Advice and Advocacy Projects
By having somebody in the Roma Support Group office speak on my behalf gives me and other people a lot of confidence. We don’t feel as vulnerable and helpless as we would have if we went somewhere else.
Roma service user, London Borough of Newham
The Advice and Advocacy Projects are run on the basis of appointments, drop-in sessions and outreach, enabling Roma refugee and migrant families to overcome some of the barriers which they face, like poverty, housing issues, homelessness, health inequalities and employability issues. The projects are delivered from our two centres in East and West London (Canning Town and White City) where we support approximately 200 families each month through appointments and drop-in system.
Our Advice & Advocacy support reaches some of the most vulnerable and excluded members of the Roma community, including older people, single parents, people with mental health issues and physical disabilities. Our beneficiaries are mainly residents of London Boroughs of Newham, Hammersmith & Fulham, Redbridge, Ealing, Enfield and Waltham Forest.
During the last year we have offered this support to 2,218 Roma refugees and migrants from Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Lithuania, Romania and the Balkan region, achieving the following outcomes:
- 80% of beneficiaries had reduced poverty through debt management and were able to access the welfare system
- 53% of beneficiaries were prevented from homelessness
- 27% of beneficiaries had improved employability skills
The RSG has helped with sorting out our rent arrears problems at the right time, otherwise the problem would have become unmanageable and we could have ended on the street.
Roma service user, London Borough of Redbridge
