As we approach the half-way point of our five-year strategy, Action Foundation CEO, Duncan McAuley (above holding mic) looks at how far we’ve come and where we’re headed in the next two and a half years.

Throughout 2022 we worked through a two-stage process, first reviewing our Identity by looking at our Purpose and Values and second, by setting our priorities for the next five years – building a vision for the future.

Essential in getting this right was taking the time to listen to our clients, staff, trustees, volunteers and partner organisations.

So what have we achieved?

Our commitment to continue to deliver our Language, Accommodation and InterAction projects has been realised and I’m very happy to report that we’ve even added elements through that period.

For example, we rebranded our existing Action Language service as ‘Language & Learning’ to include Digital Skills and Employability support.

We’ve grown our Accommodation support modestly to 62 bedspaces, thanks to new philanthropic landlords joining our organisation.

Our InterAction project has further developed its specialism in casework and on top of the weekly Drop-in we run in Newcastle every Thursday, we have also offered casework in South Tyneside to help people access NHS health provision and volunteering opportunities –  from gardening to bike maintenance and cookery.

Expanding our offer

Back in 2022 our clients told us they’d like to see us develop new provision in three areas:

  • families and young people
  • employment
  • mental health

In response to this, in December 2023 we began our Young Lives service, for babies, children, young people and their families from migrant backgrounds. Since its launch, we’ve supported more than 280 people.

Employability was identified as a big issue for our clients, so we responded by providing bespoke mentoring and group work to support asylum seekers and refugees to become ‘work ready’ and access training and volunteering.

We are still exploring how best to provide mental health support. Whilst our support workers all operate in a trauma-informed way – and there is evidence that our Know Your Neighbourhood volunteering project improves clients’ mental health – we do not yet have a project directly delivering psychological support. We are continuing to explore this area and we hope to address this through building partnerships with other organisations in the coming years.

Adapting to change

However much you plan, external events have a way of intervening and we have had to stay adaptable to the changing external environment. For example, the increase in refugee homelessness over the past 18 months has seen us support record numbers. Then during last summer’s riots, we shifted our support for clients and in the months that followed produced a report based on their reflections.

Putting lived experience at the heart of what we do is something we continue to prioritise and we’ve recently appointed an Inclusion Development Manager who will help us make changes small and large across the organisation over the coming years.

Almost half our staff team and 40 per cent of our trustees have experience of migration to the UK, a significant increase since 2022.

There’s still a way to go to address everything in our five-year plan and we’d love to hear what YOU think about the next two years.

On Thursday January 30 between 2-4pm there will be a session for ALL volunteers at The CastleGate. Do get in contact with us if you’d like to share your thoughts but can’t get to this session. Whatever your relationship is with our charity – client, staff member, volunteer or supporter, we’d love to hear from you.

I’m hugely appreciative of you all and excited about the coming years here at Action Foundation.