Islington BAMER Advice Alliance

Islington BAMER Advice Alliance (ibaa)
is a network of Islington-based information, advice, support and guidance providers delivering advice to disadvantaged, vulnerable and hard-to-reach Black, Minoritised and Refugee communities in the London Borough of Islington. We act as an umbrella organisation bringing together and amplifying voices of BAMER-led groups in Islington, including two women-only organisations supporting survivors of domestic abuse, VAWG, FGM and other gender-based violence. 

Vision and Mission

• Our vision is one where high-quality, inclusive services are available to the whole community. IBAA believes that every individual can be empowered to make positive changes in their lives.
• IBAA aims to improve the economic and social well-being of BAMER residents in Islington by providing advice, advocacy and equal access to timely, relevant and accurate information and above all to social justice.

Values 

• Holistic, person-centred, non-judgmental and anti-discriminatory practice that embodies respect
• and empathy for individuals
• Addressing access to justice inequalities through prevention strategies
• Linking legal advice interventions with wider community empowerment
• Using legal advice and wider well-being initiatives and projects to add value by promoting social
• Cohesion, developing local social capital and building sustainable community capacity
• Commitment to self-empowerment – enabling individuals to take control over their own lives and to be the originators and catalysts of their own welfare
• Supporting individuals to identify and fulfil their own potential
• Encouraging mutuality through collective approaches to self-help and self-care
• Championing and promoting social justice and equality
• Provision of free or affordable legal and social welfare advice services

We offer person-centred support in various community languages (Turkish, Kurdish (Kirmanci and Sorani), Tigrigna, Tigre, Amharic, Somali, Arabic and English) in the following areas: 

• Housing and Homelessness 
• Welfare and benefits
• Finance and Debt
• Health, Personal Care, Emotional and Mental Wellbeing 
• Digital Exclusion 
• Employment and job search
• immigration and re-settlement  
• Domestic Violence, VAWG and FGM
• Hate Crime and Race-based violence 
• Emotional Support 
• Neighbour disputes 
• and more 

Along with this, the ibaa partnership provides various well-being workshops, ESOL classes, financial education and other forms of support. Since 2022, we are also a Cloudesley Welfera Grnats referral partner.

Read more on our websites. 

For the full list, visit our member organisations:

Islington Bangladesh Association

Eritrean Community in the UK

Islington Somali Community

KMEWO

IMECE

Evelyn Oldfield Unit