City of Sanctuary National Network Meeting 17th September 08

Present: Craig Barnett (Sheffield), Helen Everett (Leicester), Malcolm Corrigall (London), Helen Clancy (Swansea), Will Sutcliffe, Lorna Mundy, Mary Horan (Bradford), Penny Walker, Tim Brooke, Charles Fotso, Teresa Carroll (Coventry), Tom Viita (Refugee Council), Konnie Lloyd, Jonathan Silvey, Roger Sanderson, John Henson, Susannah Estella, Amdani Juma, Charles Tuzolama, Dianne Skerrit, Madiya Fikula (Nottingham)

1, Local Group Updates

Leicester
Held launch meeting last November, and elected committee in May.
Now employ a p/t development worker, Gill Buttery, and receive free office space from Refugee Action.
Hold quarterly public meetings - July's meeting was on unaccompanied young asylum-seekers. Next meeting on 17th Oct, 10.30am at Secular Hall with speaker Nick Sagovsky on the Independent Asylum Commission's recommendations for reforming the asylum system.
Planning to apply for charitable status.
Now have a trained panel of speakers on CoS available for local groups.

Bradford
Have held 3 meetings, now have a committee, constitution, and some funding from local Co-op members' committee. Holding public launch on 1st October with Mayor etc.
Currently getting resolutions of support from local organisations.

Coventry
Holding public launch next week on 25th September with the Mayor at the 'Council House'.
Ideas for action to come from participants at public meeting - get them to think what they can do in neighbourhoods and workplaces.
Applying for p/t worker funding.

Nottingham
Started in June, constitution to be voted on Monday, support from Quakers. Planning a launch event in the Spring. Held a presentation on CoS for Racial Justice Sunday at Southall Minster.

Leeds City of Welcome
This is not a City of Sanctuary group, but working on similar lines for social inclusion.
Planning to encourage people to hold 'welcome meals' meals in their own homes, inviting people from different backgrounds.

London
Group started in May, holding public launch on 12th November at St Martin-in-the-Fields on Trafalgar Square. Looking for new volunteers and supporters, please put any London contacts in touch with them at: london@cityofsanctuary.org

Swansea
Held public launch in Refugee Week in June. Seeking resolutions of support from larger organisations (Council, Universities, Unions etc), following up with ideas for what they can do in practice. Planning a directory of supporting organisations saying what they do to welcome/include asylum-seekers and refugees.
Support from councillors who have suggested the Council pass a resolution of support in October. Plan to hold a celebration of this in November, and aim for CoS status in a year's time.

Sheffield
Helped organize a Public Meeting with Nick Clegg MP
Recruited chair of City Council asylum policy group onto local CoS committee, now working on a motion which will commit Council to our Manifesto goals. (See www.cityofsanctuary.org/sheffield-manifesto)
Working with Sheffield museum to hold an exhibition on local people's solidarity and friendship with refugees.
Offering holiday club sessions for children to work with refugee storytellers and musicians towards a community performance.
Organising a writers' workshop at Sheffield Library, for local people and people seeking sanctuary to share their experiences of sanctuary in writing.
Working with new Transition Sheffield group. Hope to recruit refugees to teach practical skills to local people as part of the Transition emphasis on ‘re-skilling'. (See www.transitiontowns.org)

2, Website
The website is now working well again. Mark has offered to train groups in how to upload your own information, photos etc to your group page. Contact him at mark@cityofsanctuary.org
If you aren't able to contact Mark and need help with using the website you can also contact Craig.

3, Suggestions for what to do after the launch (Bradford)
Find creative ways to encourage individuals to follow through on pledges (eg write them on postcards and send them).
Leicester producing a 'steps to take' leaflet for organizations. Also see the ‘Action Ideas' (for CoS groups) and Leaflet Text, containing suggestions for supporting organizations, both at: www.cityofsanctuary.org/resources
Sheffield is planning a team of ‘community advocates' (refugees and local people) who will work with local organizations to help them to include people seeking sanctuary in their activities.
Need to document examples of good practice by organizations, as a source of inspiration to others.
Could provide training for organizations, work with new Refugee Integration Employment Service (RIES) to encourage and support organisations to employ refugees.

3, Danger of ‘tokenism' of Council support
Important to build grassroots support before getting a Council resolution. If we can build sufficient support that the Council want to get involved, we can then discuss with them beforehand what their resolution will mean in practice, and give suggestions for local policy.
All-party support is important, to avoid politicization of issue, and to keep Council on board if it changes leadership.

4, Funding & sources of potential support
Local funding sources include Council, regeneration agencies, local charities. Also have a look at Grassroots Grants, Faiths in Action, New Deal for Communities, local Co-operative Group Members Committee.
Could also explore membership fees from supporting organizations.
We need to co-ordinate any applications to national funders, in order to avoid competing with similar bids from other groups. Please let Craig know if you are putting in bid to a national fund.
Let Craig know if you would be interested in working on a joint funding bid with other CoS groups.
Unions have been very supportive of CoS, including UNISON and Trades Council.

5, Parliamentary debate on CoS
Helen has approached Peter Soulsby MP, who has agreed to lead an adjournment debate on CoS. He suggested MPs from all parties in all cities with CoS groups should apply to the Speaker of the House of Commons to hold the debate in Nov/Dec. We will circulate a draft letter for MPs. It would also be useful to arrange to speak to your MPs, to encourage them to be involved.

6, Universities of Sanctuary
Some Universities (including Manchester & Leeds Metropolitan, have accepted asylum-seeker students on home student fees (much lower than international fees), and even offered help with bursaries and fundraising. This could be a model for ‘Universities of Sanctuary', which allocate a limited number of such places which asylum-seekers can apply to.
Could work with Student Unions, STAR groups etc to pursue this with University administrations.
Also Sheffield has been considering a ‘schools of sanctuary' award, to recognize the work of some schools with large refugee numbers.

7, Constitution
There is a draft constitution for new groups at www.cityofsanctuary/resources
Groups can choose their own committee, which can then be ratified by members at future AGMs

8, Film training
Craig suggested that we run a training day in using video/digital cameras to produce short films documenting CoS events and activities. We would use these videos on the website, for publicity and for producing a record of the development of CoS in the future. Could anyone who would be interested in attending a training day please contact Craig.

9, FAQs for speaker pack
Alwyn from Leicester CoS has produced some notes for CoS speakers (sent separately). He would like to develop this as a resource for all CoS groups and would appreciate feedback and suggestions. It would be useful to collect your ‘frequently asked questions' about CoS so that we can provide some suggested responses. Contact: apjones@dmu.ac.uk

10, Next Meeting

The next national network meeting will be on Monday 17th November in Oxford, 11am to 2pm.
Venue to be confirmed.