Friends of Detainees, Uk-Wide (£3000)
Friends of Detainees work hard to end the use of immigration detention in the UK. They believe that asylum seekers, refugees and immigrants coming to the UK for safety should not be detained for administrative convenience which in turn causes them mental torture and many more problems.
African Rainbow Family, Manchester (£3000)
African Rainbow Family is run horizontally by its 60 LGBTIQ asylum seekers and refugees members with lived experiences of one form of persecution to the other based on their sexuality, gender identities, religion, race, ethnicity, disability and have experienced most horrendous violence in their countries of origin. They campaign against social injustice and challenge any UK immigration mistreatment of LGBT asylum seekers’ application process, as well as influencing government policies, campaigning on individual member’s asylum cases, offering practical support, organising rallies and other activities.
Disabled Survivors Unite, UK-wide (£3000)
Disabled Survivors Unite is a user-led organisation, the four co-founders are disabled and have survived something in their lives, established to create change for disabled survivors of abuse and sexual violence. They are working to change this by raising awareness and improving access to services for disabled people by offering consultations, advice, and training. They also help disabled survivors to find accessible support.
Smash IPP, UK-wide (£3000)
Smash IPP is a collective of anarchists and anti-authoritarians, who have chosen to stand against “Imprisonment for Public Protection”. They aim to raise awareness of IPP and work towards the release of all persons in prison who have passed their original sentence. IPP is indeterminate sentence for public protection; this allows the court to add time onto an existing prison sentence and therefore pushing back the release date indefinitely. The IPP sentence was abolished in 2012, however, this was what not done retrospectively. This left more than 5000 people in jail for a non-existing law with no date of release.
Glasgow Autonomous Space (3000)
GAS is a non-hierarchical collective that creates and holds space for groups to direct their own movements. They have secured a 5-year lease in a large industrial unit with the intention to build a multi-purpose space. People from different backgrounds come together to complete the physical work, learn new skills and develop a real sense of belonging. GAS intends to have an info-shop, a cooking space, a wood-workshop, and a safe exercising space for self-defence. GAS aims to be accessible, child-friendly, warm, and multilingual. They believe that people with lived-experience of oppression should lead their work. They ensure that groups work together to make consensus decisions about what the space is used for.
Disabled People Against Cuts Glasgow (1500)
The Glasgow section of the national Disabled People Against Cuts campaign. Founded and led by disabled people to raise awareness of the impact of government cuts on disabled people, and to challenge government policy on disability which is eroding the human rights of disabled people in the UK.
Living Rent Edinburgh (1500)
Living Rent Edinburgh seek to end the system where tenants are ripped off by extortionate rents and illegal letting agency fees, where many landlords and letting agencies can get away with not completing essential repairs, where homes are in a hardly liveable condition, where tenants face fear of eviction from their own homes.
Hand2Mouth, Northern England (1500)
A group of activists who are setting up advice hubs, doing workshops, and campaigning to support people facing universal credit.
Galway Feminist Collective, Republic of Ireland (£1500)
The Galway Feminist Collective is a grassroots group of activists and artists which uses creative ways to explore, discuss and give visibility to feminist issues. They aim to include all communities, groups and individuals working to advance woman's rights in Galway and to challenge any barriers to participation based on gender, ethnicity, sexuality, ability or religion.
Black Triangle Campaign, Scotland (£1500)
Black Triangle works to reverse the grave and systematic abuses of the fundamental human rights of sick and/or disabled people under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. They work to challenge discrimination against disabled people, both by the State and in civil society. They seek to raise awareness among the wider population of these abuses and to educate people on the meaning of inclusion and equality using the social model of disability and the principles of the right to independent living.
Hammersmith and Fulham Coalition Against Cuts (£1500)
They are a campaign group led by and for disabled and older people in the London borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. They were originally formed to challenge cuts that are marginalising communities and targeting the poorest and most disadvantaged members of society. By providing information, and challenging the cuts they aim to help break the link between poverty and older and disabled people.
We Will Rise, Glasgow (£1,500)
We Will Rise is a group of migrants, refugees, asylum seekers and their allies who are campaigning for an end to the immigration detention system in Scotland, and the UK as a whole. Based in Glasgow, they campaign against not only the immigration system, but also the corporations that benefit from the detention industrial complex. We Will Rise has been part of a successful campaign to close the Dungavel Detention Centre, involving regular demonstrations, public meetings skillshares and visits to detainees. They are now heavily involved in organising against the proposed new centre, in Paisley, near Glasgow Airport.
Leeds Unity Centre (£1500)
Leeds Unity Centre provide practical support and advocacy for asylum seekers required to report by the Home Office in Yorkshire. They stand against the process of reporting and detention for vulnerable people who are asking for asylum. They also empower clients by giving them skills to assist them in the eventuality of a detention.
Ubele Initiative, London (£1500)
The Ubele Initiative is an African Diaspora social action focused organisation. Their main activities have focused on co-designing local grassroots strategies to create practical solutions in relation to the ownership of community buildings within the African heritage community. They also undertake wider community engagement, empowerment, campaigning and social change activities. Their underlying aims are to build on intergenerational leadership and social action processes in order to identify and address some of our most pressing social, economic and political concerns that their community faces.
Unity Sisters, Glasgow (£1500)
Unity Sisters is a group of women going through the asylum system. They get together to create safe spaces for women to share their stories and experiences about the immigration system, and other issues such as domestic abuse, health inequalities, forced destitution, access to education, housing, and access to childcare. These issues form part of a xenophobic, racist and sexist system of oppression, which the group aims to help dismantle through their work. With regular meetings, film screenings, and outings, the group provides spaces for emotional support, as well as practical solidarity.
