International Community Organisation of Sunderland (ICOS)

ICOS provides support and opportunities to minoritised communities living in Sunderland, through provision of advice, advocacy, community development, volunteering and wellbeing activates, e.g. through the delivery of ICOS women’s group or ICOS Sports group. ICOS was formed in response to the area welcoming new migrants, who often found it difficult to access services, understand their rights and integrate with the wider community. We achieve this through needs tailored one-to-one advice e.g. supporting individuals and families with issues including applying for housing, registering with schools and GP practices, applying for welfare benefits and accessing services across the city. We also work with clients with specific support to access employment and training (including STEM opportunites for women) through a number of interventions such as support with job searching and applications, CV’s, employability workshops and interview preperation. Additionally, we focus on providing support to survivors of modern day slavery and workplace exploitation to rebuild their lives and regain control over their lives through the Back in Control Project. We also provide support to women who have been subjected to domestic abuse with needs tailored support which includes safety planning and reporting and provide advice and guidance to those who have been affected by hate crime and antisocial behaviour. 

We

• Connect people to opportunities
• Defend people’s rights
• Bring people from different cultural backgrounds together

In order to fulfil our mission, we provide the following activities:

• Information, Advice, Guidance and Advocacy work (individual casework) in a wide range of diverse areas, from  employability to welfare rights
• Volunteering opportunities
• Cultural activities

Our values are:

• Justice
• Equality
• Involvement
• Connectedness
• Commitment
• Antiracism
• Inclusion