Manchester City of Sanctuary: Building a Network of Welcome
People who seek sanctuary, fleeing war & persecution, are looking for safety, welcome and friendship.
Manchester can be that place – a city of sanctuary.
Our vision is for every person seeking sanctuary to feel part of a supportive community that understands and welcomes them.
Our mission is to make Manchester a welcoming place for refugees and asylum seekers.
Our values are:
- Connection: valuing the power of personal connection as a way of understanding and promoting empathy
- Acceptance: seeing people are they are, without question and without judgement
- Collaboration: working together to create deeper and lasting impact across the sector and with public bodies
- Empowerment: working towards sanctuary seekers becoming protagonists of their own futures
- Dignity: recognising the humanity of all people
Our approach:
We bring together refugees, asylum seekers and local Mancunians for shared understanding, fun, friendship and wellbeing:
- Connecting Sanctuary Seekers with Manchester locals through fun and friendship-building events such as social events and coffee mornings.
- Helping Sanctuary Seekers to stay active with accessible physical activities such as yoga classes and cycle training.
- Providing social opportunities and training to learn about each other and learn new skills.
- Enabling Sanctuary Seekers to volunteer with us and with other organisations.
- Creating safe spaces for Sanctuary Seekers to share and reflect on their experiences.
- Supporting Sanctuary Seekers to get to know Manchester.
- Supporting local organisations to be better able to understand and support Sanctuary Seekers.
Manchester City of Sanctuary has charity status: Ref number 1168839. If you would like to donate to us you can donate here or sign up to our newsletter here.
Follow us on Twitter: @ManchesterCoS and Instagram: @mcrcityofsanctuary or like our Facebook page.
Latest News
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‘Not just striving, but thriving!’
This was the rallying cry that echoed round the beautiful hall at 422 Community Hub
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Volunteer Recruitment
We're really excited to be growing our volunteer team. We've spent a long time looking at how we can improve the volunteer process and the support we offer our volunteers.
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Manchester City Council pledges to become a Local Authority of Sanctuary
Two weeks ago, we had the pleasure of attending the council meeting, where a pledge to become a Local Authority was passed unanimously.
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Our Own Manchester Glastonbury- song, film, dance, chai tea and cushions!
The end of June saw us at the Grand Hall in The Whitworth to mark Refugee Week 2023.
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Refugee Week – Manchester Communication Primary School
Refugee Week was a wonderful, busy and powerful time to understand, learn and share what it means to seek sanctuary and how we can all demonstrate compassion in action. We were so thrilled to hear how Manchester Communication Primary School…
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Big Conversation
In November we were really lucky to be hosted by the wonderful Whitworth Art Gallery. We've held out Big Conversation event there a few times now and we always receive a warm welcome. It's so important to be able to…
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We’re winners!
Back in October we were invited to the Spirit of Manchester Awards ceremony as we had been shortlisted in the Community Cohesion category. Janet and Liz attended the event and it was such a lovely evening sharing such positive examples…
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GM VCSE response to emergency humanitarian events
We want all refugees and asylum seekers to feel welcomed and supported in their new home country with us, and we are proud of the people of Greater Manchester for their compassion and generosity, through donating clothes, money, and even…
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Coordination and delivery of Afghan Response donations and activities support across Manchester
By Liz Hibberd and Rebecca Herbert
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We’re hiring!
We're excited to say that we're expanding our team! Due to an increased demand for our services, we're recruiting a Projects and Partnerships Coordinator to manager and deliver our activities.
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Upcoming Events on Ukraine
UPCOMING EVENTS ON UKRAINE
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Homes for Ukraine
The enormous amount of interest in hosting Ukrainian refugees is hugely heartening. The people of the UK are kind, generous and compassionate.
Read all our news.
Our Next Event
To see what events are coming up you can visit our events page here.
Our Handbook
Have you seen our handbook for Sanctuary Seekers in Manchester, written for Sanctuary Seekers BY sanctuary seekers. Download it here.
Donate
Could you help us with a one off or monthly donation? A small amount goes a long way. Just £10 enable a Sanctuary Seeker to attend two social sessions. Donate here.