Welcome Project awarded £35k grant

Tue, 14 Mar 2023

A new project is to be launched by two local organisations which will welcome and support people relocating to the Isle of Man. 

One World Centre (Isle of Man) has been awarded a £35,000 grant from Manx Lottery Trust for it to launch ‘The Welcome Project’, an initiative alongside Café Lingo. 

These services include expanding Café Lingo’s English language services, putting on events and community programmes to help integration and creating a drop-in facility for people to ask questions, with language support where needed. 

Wendy Shimmin, Coordinator at One World Centre, said: ‘One of our aims at the One World Centre is to recognise how interdependent and interconnected we are with others in the world and to encourage respect and understanding for all cultures, both globally and on our Island. The Welcome Project is a way of putting this into action and helping newcomers to understand our own culture and customs so they can more readily feel part of our community.

‘We are conscious that the Government’s Island Plan has ambitions to grow the population, and that the further development of various industry sectors may see more workers from overseas moving here. With this in mind, we would like the Isle of Man to be ready to welcome them and for their arrival to be seen in a positive light.’

As part of the initiative, One World Centre have appointed a Project Officer, Charlotte Dutton, who will be dedicated to supporting people new to the Island with their understanding of Manx culture and customs, and English language skills. 

 

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