We’d love to hear about similar projects in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
London
Time Together
Run by TimeBank
Phone: 0207 785 6378
Email: mentor@timebank.org.uk
Description: Mentors spend about 5 hours a month with their mentee, trying to help them feel more at home in the UK. This may include helping them to write a CV, practicing English or taking them to visit a museum.
Support and Mentoring in Learning and Education (SMILE)
Run by Refugee Council
Phone: 020 7346 1121
Email: matthew.court@refugeecouncil.org.uk
Description: The project supports children who are separated, and in families, to improve their life chances by helping them to enjoy and achieve in education.
Face 2 Face
Run by Migrant and Refugee Communities Forum
Phone: 020 8962 3043
Email: natasha@mrcf.org.uk
Description: The Face 2 Face project supports forced migrants with mental health needs. The program aims to provide culturally sensitive emotional support and help with social and practical needs. The mentors are all qualified Refugee Doctors.
Birmingham
Befriending Unaccompanied Minors Project (BUMP)
Run by Save The Children
Phone: 0121 555 8888
Email: supporter.care@savethechildren.org.uk
Description: Young people are given the opportunity to meet members of their own communities and young British people. There is a drop-in session, an advice surgery and one-to-one befriending support.
The Refugee and Asylum Learning Mentor Team
Run by the Secondary Learning Mentor Outreach Team
Phone: 0121 464 5337
Email: georgina_jones@birmingham.gov.uk
Description: The team supports and mentors secondary aged newly arrived students in the transition in to the British school system and overcoming possible barriers to learning that they may encounter. The team also raises awareness of refugee issues amongst British born students through group work and workshops.
Restore -The Befriending Scheme
Run by All Saints Church
Phone: 0121 766 8764
Email: befriend@restore-uk.org
Description: Restore is part of the ‘Birmingham Churches Together’ group, the befriending scheme links a trained volunteer from Birmingham or Solihull to a refugee or asylum seeker to offer support and help them to find and use local services.
Bristol
Time Together
Run by TimeBank & Volunteering Bristol
Phone: 0117 927 9636
Email: mentor@timebank.org.uk
Description: Mentors spend about 5 hours a month with their mentee, trying to help them feel more at home in the UK. This may include helping them to write a CV, practicing English or taking them to visit a museum.
Horizons Mentoring Project
Run by Second Step
Phone: 0117 909 6630
Email: horizons@second-step.co.uk
Description: Horizons provides support for formerly homeless people adjusting to independent living in long-term accommodation.
Bright Futures Mentoring Project
Run by the Amana Cohesion Programme.
Phone: 0117 955 6971
Email: abdi@amanacohesion.wordpress.com
The project aims to provide a provision for Somali young people in Bristol, particularly those who are excluded from or not attending school; likely to offend, drop from school or join gangs; involved in drugs; and identified involved in crime and gangs.
British Migrant Community Development (BMCD)
Run by AMANI Befriending Project
Phone: 0117 9248915
Email: amanibefriending@yahoo.co.uk
Target Group: Refugee and asylum seeking children (whether with family or unaccompanied)
Leeds
Mentoring Refugees into Employment
Run by Leeds Metropolitan University
Phone: 0113 283 2600 ext 3946
Email: m.message@leedsmet@ac.uk
Description: Following a report showing that 33% of refugees coming into the West Yorkshire region had been educated to degree level, this project was set up to enhance the employability of Leeds-based refugees through individual mentoring provided on a voluntary basis by staff of the university.
Time Together
Run by TimeBank & Leeds Library and Information Service
Phone: 0113 395 2358
Email: mentor@timebank.org.uk
Description: Mentors spend about 5 hours a month with their mentee, trying to help them feel more at home in the UK. This may include helping them to write a CV, practicing English or taking them to visit a museum.
Leicester
Time Together
Run by TimeBank & Refugee Action
Phone: 0116 261 6216
Email: mentor@timebank.org.uk
Description: Mentors spend about 5 hours a month with their mentee, trying to help them feel more at home in the UK. This may include helping them to write a CV, practicing English or taking them to visit a museum.
Liverpool
Time Together
Run by TimeBank & Merseyside Refugee Support Network
Phone: 0151 709 1713
Email: mentor@timebank.org.uk
Description: Mentors spend about 5 hours a month with their mentee, trying to help them feel more at home in the UK. This may include helping them to write a CV, practicing English or taking them to visit a museum.
Manchester
Sunrise (Strategic Upgrade of National Refugee Integration Services)
Run by Refugee Action & Manchester Refugee Support Network
Phone: 0161 232 7420
Email: yosief@mrsn.org.uk
Description: Sunrise aims to support refugees who have recently been granted status and help them to integrate into their communities.
Nottingham
Time Together
Run by TimeBank & Nottingham CVS
Phone: 0115 934 9547
Email: mentor@timebank.org.uk
Description: Mentors spend about 5 hours a month with their mentee, trying to help them feel more at home in the UK. This may include helping them to write a CV, practicing English or taking them to visit a museum.
Plymouth
Time Together
Run by TimeBank
Phone: 01752 512 284
Email: mentor@timebank.org.uk
Description: Mentors spend about 5 hours a month with their mentee, trying to help them feel more at home in the UK. This may include helping them to write a CV, practicing English or taking them to visit a museum.
Portsmouth
Haslar Visitors Group
Phone: 023 9283 9222
Description: Haslar Immigration Removal Centre is operated by the Prison Service and is wholly occupied by asylum seekers and immigration detainees, all male. The Haslar Visitors Group is a secular organisation with over 60 members who visit and befriend these men.
