Leeds City Council builds on success of award winning Migrant Access Project

Leeds City Council has successfully secured grant funding from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) Controlling Migration Fund to support settled communities and services in the city. This funding will enable the city to work with all communities, to build on their strengths, to address concerns and reduce pressures on services.

Leeds is a welcoming and compassionate city and has one of the most diverse and changing cultural populations in the UK. The Migrant Access Project ‘Plus’ will allow work to take place with settled and new communities to improve their understanding of how systems and processes work. This will help them to become better informed and in addition, form strong and supportive relationships across communities.

This work will complement the council’s ‘Strong Communities Benefitting from a Strong City’, Breakthrough Project. This cross cutting programme of work seeks to promote good community relations, cultural and religious tolerance and respect, and the celebration of cultural diversity. The council are keen to address real and perceived issues to help to build resilience and cohesion within communities.

Councillor Debra Coupar, Leeds City Council’s executive member for communities, said:

“This is really good news for Leeds in a time when the council is having to make significant savings. This grant funding will help us to continue our journey to be the Best City for Communities by building on our established EUROCITIES award winning Migrant Access Project that is internationally recognised. The council and the Migrant Access Project ‘Plus’ will ensure that Leeds continues to be a compassionate and welcoming city through encouraging communities to be empowered and contribute to local actions which build strong and resilient communities.”

Notes to editors:

Leeds City Council was awarded £525,000 from the funding from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) Controlling Migration Fund.