How are you helping to tackle child poverty in London?

Praxis is a charity for migrants and refugees. We provide immigration advice, housing and peer support and through all of these ways our work helps to protect children from poverty. We have become a leading expert in finding pathways out of destitution and supporting migrants facing homelessness, and our training and campaign work has national and international impact. Our core purpose is to help migrants in crisis or at risk, ensuring they can live in safety, overcome the barriers they face, and take control of their own destinies. You can read more about our strategy here, find us on Facebook, Twitter and our website here.

As part of this work, we facilitate the No Recourse to Public Funds Action Group, which is made up of campaigners with lived experience of the No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) policy, to build campaigns to end this policy. You can find out more about our campaign, and read the NRPF Action Group’s manifesto calling for the end of NRPF here.

Tell us something you are excited about?

We are really excited that the group has decided to focus on campaigning for free school meals. The overarching goal of our campaign is to ensure free school meals for all children living in poverty, regardless of their parents’ immigration status. We’re launching with a specific call to the Government to make permanent the temporary extension of free school meals to some groups of children living in poverty affected by No Recourse to Public Funds, which was brought in during the pandemic.

We are also calling for free school meals for all children in poverty, regardless of immigration status, to take into account the fact that children with insecure immigration status are not covered by the extension of eligibility.
Our policy briefing sets out our campaign asks in more detail – you can find that here;

Additionally, here are some posts you can share if possible:

If you can support our campaign on social media, in your email networks and newsletters, this would be hugely appreciated! Please do reach out if you would like to collaborate in any way!. Any support you can offer to our campaign is hugely welcomed and thank you for all you do – Pascale.robinson@praxis.org.uk

Share with our members something positive about your organisation’s achievement or service?

We were one of the organisations that helped to uncover the Windrush Scandal originally and we’re proud to have been part of the work to campaign to change the system.

What can other network members learn from you or find out more about through you?

  • We can offer advice for those who need help navigating the migration system: Get Help — Praxis for Migrants and Refugees.
  • We are experts in finding pathways out of destitution and supporting migrants facing homelessness. Please reach out to collaborate on this!
  • We can offer training on the immigration system for a variety of organisations (depending on our capacity).

What would most help you achieve your goals?

We want to make sure that migrants can live in safety, overcome the barriers they face, and take control of their own destinies. To do this, we campaign for systemic change. We’re building alliances and working in partnership with experts by experience to create positive, long-term changes to the policies and practices that create exclusion and destitution. We’d love to collaborate on work to achieve these goals!

Why did you join 4in10? What do you enjoy about being part of the 4in10 network?

Though we have only been in contact with the 4in10 team for a short while, 4in10 has already provided a brilliant chance to forge connections and collaborate with other amazing organisations working in the capital!

We are so looking forward to working together more, especially on our campaign to make sure all who need them have access to free school meals regardless of their immigration status.