Welcome to the Portsmouth City of Sanctuary Annual Report
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Annual Report 2022/23
Charity registration number: 1192913
Dear ,
Alongside many like-minded partners, Portsmouth City of Sanctuary (PCoS) works hard to offer safety and support to anyone fleeing violence and persecution, or who is seeking sanctuary. We are an independent grassroots charitable incorporated organisation (CIO), delivering a vital welcome, casework orientation and ongoing support to sanctuary-seekers in the City of Portsmouth.
A growing list of over 240 local and regional supporting organisations, including Portsmouth’s major faith, community, veteran, education, health and arts groups, share a vision to raise humanitarian awareness. PCoS does this by addressing pressing issues of vulnerability and indignity, with projects that integrate people seeking sanctuary into our community. All projects have inclusiveness, kindness and compassion at their heart, with skilled project leads and a huge amount of volunteer-led practical assistance embedded into them.
We launched our charity in 2019 to join the dots and promote existing best practices in Portsmouth. We've seen demand for our services and projects increase dramatically and we especially would like to thank our funders listed below.
We recently commissioned an independent 'Service Impact Report' asking stakeholders their views, and this quote from the summary was heart-warming:
''The perception of the effectiveness of PCoS' impact on supporting the refugee and asylum-seeking population in the city is overwhelmingly positive. Of the 22 who offered a score rating out of 5, 100% remarked that the impact was significant or beyond. The average score for the whole survey was 4.6 out of 5.''
Portsmouth and PCoS are proud to offer safety to anyone who is seeking sanctuary, whether those in need have been here five days or five decades.
Kind regards
Malcolm Little
Chair of Trustee
Charitable Objectives
1. To advance the education of Portsmouth citizens in general about the issues relating to migrants and their dependents seeking sanctuary in the city.
2. To advance the knowledge and awareness of sanctuary-seekers, to assist them to adapt and integrate within a new community.
3. To relieve poverty (many sanctuary-seekers have limited recourse to public funds), particularly by the provision of donated nappies, toiletries, food, and similar items.
4. To promote equality and diversity, by the elimination of discrimination on the grounds of age, status, race, sex, and sexual orientation.
5. To promote social inclusion for public benefit among those seeking sanctuary who are excluded on the grounds of their social and economic position, by providing and co-ordinating services and facilities to advance them in life.
Key achievements
We are proud to host a multi-agency weekly Refugee Hub launched in October 2021, offering casework, English and other services. The number of clients requiring casework started at 5 and we now assist an average 35 every week in one Hub session. The total number in a month peaked to over 100 (2023 is predicted to see an average pf 150 clients a month). An average of 3 casework actions are completed per client. In 2022 we saw 1,500 clients in total.
Complex casework made up 40% of our casework with trends being a) access to a legal aid solicitor 2) issues with ARC cards not received 3) provision of baby hampers, food bank vouchers and clothing requests indicating an increase of destitution and hardship.
July recorded the highest number of clients at 206 when the Home Office policy changed the notice period a successful asylum seeker is given to leave their asylum accommodation once they have been granted refugee status, from 28 days to 7 days, leading to homelessness.
With our partners, we have continued to run Portsmouth’s first weekly referral drop-in called 'Haven'. It is a specialist safe and trusted environment for trafficked and abused migrant women, and survivors of modern slavery, FGM, HBV and the city’s sex trade.
In addition, we have delivered orientation casework to asylum seekers at a local hotel, HO apartments and office appointments working closely with the local authority and partners.
We have successfully delivered ‘Welcome Box’, sports, English, research and Action Asylum projects, helping to improve integration in the community (see Projects section below).
We have trained over 30 volunteers, University of Portsmouth and Winchester placement students and interns, many of whom also participated in the city's best-ever Refugee Week celebrations!
Casework volunteers increased in 2023 with 6 social work students and 5 volunteers joining the team.
We operate bespoke food parcel provision for clients and look forward to our new refugee kitchen at St Simon's church.
We have robust safeguarding policies and practices in place to respond to incidents. Our GDPR procedures are in place for all of our computer systems.
Many of our clients took part in performing and celebrating their cultures in 2023 Portsmouth Refugee Week and Ports Fest.
Projects
Portsmouth City of Sanctuary runs a number of projects in Portsmouth for people seeking sanctuary. Our projects promote integration, reduce social isolation and build skills through volunteering opportunities empowering individuals and promoting friendship and well-being.
Awards
Funding streams
Thanks to our team of bid writers Shamila, David and Malcolm for winning funding from the following organisations - Portsmouth Lottery, HIWCF, the PCC Community Fund, Allen Lane Foundation, Post Code Society Trust, as well as kind Toyosi kitchen, NEU, Drum Nation, and Aspex Gallery donations and the generosity of all of our AVIVA Crowdfunder contributors.
Refugee Week and Ports Fest 2023
432 Nomads multicultural programme for the two festivals (Refugee Week and Ports Fest) was extraordinary, leaving a profound and lasting impact on the community and PCoS participants. Over two weeks, the programme celebrated the richness and diversity of cultures, fostering a sense of unity and understanding amongst people from various backgrounds.
Board of Trustees
Portsmouth City of Sanctuary Trustees are Malcolm Little, Golam Chowdhury, David Handley, Denise Callender and Patience Mutunami. More information about the team.
Training - book your place!
27 October 2023 Introduction to working with Refugees & Asylum Seekers
Head of Operations and Safeguarding
Shamila Dhana.
Contact
Email communitymanager@portsmouthcityofsanctuary.org
Twitter @PompeySanctuary
Instagram @portsmouthcityofsanctuary
Facebook @portsmouthcityofsanctuary
Postal address: St Luke's Church, Greetham Street, Portsmouth, Southsea PO5 4LH
If you would like to subscribe to our Newsletters, please contact portsmouthcityofsanctuary@gmail.com
PCoS Partners
