CLEAR stands for “City Life Education and Action for Refugees” and has been a project of City Life Church since 2001 when Southampton became a dispersal city for people seeking asylum and refugees. For nearly 25 years, CLEAR has supported people through the process and helped them rebuild their lives in the UK.
Our Team
We have a small team of part-time staff (6 full time equivalent), supported by an amazing team of around 50 volunteers and qualified freelance tutors, who are all passionate about the work we do and the people we serve.
Nikki, Cath, Anna, Adriana, Alla and Denys provide quality professional advice, and Rowan and Jo run our learning provision. Laura looks after our volunteers, and Pete gets the privilege of leading the team!
EU Welcome
EU Welcome began in 2004 as a joint initiative between Southampton City Council’s New Communities Team and the City Centre Catholic Parish of Southampton. The aim was to give support to migrant workers from the new countries of the European Union, to aid integration and to provide good quality information to ensure that all clients understood their rights in the UK, and could play their part to make Southampton an even better place in which to live and work. In January 2018, EU Welcome became part of the CLEAR Project – a brief history can be found on the EU Welcome page.
Our Values
Compassionate Community
We embrace diversity, welcoming both friends and strangers, and seek to offer a place of belonging to all.
Pioneering
We are responsive to the needs of those within our community and in the communities, we serve, finding creative solutions, breaking new ground, and courageously embracing the challenges that come with change!
Empowering
We seek to give people the tools to enable them to live well and thrive. We are committed to justice for all, respecting each person’s beliefs and choices.
Creativity
We value the courage to reflect, learn and express ourselves creatively. We celebrate creativity in every action, expression, response, and collaboration.
Our approach
We are accessible via community drop in’s and through our WhatsApp channel and website. We begin by triaging enquiries and then by providing immediate support, signposting to other provision or booking an appointment with one of our advisors.
We aim to be a friendly and welcoming community and we know that many clients really appreciate the way in which we assist them. By offering English (ESOL) courses and other adult learning, employment advice and volunteer opportunities we are able to provide joined up services which both deal with the immediate issues that people face and help them to progress.
We enjoy a well-deserved reputation for the quality, impact and the holistic nature of our advice and educational provision. Clients often come back again and again over the process of integration, which can take years. We help them at key stages; assisting on arrival in the city, during the process of claiming asylum, through getting immigration status and applying for settlement, and applying for a British passport.
Our Vision
Over the past 24 years, CLEAR have become woven into the fabric of the city’s support network for refugees and people seeking asylum, and we continue to work in collaboration with other organisations to advise, empower and educate the people we support.