COMMUNITY ACTION FOR REFUGEES AND ASYLUM SEEKERS

LONDON, England, SW17 8NE United Kingdom

Mission Statement

Asylum seekers face numerous challenges upon arriving in the UK, from limited English skills to a lack of knowledge of the asylum system. Forced to flee their home countries, they often struggle to integrate and rebuild their lives as a result of a hostile policy environment, prejudice and significant barriers to accessing opportunities. Our mission is to work alongside young people, families, and adults with refugee backgrounds, providing practical, educational, and social support to help them build meaningful futures. Through supportive relationships and access to essential services, we aim to increase their overall wellbeing and safety.

About This Cause

CARAS helps individuals overcome the challenges they face upon arrival in the UK, creating a safe and welcoming space for those most in need. We take a holistic approach, working with our community members to ensure they access vital support through a range of programmes designed to enhance wellbeing and promote integration. We run educational programming including ESOL classes and our Get Ready for School program, which ensures young people waiting up to one year to access mainstream education have access to high quality educational activities. Our employability programme, co-designed with adult community members, helps develop skills and professional networks, ensuring newly recognised refugees can successfully integrate into the labour market. We also offer various wellbeing activities, such as women’s yoga and youth sports programming, and host a weekly Coffee Afternoon and Youth Club to support young people and adults to create meaningful relationships in their new home. All programming is complimented by wrap around casework support, providing individualised support to help people navigate the system, access legal and mental health services, and mitigate crises early on. Through our work over the past 16 years, we have created a strong, supportive community for asylum seekers to build meaningful lives in the UK. With 600 people benefiting from our services each year, we continue to receive positive feedback from those we support. The dedication of our supporters, staff and volunteers combined with the resilience of our community members, has meant that we have been able to come together and overcome barriers even amid increasing challenges.

COMMUNITY ACTION FOR REFUGEES AND ASYLUM SEEKERS
25 Blakenham Road Tooting Works 89 Bickersteth Road
LONDON, England SW17 8NE
United Kingdom
Phone 020 8767 5378
Twitter @CARAS_LDN
Unique Identifier 1124376