You Should See the Other Guy, London (£1500)
‘You Should see the Other Guy’ are an all female political theatre company made up of housing activists with Focus E15 and Radical Housing Network as well as people who have experienced homelessness. They aim to create radical work which directly challenges the causes and effects regeneration and social cleansing in London.
DocsNotCops Brighton (1000)
A Campaign for equal access to healthcare for all, and against the charging of migrant communities for healthcare. They believe that no one should be afraid to go to the doctor, either because they can’t pay or might be punished, and that doctors should not have to police the people they treat.
Outside Project, UK-wide (£1000)
A group of homelessness sector workers & LGBTIQ+ activists with lived experiences of the issues their community faces. They recognise that current services are not adequate for their community. They are organising for safe, independent, and accessible homeless services for LGBTIQ+ people.
Positively UK–Polish, Boston (1480)
Positively UK are EU nationals living in Boston, a port town on the east coast of England where latent hostility toward old and new migrant arrivals has burst into the open since the Brexit vote, where 76% of local people voted to leave the EU. They came together to counter EDL and Britain First marches, and increasing racist and xenophobic attacks. They aim to resist discrimination by peaceful means, like rallies, demos and solidarity with people in Boston who stand against the latest attacks on the migrant community. Their activities include, organising marches; highlighting government non-compliance with impact assessments on immigration policy; conducting direct action against council offices; and working to bridge the divide in Boston, which they hope will be replicated in other UK cities.
South Asian Sisters Speak (1000)
A community of British South Asian women who connect through common experiences and interests, to foster a safe environment to share and support one another in navigating the highs and lows of sometimes conflicting and confusing cultural expectations and experiences. The Black Feminist Movement has grown phenomenally and we wish to build a similar movement amongst South Asians. This is particularly important as one of the largest ethnic groups in the UK. The aim is to break down the structures that deter South Asian women from discussing uncomfortable realities, in turn transforming our own communities.
All About Me, Edinburgh (1000)
All About Me, Power to the People, and North Edinburgh Fights Back are campaigning to resist evictions due to the benefit cap. Young mothers hit by the Benefits Cap have come together to support each other and organise occupations and demonstrations against the injustices we are facing. Evicted from their homes due to drastic cuts to Housing Benefit caused by the Benefits Cap, the mums have linked up with local activists to insist our families' needs for a safe home must be met. They are taking on the Westminster Government and the local Council, to stop families ending up in sub-standard temporary accommodation.
Dole Animators, Northern England (£1000)
A group of single parents, disabled people and young jobseekers, who have seen firsthand the harm and even destitution being caused in the name of ‘welfare reform’. They are angry about the popular characterization of ‘benefits as a lifestyle choice’ and about politicians who seem happy to talk about helping ‘hard working families’ but ignore the needs and rights of those in most need. They want to challenge all this, and have come together make a film about their experiences of welfare reform.
Kirby Misperton Protection Camp, Yorkshire (£1000)
A group of local activists, protecting the land and community of Kirby Misperton from Fracking, aiming to preventing this invasive, toxic industry from spreading across the UK. The group has initiated a campaign of peaceful protest, starting with setting up the Kirby Misperton Protection Camp to resist the first fracking site in North Yorkshire, and empower the community to take a stand.
Global Majority Network, UK-wide (£750)
The Global Majority Network is a coalition of black, brown and diaspora people, including migrants, LGBTQ+ people, Muslims and revolutionaries from different campaigning and community groups. They are committed to starting and supporting campaigns inspired by their direct experiences and solidarity among POC that honours their differences.
Greater Manchester Housing Action (£750)
GMHA was founded by activists aware of growing housing-focussed movements in other UK cities and thought it time for co-ordinated action in Greater Manchester. They are creating a community of like-minded people with the knowledge and skills to campaign on housing issues.
Mixed Race Families Scotland (£750)
A group of people from minority ethnic/multiracial families in Scotland, who are challenging racism and racist practices on a grass roots level and supporting sufferers of injustice of our members through an online network. They are launching a campaign in 2018 (and onwards) called “Lets Face It” which challenges the social acceptance of Blackface for Halloween and other regional festival and cultural celebrations such as 'Up Helly Aa'.
Soas Detainee Support, London (£750)
Continuing their campaign for abolition of immigration detention, they strive to create strong communities of resistance that support those on the fringes of our society. They are fighting for an end to immigration detention and more presently, against the mistreatment of detained migrants. They are a grassroots, small organisation, engaged in supporting those detained, and campaigning for the end of detention.
Speaking Statues (£500)
They work to repurpose and subvert the ways in which these white supremacist symbols exist in our society with very little challenge. British colonial history affects everyone in this country every day and we believe that recognising, discussing and repurposing the support of dominant symbols can bring our society closer together. In the short-term they willl hold participatory discussion events around and about colonial symbols in London. In the medium-term, run creative actions to repurpose colonial symbols.While in the longer term work with educators to provide materials and run workshops on colonialism.
Divest West Midlands (£500)
a group of citizens who are concerned about climate change, a global issue with environmental and social justice implications around the world. They work locally to reduce the impact that the area where we live and work is contributing to this global injustice. Currently they are doing this by focusing on divestment for the West Midlands Pension fund, the largest local government pension fund in the country, which has £393 million invested in the oil, coal and gas industries.
Highlands Against Nuclear Transport, Scotland (£500)
The extreme secrecy of the nuclear industry results in a loss of democratic accountability, openess and honesty which is an abuse of power. The campaign highlights the risks and dangers of transporting nuclear waste and proposes the safer alternative of on site above ground storage. They address these issues by raising awareness of all these issue amongst the general public and influencing political decision makers which will they hope lead to increased accountability and safety.