Welcome Here! is our year-long project through 2024, with funding to welcome asylum seekers into our Jewish community alongside friends of all faiths and none. The project is inspired by Jewish ethics of welcoming the stranger, and by our synagogue members, past and present, who came as refugees from Nazi Germany and have contributed so much to our community.
In early autumn 2023, BPS Tikkun Olam Social Action Group applied for Sanctuary Grant funding from the Home Office, allocated by Birmingham City Council. It was a very competitive funding bid and we were proud and delighted that our application was successful, with part of the funding going towards BPS funds to cover all our costs.
We learned in November that our application had been successful, and so we are delivering the project under changed circumstances post 7th October. We continue to be extremely mindful of security concerns to keep our community safe, and are working closely with CST and BPS security team, who are supportive of the project.
Welcome Here! events will be working with asylum seekers living in hotels in Birmingham. The project builds on our past events inviting asylum seekers, recognised and funded by Near Neighbours, United Reformed Church, Council of Christians and Jews and City of Sanctuary.
Our events so far (Tu B’Shvat tree planting and interfaith Shabbat Iftar) have received national recognition, with media coverage in the Times (below) and on Radio 4 – listen here https://youtu.be/DfjfqJPWYdQ – and in the Jewish Chronicle too. And BPS was awarded a national interfaith Mitzvah Day award for Welcome Here!
Watch this space for more news
