Accent Together

Operation Accent Together saw a team of our outreach support workers out and about alongside Arun Police, Voluntary Action Arun & Chichester (VAAC), and Arun District Council, in a joint outreach program is part of an ongoing project in Bognor Regis to increase community engagement with Eastern European communities.

Stonepillow’s role in the project is to engage with EU Nationals and help support them with housing, benefits, mental health and substance misuse. Working in collaboration with Migrant Help Charity, we are helping them to obtain their settled or pre-settled status in the UK, which will allow them to live and work here post-Brexit.

“We had a really successful day; Polish and Russian speaking police officers were able to engage with the EU Nationals by speaking to them in their first language. This is really important, as from our experience, non-UK Nationals are less likely to ask for support from services like ours compared to their UK counterparts, and it is important that we empower and enable them to ask for help. We were able to signpost individuals to CGL and assist a number of Polish nationals with their settled status claims”. Tobias Condron – Stonepillow Outreach Support Worker.

Stonepillow has also been working closely with Voluntary Action Arun and Chichester (VAAC), who have identified different support and inclusion requirements across various communities in Bognor Regis. Their work has enabled our outreach teams to tailor the approach when working with these groups, improving their support needs.

Local EU supermarkets now have the location and contact details of the Stonepillow Day Hub service, Glenlogie House on Clarence Road, directing members of their community who are in need to us for support, help and guidance.

“It’s exciting to see that by joint working with Arun District Council, and Voluntary Action Arun and Chichester, Operation Accent Together can extend our support to those EU Nationals sleeping rough in the community to gain confidence in working with us and other agencies. This is an important step to ensure that the post Covid ‘Next Steps Accommodation Programme’ can house and support everyone who is sleeping rough or are vulnerable in our community. Its important to build confidence and trust with communities where English is not their first language, especially when housing, immigration rights, health and wellbeing is paramount”. Anja Lock – Stonepillow Head of Operations.