28/3/2019

MiFriendly Cities event will see migrant innovators pitch for up to £5000 for community projects

As a partner in the MiFriendly Cities project, MigrationWork has invited West Midlands residents born outside the UK to come up with ideas for projects that will benefit the community and local residents – migrants and non-migrants alike.  Successful pitches will receive up to £5,000 funding and consultancy support from MigrationWork specialists to get their ideas off the ground.

An inspiring range of pitches for grassroots community projects will be made to a panel of ‘friendly dragons’ at a special Pitch Day event on Saturday (30 March), at The Studio in Cannon Street, Birmingham between 12.30pm and 4.30pm.

The panel will hear pitches from 17 community groups and individuals, shortlisted from nearly 40 fantastic ideas, and the audience will also be able to vote, for the projects they feel are most needed within their communities.

Richard Williams from MigrationWork said: “Migrants have always helped build our communities. We are turbo charging the process so that the West Midlands gets the benefit of all that creativity, commitment and enthusiasm now rather than later.”

The “friendly dragons” on Pitch Day include:

• Dipali Chandra– Secretary, West Midlands Funders Network
• Cllr John Cotton – Cabinet Member for Social Inclusion, Community Safety and Equalities, Birmingham City Council
• Arten Llazari – Chief Executive, Refugee and Migrant Centre
• Piotr Wolkowinski – Project Expert, Urban Innovative Actions
• Jaspreet Singh, Involvement Engagement Co-ordinator NHS, Coventry & Warwickshire Partnership Trust

Funded by the EU’s Urban Innovative Actions fund, MiFriendly Cities is a three-year initiative running in Coventry, Birmingham and Wolverhampton that is developing innovative, community-led and sustainable approaches to unlocking the potential of refugees and migrants across the region.

Following the launch of the project in March 2018, MiFriendly Cities held a series of workshops to inspire migrants to drive change in their communities. Examples of projects from around Europe in the areas of health, housing, employment and active citizenship – priority areas identified by migrants in the West Midlands – were showcased in order to inspire the ideas which will be pitched at this special event.

Successful projects will win start-up funding of up to £5,000 and support from specialist consultants to put their ideas into action over the next two years. 

ENDS

Notes to editors:

Please register here to join us for Pitch Day on Saturday 30 March at The Studio, 7 Cannon St, Birmingham, B2 5EP from 12.30 to 4.30pm.

Media are invited to attend this event, at which there may be opportunities to interview the migrant-led organisations and groups presenting their ideas at Pitch Day, as well as members of the panel.

Please contact sue.lukes@migrationwork.org or call 07715008536 for further enquiries.

Briefings on examples of projects from around around Europe in the areas of health, housing, employment and active citizenship are available to download for free from the MiFriendly Cities website:

#MiFriendlyPitchDay #FluffyDragons @MiFriendlyWM

Resources

Back to news posts