Sanctuary Solidarity Fund

In 2019, UCC University of Sanctuary Working Group set up the Sanctuary Solidarity Fund.  This fund is managed by UCC's Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Unit and overseen by the University of Sanctuary Working Group Finance Subcommittee. It is designed to support the cultivation of UCC staff and students’ solidarity with asylum seeker, refugee and vulnerable migrant groups, individuals and families through external outreach activities.Following this, a call was put out for submissions to the Solidarity Fund for funding.

Applications were invited for small projects under this Fund, which sought to provide funding for refugee-related initiatives in various areas, including:

• Workshops
• Outreach
• Production of materials (e.g. guidelines)
• Transport
• Event catering
• An event for Refugee Week 2020 (Feb 3-7 inclusive) or other public event
• Other

The initiatives that were awarded funding in early 2020 were the following:

Other portions of the Fund were allocated to support the children's Easter and Christmas parties for children living in Direct Provision in/round the Cork area, which are organised by Mike Fitzgibbon and Dr Jacqui O'Riordan in UCC.

We were also happy to be able to contribute to a hardship fund for refugee and asylum-seeking students in UCC who are not already in receipt of a bursary such as the Sanctuary Scholarship.

Covid-19 update: As a number of these events/initiatives were no longer possible under the necesary restrictions, some were restructured slightly while keeping in the same vein as that which got the funding, such as moving face-to-face training to an online offering.  Others kindly offered the funding back so that it could be used for outreach and support to reidents of DP centres during this crisis.  We would ilke to thank most sincerely all those who returned the funding for this purpose.  As a result, we were very happy to be able to support the Sanctuary Masks Initiative by Vera Stojanovic of BetterTogether Cork and assisted by Cork Migrant Centre, UCC University of Sanctuary, UCC Feminist, Fáilte Refugees Societies, and designer Charlotte Cargin.  See news report here: https://www.rte.ie/news/2020/0409/1129645-direct-provision-virus-masks/