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Migrant Resource Centre works with migrants and refugees and in partnership with other agencies, to effect social justice and change, enabling migrants and refugees to fully participate in this society. We work with displaced people from all over the world from Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. MRC provides a place to receive assistance, to learn, to meet with others, to develop ourselves and our communities, to speak out for a better world and to move on feeling stronger. We believe that much of our success is underpinned by our values and principles. We are also aware that sometimes very beneficial unplanned outcomes result from human interaction.

The motivations behind our work are:

• To deliver high quality, innovative services;

• To reflect on our work and to constantly strive to improve;

• Listening and empowering those with whom we work and supporting their personnel development and that of their community;

• Partnership and collaborative working;

• Promoting, equality of opportunity and challenge the discrimination faced by migrants, refugees and asylum seekers.

In the last five years our work has been recognised with national awards for innovation and for social inclusion. We have worked at a local level leading a partnership that has raised £1.5 million for the local minority ethnic community for a Healthy Living Centre, at a regional level developing a network that has raised the issue of housing and refugees within London and at a European level in working towards the strengthening of article 13 of the Treaty of Amsterdam so that it included discrimination on racial or ethnic grounds. We have developed our advice service so that it runs both a specialist immigration service as well as general advice. Last year the service worked with 2,800 people. Our volunteers projects have worked with 50 people a year and 65% of them are moving into employment or further training at the end of their time with us. We have opened an Online Centre and our users now have access to the latest IT equipment as well as to ESOL classes.