Written by Mark Dawson:
ELSA Nottingham is proud to announce that we have won the 'Best Charitable Initiative' Award at the University of Nottingham Students' Union Society Awards 2018, improving on last year when we won the 'Highly Commended' Award for our Refugee Project. We started the Refugee Project in 2016, thanks to the efforts of Agata Daszko, our incoming President for 2018/19, and our current Refugee Project Daniel Parkin has been integral to the success of the project this year.
The aim was to develop student outreach in areas of the City not often participated in students or University, and to try to give back in some way to the hundreds of refugee families living in Nottingham. Last year, our first activity was 'Access', an information session and conversational English class coordinated with the Rainbow Project at the Hyson Green Community Centre. We had around eight volunteers then, and this year we have now expanded our operations to the point where we have nearly tripled the number the volunteers as well as developing two new projects.
Our new projects include working with the oldest refugee charity in the UK, Belong, in providing students with on the job caseworking skills as they try to confront issues facing refugee families in the City. Our second project is our most innovative idea so far - Befriending.
Befriending involves pairing students with refugees, with students being trained by the Rainbow Project and the meetings being coordinated by Belong, and then the students taking the refugees out in weekly sessions with a small allowance to get them to know the community. This is a very ambitious project, and we have worked closely with the School of Law throughout our expansion to garner ideas and encourage communication with new students about the opportunities that are available to them.
Other winners at the event included:
Winners
- Best Academic Experience: Law Society
- Welfare and Inclusivity: Law Society – International Welcome, Diversity Series and Wellness Week
Highly Commended
- Best Showcasing: The Bar – Mooting Competition
- Best Academic Experience: Pro Bono Society
- Individual Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Society: Nick Humphries (Law Society) and Abbie Coleman (Pro Bono Society)
Posted on Tuesday 8th May 2018