Following feedback from our Refugee Service Users, working with the Service User Engagement team, our Housing Services team hosted their first refugee drop-in session at the Hive, a cultural community hub in the centre of Ipswich. Cad and the team at the Hive were really keen to support ACT’s aim to offer more group events to our Refugee Service Users and support them to link in with the local community.
Everyone spent the drop-in learning about what is already available at the Hive such as free English lessons, English conversation classes, women in radio groups, sewing groups and much more! Cad also shared stories of how connections have been made at the Hive and how other communities have developed. With that in mind, the team has put together some further ideas of what they would like to do including gardening, art projects and family groups to name a few.
Our team is hoping to run the drop-ins on either a monthly or bi-monthly basis and to take the ideas they have gathered and develop them into a plan to co-produce sessions for the drop-ins going forward. Thank you to the Housing Team who made it possible, as well as everyone at the Hive, and Rona at Suffolk Refugee Support who came along outside of the usual working hours to make it possible. This really is an example of where partnership working with other services, both within ACT and externally can really make a difference to our service users and can give them access to opportunities they otherwise may not be aware of.