House of Hope is a registered Not-for-Profit Organisation Company Limited by Guarantee, which runs projects to provide support to the Leicester community. We provide FREE advice and support on financial well-being, employment, welfare benefits, education, housing as well as family matters. We normally signpost our service users to qualified and professional service providers, moreover our directors have attained experience and skills in those areas. Currently, we provide assistance in food support to different groups of people in need, by connecting them with the Leicester South Food Bank. With our assistance, people have been receiving food parcels weekly. On top of that, we work in collaboration with the local Job Centre to offer advice and support to clients in finding jobs by assisting in form filling, preparing curriculum vitae (CV) and interview preparation, and with the Voluntary Action Leicestershire (VAL) which has been assisting in volunteering.
We are raising money in order to run the project. We aim to provide advice on financial well-being, debt advice, budgeting and energy saving to the Community
Our Vission
1. The difference we want to make
We want people from our community to feel more included, empowered and valued. We want to help people who live in poverty become assured of their essential needs. We want to support them access job opportunities and living a happy life as well. We also want to see new arrivals become integrated and understand the system in the new country so they can achieve in their new life by taking further training and
employment and become successful. We also want to help and see young people who are victims of drug abuse and criminal acts understand the consequences of their actions and make the right decisions about accessing education and decent jobs. Moreover, we want to see the BAME community treated fairly and given the opportunities it deserves, so it can grab learning and employment opportunities. All in all, we want to see the community we want to support live the most healthy and successful life and contribute to the wider community. Our work has been charitable, and we do not charge any clients. We connect the local communities with local service providers, free of charge.
2. The challenges Facing Communities we work with the community we work with faces the following problems:
– Deprivation: Leicester is among the most deprived places in the UK. 44% of people live in the 20% most deprived areas in England. Many people cannot afford their basic needs. However, only a fraction of them depend on the food bank, and many others do not even know how and where to get help from.
– Ethnicity
We work with Minority Ethnic communities which, from time to time face discrimination, hate crime, racism and inequality. As a result, these vulnerable communities suffer from unemployment and poverty. Some young people from these communities are not fairly treated in education and employment. This leads to frustration and sometimes forces these young people into drugs and crimes.
– Asylum seekers and refugees
Newly arrived communities need integration, tranquillity and awareness. They do not understand the new system in a new country. They may also suffer from language barriers and anxiety as well as hate crimes and discrimination. Strength and opportunities in our community: The communities we work with, like other communities in the UK, can achieve and participate much better if given enough resources and support.
With the young people given the right counselling and opportunities, asylum seekers and refugees supported to integrate and cope with the new system and eventually access decent education and employment, people in deprivation receive the right advice and supported to stand up with their own, our community can achieve to the maximum and even perform wonders. Ethnic Minorities, for instance, are full of quality people who can go out and grab opportunities if allowed to do so. Unfortunately, due to inequality and discrimination, these groups fail to contribute enough and become frustrated. However, with
the right resources and full involvement, these communities have many individuals who can achieve better outcomes for themselves and the country. Strengths-based approaches concentrate on the inherent strengths of individuals, families, groups and the whole community, deploying personal strengths to aid recovery and empowerment. This could be a long-term process and will need huge efforts, but it should start from
somewhere. If their problems are left ignored and unsolved, members of these marginalised communities of Leicester will continue to experience life hardship and misery.