MiFriendly Cities

Creating 'Migration Friendly' Cities in the West Midlands

The Coventry City Council Migration Team has proudly worked with partners from across the West Midlands to deliver this innovative project, which aimed to reduce the impact of migration on the region and to create more opportunities for newcomers.

This project was co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund through the Urban Innovative Actions Initiative [http://www.uia-initiative.eu/en].

About the project

MiFriendly Cities was a 3-year initiative to support refugees and migrants in the West Midlands. It developed lasting innovative, community-led and sustainable approaches to enhancing the contribution of refugees and migrants in the region.

The project was made up of a partnership of 11 organisations. These include three city councils, a multi-national company, a university, a law centre, a consultancy and three migrant-run charities.

Migrants and refugees have helped to develop this project and to decided what makes a city ‘Migration Friendly’. This created a project which encouraged a spirit of solidarity, with the West Midlands becoming a place in which everyone feels a true sense of belonging.

“I’m delighted to see the launch of the MiFriendly Cities project in Coventry, a city with a proud history of recognising and celebrating cultural diversity. I am excited that this funding will enhance opportunities to strengthen the economic and social fabric of the entire region.’’

Cllr Abdul Khan [http://www.coventry.gov.uk/councillors/34/abdul_khan], Deputy Council Leader and Cabinet Member for Policing and Equalities

The Project Partnership

11 organisations from across the public, private and voluntary sector worked together to deliver the MiFriendly Cities project.

Project resources

The Mi-friendly Cities project has now officially closed, with all programmes and activities now completed.

To ensure that our knowledge and findings are not wasted, we have compiled all of our findings, resources, surveys and guides into one, easily accessible resources page [https://mifriendlycities.co.uk/resources/]. The information here is designed to be shared with others who wish to help Migrants and Refugees create positive and meaningful contributions in their communities.

For more information visit www.mifriendlycities.co.uk [https://mifriendlycities.co.uk/] or contact: mark.russell@migrationwork.org [mailto:mark.russell@migrationwork.org].

MyCoventry

My Coventry logo

In January 2021, Coventry City Council launched a two-year partnership called MyCoventry. The project addressed local, social and economic inequalities that hinder the way young people and adults from migrant communities interact and become part of the local area.

The specialist partnership intended to bridge service gaps, provide mentoring, coaching and holistic interventions to support client progression and integration. It was aimed at non-EU and EEA nationals living in Coventry.

The city-wide partnership between Coventry City Council, the Job Shop [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/info/153/employment_support/2514/job_shop_services_for_people_looking_for_work], St Francis Church of Assisi [https://www.stfranciscoventry.org/work-club], ACH [https://ach.org.uk/], Coventry University [https://www.coventry.ac.uk/] and Positive Youth Foundation [https://positiveyouthfoundation.org/] is part-funded by the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF).

The scheme helped improve language skills and enable new communities to learn and feel a part of the life of the city; as well as boost employment opportunities.

A key component of MyCoventry was the ‘Integrass’ Assessment Toolkit which produce a Personalised Integration Plan for each client, based on an individual’s specific needs and barriers. Clients will complete the short assessment with a member of staff, and again at a later date to monitor progress.

This informed personalised pathways across the project, facilitating language learning, employment support, civic orientation and meaningful contact with the host society for clients.

Each partner had designated mentors who met regularly with clients to discuss their progress and signpost them to services across the city.

European Union logo

This project is part funded by the EU Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund. Making management of migration flows more efficient across the European Union.

Your Vision, Your Future

‘Your Vision, Your Future’ was an education, training and employment support programme that supported young migrants and refugees in Coventry aged 16-29 who are not in employment, education or training (NEET).

Your Vision, Your Future wass part-funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) and supported under the Youth Employment Initiative (YEI). It was comprised of eight delivery partners who came together to form a strong and robust partnership.

Each of the partners specialises in providing high quality education, training and employment support and they will be tailoring the support provided to meet the individual needs of each young person. The partners are:

  • The Migration Team, The Council’s Job Shop and the Adult Education Service.
  • PET-Xi Ltd
  • WATCH Ltd (Working Actively to Change Hillfields Ltd)
  • Coventry University through FabLab Coventry and their Outreach Team.
  • New Start 4 U CIC
  • IMAGINEER

The Migration Team intends to bridge service gaps, provide mentoring, coaching and holistic interventions to support young refugees and migrants to move into suitable education and employment opportunities.

The purpose was to make barrier-breaking interventions allowing young migrants and refugees to move into education and employment opportunities that are appropriate for them.

Each participant had a designated mentor who will meet regularly with clients to discuss their progress and signpost them to services across the city.

Refugee Transitions Outcomes Fund (RTOF) Project

The Refugee Transitions Outcomes Fund (RTOF) was a £13.99m initiative that sought to improve employment, housing, and wider integration outcomes for newly recognised refugees.

The RTOF enabled service providers to provide holistic and intensive support to refugees to help them tackle the barriers and challenges they face to self-sufficiency. The Home Office – with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS) as co-sponsors – has awarded the funding to deliver the RTOF programme.

RTOF had a strong focus on helping people into work and all refugees who were on the programme received employment support in addition to housing or wider integration support.

Employment support focused on helping refugees into full-time employment, part-time employment or self-employment, or a combination (for example, part-time work and starting a business). Further support focused on helping refugees to access stable and secure housing, and to improve in the areas that are critical to their self-sufficiency and integration (such as English language, digital skills, well-being and building social bonds).

Coventry City Council was one of the Local Authorities in the West Midlands that the Home Office selected to deliver the RTOF Project. In the West Midlands consortium, we worked together with Birmingham City Council, City of Wolverhampton Council and Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council.

Coventry City Council also worked in partnership with Ashley Housing, Spring Housing and St Francis Employability to deliver the service and reach the outcomes by offering tailored support across employment, housing, and integration for newly recognised refugees in Coventry. Both Ashley Housing and Spring Housing focused on all three areas of support. St Francis Employability provided the opportunity for the participants to get meaningful experience in working in the UK and support the clients with the completion of at least 10 days volunteering.

Besides Coventry City Council overseeing and co-ordinating the performance management, monitoring, data capture and outcomes evidence across the delivery partnership, it will also be delivering outcomes for the fund and host the lead Integration Officer and administrative support for the programme to enable the project’s outcomes to be met. This will include ensuring that eligible clients are referred to the programme. Coventry City Council also coordinated provision across the delivery partnership to ensure the progress of participants.

The key aims of the RTOF programme were to:

  • Enable innovative and place-based approaches to supporting newly recognised refugees in the selected local areas
  • Improve employment, housing, and wider integration outcomes for newly recognised refugees in the selected local areas and to increase refugee self-sufficiency
  • Generate evidence about what works, to be able to evaluate the impact of funded projects on refugee integration and self-sufficiency
  • Generate cross-Government savings
  • Provide evidence to inform future policy, programming, and mainstream service delivery