Offer of support –We provide information and referrals to those who cannot afford to provide food for them and their families to food banks. We also give free cooking classes with a deliberate focus on healthy and much cheaper recipes. We also offer clothing and household furniture to those with families, as first priority.
Advisory service - We offer an advisory service to families and individuals coming into Edinburgh and Glasgow to make Scotland their home. We give advice on welfare support, housing, schools and the like.
Education – We offer basic English as a foreign language classes to adults who cannot communicate very well in English. We believe this is a very important step for them towards developing a sense of belonging. These classes are delivered through a fully CELTA qualified teacher (Certificate in teaching English Language to an Adult). This we believe will also open doors of opportunities for employment to those users.
Where there is an emergency, we will endeavour to provide a translator for the service user.
Youth development - We improve community youth development by actively engaging with youth and teenagers through a series of organised initiatives. We run sports days, with opportunities to play different types of sports. We run activities like sports coaching sessions and summer activity camps. We also focus on CV writing and development for the young adults. We are also developing relationships with business who may have a focus on youth development, and we help by referring prospective young adults to them. We also setup drop in sessions where young adults having problems at school or at home can come and get the help and support, they need. We have a dedicated family worker who will support and advocate on their behalf.
Community development and integration - We work with families who have being subjected to racial intimidation and violence where they live. We offer support through mediation as a first step. We recommend to them keeping a diary, noting dates, number of attacks and what happened during those attacks. We will also accompany them to police meetings. In extreme cases, we may recommend to the relevant housing organisation for the victim or victims to be relocated.
The charity promotes community inclusion and diversity through its focussed campaigns within such communities to highlight and remedy the problem.
We also work towards linking people from the same ethnic backgrounds together to build their social confidence and fast track their integration into the local community. This is done with each individual member’s consent.
We also organise day out trips to landmark sites in Scotland. We believe this will facilitate integration and an acceptance of Scotland as their new home.
Providing recreational facilities – We have facilities set up to give respite to single parents who need some time alone or want to take up education or work, an opportunity to drop their children at our premises for a maximum of two hours. The children will be provided with a secure and supervised soft play area to stay and play. Children under the age of 10 will not be permitted.
Conflict resolution - We advocate for the rights of our service users, especially those with the treat of eviction from their homes. We act on behalf of those users who may not be able to cope with the stress from constant threatening reminder letters. By stepping in for the user, we may increase the chances of the issue getting resolved. In most cases, we will put together a payment plan that they can afford and that is acceptable to the landlord.
Other Services - We run tutorial sessions on how to do basic budgeting. We also ensure our service users have a basic understanding of the council’s property bidding process which is significant to securing a house. We are also in the process of developing a website which would give private landlords an opportunity to advertise their property to tenants on receipts of some level of state benefits towards their rent. We also advocate for users who may need additional fixture and fittings added to their homes that will improve their health and living conditions for example installing a stair lift or replacing a bath with a walking shower.