a fundraising activity to support us they can download a Funding Pack .
Contact details for organisation:
- Phone: 0101 2313113
- Email: info@actionfoundation.org.uk
- Website: https://actionfoundation.org.uk/