A SOUTH Belfast charity has been awarded money from the Lottery Community Fund to continue it's work in supporting Belfast's Roma community.
Forward South Partnership (FSP) coordinate and work with over 107 community and voluntary groups in the south of the city and work with Belfast City Council to help develop community groups and connect them with both the public and private sector. FSP were awarded £10,000 to continue their work with the Roma community.
Forward South Partnership's Roma Support Hub (RSH) provides weekly immigration and welfare clinics and has a helpline for making referrals to other services such as food banks, Belfast Health and Social Care Trust and the Education Authority and offers a drop-in service to support people with form filling or contacting their doctor. The RSH maintains a collection of donations – clothing, kitchen appliances, baby buggies – for the local Roma community to use as well.
RSH hosts weekly English classes in South and East Belfast and facilitates a weekly women’s group. The women’s group's activities include educational and informative sessions around topics such as healthy eating and breast cancer awareness, but also holds recreational sessions involving craft making and holiday celebrations. The RSH facilitates the involvement of members of the community in wider-community events, festivals and intercultural activities including the annual Holylands Winter Festival and Open Botanic.
Briege Arthurs, Chief Executive of Forward South Partnership said: “We are delighted to have been awarded a grant through the National Lottery Community Fund Awards for All programme to allow us to continue our work delivering the Belfast Roma Support Hub. The Roma Support Hub is the central point of access to programmes, activities and assistance for the Roma communties of Belfast and it acts as a vital connector between our city-wide partners and an historically marginalised community, but in a way that helps to build capacity and empower the community as well.”
CRAFTS: Women from the Roma community at a craft making class, making cushions
Briege continued: “Receiving the Awards for All grant has helped Forward South continue with providing individuals and families with reliable services, where they can receive free advice and support from a trusted and friendly team. We are very grateful to the National Lottery’s support for this work and delighted that we can continue to provide responsive, wraparound support and capacity building that will allow for the greater integration of the Roma community so that we can all appreciate their rich cultural heritage that contributes to our city.”
