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Resource centre helps Nottingham’s most vulnerable women
Embargoed to Friday May 26th
A centre for women who have fled war and persecution is to be launched in Nottingham on Friday May 26th.
The Women’s Resource Centre, run by the national charity Refugee Action, aims to help refugee and asylum-seeking women access information, make new friends, build their confidence and learn valuable new skills.
This will be done by offering a confidential support and information service through a team of on-site volunteer befrienders. The Centre will also provide access to English and IT classes, with childcare provision available plus opportunities to participate in other events and activities throughout the year.
The launch, at The Vine Community Centre on Bobbers Mill Road, will feature international food, music and dance and will take place from 11am until 2.30pm.
The Centre is part of Refugee Action’s Women’s Development Project which is run across Nottingham and Leicester. The project, funded by The Big Lottery Fund and The Lloyds TSB Foundation, also supports and enables service providers such as teachers, health visitors and midwives who work with female refugees and asylum seekers in education, health and maternity care.
The launch, attended by organisations like the Citizens’ Advice Bureau and Nottingham Domestic Violence Forum, will feature a speech from the Lord Mayor Councillor Des Wilson, music from Angola and Egyptian dancing.
Nooshin Payder, Refugee Action’s women’s development worker in Nottingham, said: “Many refugee and asylum seeking women have faced war, violence and sexual assault and can find it difficult to rebuild their confidence and adapt to life in the UK. This centre will offer a safe space for women, and will include a creche for mothers who often find it difficult to get out and about and make friends with others.
“We hope that this project will also reach out to the wider communities of Nottingham, and are still looking for extra funding to do all the work that is needed.”
ENDS
PLEASE NOTE: To organise interviews please call Julia Ravenscroft, press officer for Refugee Action, on 0161 2331956 or contact juliar@refugee-action.org.uk. Journalists wishing to take photographs or film at the event must give prior notice of at least one day.
Notes:
1. Refugee Action is an independent, national charity working to enable refugees to build new lives in the UK. We provide practical advice and assistance for newly arrived asylum seekers and long-term commitment to their settlement through community development work, and received 30,000 visits from asylum seekers last year. As one of the country’s leading agencies in the field, Refugee Action has 24 years’ experience in pioneering innovative work in partnership with refugees.
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