Dear ,

Welcome to our Summer Newsletter, written at a time when there has rarely been a greater focus on migration issues in this country.

On a positive note, we hope you enjoyed our Refugee Week and Ports Fest events as much as we did, see here. The programme was funded by Arts Council England and produced with our creative partner, 432 Nomads. For the first time in Portsmouth, we saw talented refugees and asylum seekers performing alongside local artists on such a scale - in libraries, churches, galleries, pubs, and community centres, as well as street entertainment in Palmerston Road and Gunwharf Quays. Watch out for more of the same next June when PCoS celebrates its 5^th anniversary!

We’re incredibly grateful to our growing list of supporters, Funders and close operational partners show below. Over 240 small to large, local to national supporting organisations share our humanitarian values, and quite a few contributed fully and openly to a recent and enlightening Service Impact Report (SIR) for PCoS, which we will publish soon.

As well as Jon Marks, the SIR’s author, we especially recognise and value more than 30  committed and passionate volunteers, trustees, interns, and Portsmouth and Winchester University placement students (our 11^th and 12^th to start next month). 50% of our volunteers have lived experience, and know what it's like to arrive in a new city seeking sanctuary. The rest of us can only imagine facing similar challenges, with or without our families, and this helps to explain why we do what we do as a team. It is extraordinary to think that PCoS supported 1500 refugees, asylum seekers, at-risk migrants and their dependents in the Portsmouth area in the last 12 months alone.

As well as delivering casework and English lessons at our multi-agency Refugee Hub every Monday we also run a number of important Projects across the city. From ‘Action Asylum’ (a national integration initiative hosted here by PCoS), to a new HIWCF-funded Refugee Kitchen opening at St. Simon’s in the Autumn, we can only sustain what we’re doing alongside amazing partners, the lifeblood of our service. From Bishop Jonathan, to CAP, HIVE Portsmouth, PCC, the Central Library, UoP's Global team, Friends without Borders, the Girls Network, Police, BRC, EC Roberts, Pamodzi, Urbond, as well and many Councillors, faith and community groups, we have really benefited from the collective generosity, ideas and offers of help. Thank you!

I referred to the current UK-wide focus on migration challenges, taking place within a global context of over 89 million people having been forced to flee their homes, including 27 million refugees. Portsmouth welcomes a small number of these and, whilst PCoS remains steadfastly non-political, I have recently met with Caroline Dineage and Penny Mordaunt MP to discuss local priorities and action. Whether we like it or not the Illegal Migration Act is now with us and we address related Advocacy issues as best we can.

Kind Regards
Malcolm Little
Chair of Trustees

News

Please note from Monday 4 September 2023 we will be relocating the weekly Refugee Hub part of our operations to All Saints Harbour Church, whilst St Luke’s undergoes refurbishment work to their main activity space and kitchen. The Refugee Hub is a multi-agency collaboration with Citizens Advice Portsmouth, The Moving on Project, Vista, Portsmouth City Council Community Connectors, Aspex Gallery and Baby Basics. We provide casework support, orientation support and signposting to key agencies in the City for refugees, asylum seekers and vulnerable migrants.

Volunteers

Our Action Asylum volunteers have been busy this summer!
To give a snapshot, we wanted to share an update from one of our long-term collaborations in the city – the lovely Southsea Green Community Garden - based next to Canoe Lake. Our volunteers have become an important part of this garden and community, regularly supporting the space and this summer we have been busy getting the garden shipshape again for 2023 and beyond.

We have a new Volunteer Coordinator!  Leah Little has worked and volunteered in Portsmouth and Gosport for 30 years.  She has many years of experience as a Personal Assistant in the legal sector.  In recent years, Leah has worked in a primary school as a Library Manager and Clerk to the Governing Body.  Leah's roles have also included Volunteer Coordinator and Reception Supervisor at a local Council for Voluntary Service. Leah will be coordinating over 30 volunteers at Portsmouth City of Sanctuary.

Opportunities

Would you like to be Portsmouth City of Sanctuary's Treasurer? To learn more about what the role entails for a charity, visit The Essential Trustee, section 12.1 The Treasurer. To apply to become our Treasurer, please email our chair of trustees, Malcolm Little, with your CV and covering letter, malcolm.little2@virginmedia.com.

Is there a supporting organisation that would like to fund our Welcome Wheels project for the winter months? We're looking for funding to repair bikes, deliver road safety training and purchase locks, helmets and hi-vis. A donation of £500 would cover new asylum seekers to access a bicycle which is life-changing, enabling access to many places within the City, boosting both physical and mental health.

Donations and funders

Many thanks to the following organisations for their kind donations:

Hawkley Tennis club
Drum Nation Tribe
The King's Church Food Bank 
Toyosi Kitchen

Many thanks to Our Funders for enabling us to deliver PCoS projects.

Who we are

Contact

Email communitymanager@portsmouthcityofsanctuary.org
Twitter @PompeySanctuary
Instagram @portsmouthcityofsanctuary
Facebook @portsmouthcityofsanctuary

Social shoutout!

PCoS Partners

Previous Newsletters

Spring 2023 Newsletter