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Keep up to date with our latest news here.
EMBRACE Advocacy Statement
EMBRACE has produced a paper laying out its policy on advocacy – our vision and values, who we advocate for, and who we advocate to. You can read it here.
Community Sponsorship
Why not find out more about welcoming refugee families through Community Sponsorship?
Head to www.reset.org to find out more.
Spring/Summer 2021 Reflections
Our Spring/Summer edition of EMBRACE REFLECTIONS is now available. Please feel free to print off the pdf and share with others.
Printer friendly version here.
Help if you missed the EUSS Deadline
The deadline for applying to the EUSS has now passed. However, late applications can still be made where there are reasonable grounds for failure to meet the deadline. See our latest blog, which has been provided by the Law Centre NI, for guidance on what to do.
New Welcome! Poster now available
Embrace have provided a resource for churches to use that allows them to create a welcome for anyone speaking a foreign language who may be coming into their building for the first time. 39 languages other than English are included in the poster – including all the most common foriegn languages spoken in Northern Ireland.
The poster is available as a pdf to download for free:
Click here for the pdf.
Or you can order a hard copy for free, we only ask for a donation of £3.50 to cover postage and packaging. Please email us to request copies. Contact us here:
Donations can be made using the Donate button on our home page.
Refugees in Northern Ireland 2021
Our Refugees in Northern Ireland booklet has been upddated for 2021.
Download your copy here (pdf version):
Contact the office to receive hard copies of the report.
Seminar with Krish Kandiah and Peter Rowan
Krish Kandiah, founder of the UK charity Home for Good, spoke of how we need to “fight racism with hospitality”. As Church communities, we need a radical hospitality that extends to all of humanity, and that needs a rethink of our concept of mission. Peter Rowan from OMF drew us to consider how the landscape of mission has changed. Mission isn’t just about going on long journeys, it can happen right next door. Christians at home can create churches of welcome by extending the hospitality of God to all – engaging locally can be God’s way of using us globally.
Seminar with Nick Hanrahan
Working for the Jesuit Refugee Service, UK, Nick Hanrahan shared with us the work JRS is doing and the impact its is having on people’s lives. what accompaniment meant to the organisation and the impact it has had on people’s lives. JRS are keen to place special emphasis on being with rather than doing for, accompanying the refugee on their journey to creating a new life in the UK. This was a message that resonated with many participants on-screen working in food banks and Church outreach services.
Seminar with Nathaniel Jennings
There was a great turnout for our lunchtime seminar with Nathaniel Jennings in March. It was so interesting to hear of Nathaniel’s personal experiences of racism, and how he feels we as the Church can address the issue. We will be having more lunchtime seminars over the coming months. Check out our social media for details of upcoming events, or join our mailing list here.
Response to the Covid Crisis
EMBRACE has been working in partnership with other groups to respond to the Covid crisis. £30,000 given by the Community Foundation for NI and Belfast City Council has been allocated by EMBRACE to partner organisations working on the ground to deliver services to those in need. These groups include South Belfast Foodbank, NICRAS, South Belfast Roundtable, Homeplus, Storehouse and other Refugee Asylum Forum members. Over 160 parcels are being distributed each week to asylum seeking families in Belfast, nearly 2000 food parcels and baby essentials have been delivered so far. Find out more here.
Volunteers at The Storehouse in Belfast pack food parcels to be distributed to Asylum seeking families
Applying for EU Settled Status
The UK’s decision to leave the European Union means that all EU, EEA or Swiss citizens living in Northern Ireland must now apply to have their legal status confirmed. They must apply for a new EU immigration status – ‘settled’ or ‘pre-settled’ status – in order to protect their right to continue to live, work, study or access the NHS or other services in the UK. This requirement applies to all the 88,000 (approx.) EU nationals living in NI, (unless they have already applied for British or Irish citizenship) no matter how long they have lived here. The deadline for applying is June 30, 2021, or December 31, 2020 if the UK leaves the EU without a deal. The application for settled status is made online and the process of applying is relatively straightforward.
Information on this is available on the Home Office website here:
https://www.gov.uk/settled-status-eu-citizens-families/applying-for-settled-status
Read our press release here
Language Classes
In the past EMBRACE listed English language classes on this site. We are delighted that there is now a dedicated ESOLNI multilingual regional website for people looking for a suitable course. Click here for additional information and a list of courses.
It is important that church classes are on the new site. So please get in touch with regional co-ordinator, Ligia Parizzi, (LParizzi@belfastmet.ac.uk) to set up a member profile
