Coventry

Coventry News

Hate Crime Helpline

Submitted by Penny on Tue, 09/03/2010 - 17:56

No Bullying Image

Helpline Poster

Following meetings with refugees in the city about the rising levels of hate crime we set up a ‘Hate Crime Helpline’. Staffed by trained refugees and other migrants it opened on May 10th 2010

It is open:

Monday, Wednesday and Sunday (5pm -8pm)
Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday (10am–1pm)

The telephone number is 0808-800-0051 and is free from both land lines and mobiles.

Six weeks into the three month pilot the calls are coming in and the volunteers are keen to find the funding to carry it on. Ibrahim, one of the volunteers said, “I was so pleased that we were there to help the man I spoke with this morning. He had suffered a terrible ordeal and this was the third attack at his home. His wife has gone to stay with a friend and is frightened of coming back”.

As well as taking calls, the volunteers also go out into the community to talk about hate crime and what can be done.

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WELCOME IN PRACTICE

Submitted by Penny on Thu, 04/03/2010 - 11:18

Doctor and patient talking

A City of Sanctuary is one where neighbourhoods and work places are friendly and services are accessible and welcoming.

From January to September 2010 we are running a project in partnership with NHS Coventry to make GP surgeries more welcoming to refugees and other newcomers.

We are lucky to have a GP on our City of Sanctuary working group who is well respected by patients and doctors alike. To date, 24 GPs have personally signed the City of Sanctuary Pledge and we have an excellent health centre based in the Refugee Centre for those who do not yet have their refugee status.

However, some GPs are unfamiliar with refugee issues and don’t use interpreters when necessary. Similarly, some refugees do not yet understand the health care systems. We have sent questionnaires to GPs asking what problems they face and what training would be useful and we are currently asking refugees what good and bad experiences they have had at their surgery.

We will soon run sessions on ‘making the best out of the 10 minutes with your doctor’ and eventually we will write a ‘Good Practice Guide’ and distribute it to all surgeries.

We will post it on our resources section of the website so others can benefit too.

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67 ORGANISATIONS in COVENTRY PLEDGE their support for CITY of SANCTUARY

Submitted by Penny on Tue, 02/03/2010 - 15:35

So far 67 organisations have signed up in support of Coventry becoming a City of Sanctuary and pledged to do what they can in their organisation to bring this about. They vary in size and scope but so far we have only one organisation from the private sector. We are aiming to engage 100 organisations by the end of October 2010. See the attachment for the current list.

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1 attachment

FEBRUARY NEWSLETTER

Submitted by Penny on Mon, 01/03/2010 - 16:44

The Coventry group has just published its most recent newsletter with stories about:
Coventry Peace Festival
Celebrating our first year of activities
Health project to make GP’s surgeries more welcoming
Hate crime
and much, much more ……….