COVID19 Fund 4 migrants without access to public £

Dear friends,

Due to the ongoing situation with the pandemic, many members of our community continue to be in real financial hardship. We are again receiving numerous calls for support. Therefore we are increasing our target as we have already distributed all the donations we have kindly received over the past few months.

We are grateful for any donations you can make. We really welcome ongoing donations if you are in a position to do that. Also, we will be asking our friends and families to donate money to this fund instead of giving us Christmas presents, we would be delighted if you felt moved to do so too.

All the money we receive will be distributed to people who have 'NRPF' (no recourse to public funds), and/or do not qualify for Government support such as the furlough scheme. For your information, depending of fund availability and personal situations, we are currently providing between £50 and £100 to people.

So far we have financially supported over 40 households/people (in addition to offering translation, interpreting and signposting to many others). When we started this crowdfunder campaign, we had envisioned supporting 10 families financially for up to four weeks, but many more people have requested our support; we also have a waiting list. 

Please note, we have also received a couple of grants (one is underway) and are still looking for funds from private donors to help as much as we can to address the high level of need, and to support a fairer redistribution of resources.

Thank you for your support so far!
Apoyo Comunitario Sur de Londres

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Coronavirus affects all aspects of our lives and of our communities across the country, but the way in which each of us experience this crisis is differently mediated by various systems of oppression. As a result of years of hostile immigration policies, people from migrant communities have often been kept in insecure low-paid precarious jobs and are now being hit the hardest by the UK government's slow and inadequate response to this crisis. Whilst many continue to work on the frontline without appropriate protection, others have been abruptly laid off from their jobs and have been left with no income to pay for rent, food or medication. Many of them cannot access any form of public funds, because of a perverse government policy (‘No Recourse to Public Funds’- NRPF) that prevents people with insecure immigration status to access vital public support (e.g. welfare benefits, healthcare, women’s refuges) which they should always be entitled to, particularly so during a global health crisis. Despite calls for the immediate abolishment of this policy, the government has refused to act. 

This COVID19 hardship fund would allow us to continue building the support for migrant communities, where the government has failed them. 

The migrant Latinx and Spanish/Portuguese-speaking community is likely to be particularly affected and in need of this support, in particular women (especially those with children), LGBQTI+, the elderly, and disabled people, and those with insecure immigration status. A large proportion of the Latin American community have no access to public funds, work in precarious jobs such as cleaning and catering and live in inadequate housing conditions. Therefore, they will face the crisis in much more acute ways.  

Who are we? 
A group of Latinx based in South London started "Apoyo comunitario Sur de Londres", as an attempt to help translate vital information in Spanish and Portuguese, and to signpost people to local mutual aid groups and other community  organisations that understand and support the needs of migrant communities. During this process, we have started to receive requests from families and individuals who cannot access existing help because of their NRPF status, and therefore are in acute need of financial support. This is the reason why we have created this crowdfunder campaign: to offer some support to those who the current system is totally failing. We are also looking to apply for funding from grant making organisations, but we are conscious this process will take some time and many people can't wait for that. Please consider donating to this if you can! 

How do we plan to spend this money?
We were originally committed to supporting 10 families/households with the following financial support (we have exceeded this number many times over now, due to the level of need): 

* £100 per week for families / £60 per week for individuals - for 4 weeks for basic needs. These include food, utility bills, medicines, or anything else people may need.  

* £20 one-off emergency payment for up to 40 families/households

Please note: We are currently working with the Latin American community only, but we will also consider financially supporting other migrant communities in South London who are facing financial hardships as a result of COVID19.