Established in 2011, Borderlands creates a community of welcome which supports asylum seekers, refugees (ASR) and other vulnerable migrants in the Bristol area to move ‘from exclusion to belonging’.
Our Welcome Centre is a safe, trusted and well-known space for ASR to get support, make connections and build community in their new home in Bristol. We offer a social space, a weekly shared hot meal and social supermarket, one-to-one problem-solving support, hosting of other agencies and regular trips and cultural events. Our Feel Good project organises wellbeing activities such as yoga, dance, sleep and relaxation, cooking groups, sewing, football and climbing. Our Mentoring Project provides one-to-one practical and emotional support to help ‘mentees' achieve some personal goals. Our Learning Project offers English classes and a creative women’s group, and also helps ASR to explore other learning opportunities. Our Outreach work facilitates access to our services and others for asylum seekers housed in hotels. All our activities and projects are guided by our values of Warmth, Connection, Dignity and Respect. We are part of the Bristol Refugee and Asylum Seeker Partnership (BRASP) and work closely with our partners to coordinate support for ASR throughout the city.
IMPACT:
In 2025-26, we supported 1714 refugees and asylum seekers across our projects, registering 321 new members, feeding an average of 100 individuals each week and providing groceries to 290 households. We provide volunteering opportunities to a team of over 150 volunteers, of whom 46 are sanctuary seekers themselves.
What we're looking for from Corporate Partnerships:
- In-kind donations of fresh fruit, vegetables and tinned goods to stock our breakfast table, weekly shared hot meal, social supermarket and cooking groups - to improve access to nutritious, affordable and culturally appropriate food
- Financial donations to provide consistent, holistic support to our staff members with lived experience of the asylum system - to help champion equitable and inclusive lived experience leadership in the sector
- Professional pro-bono services to provide our small team with one-off financial analysis and specialist legal advice - to strengthen our internal practices and ensure watertight regulatory compliance as we navigate external challenges
How Corporate Partners could benefit:
- Achieve against social value commitments to generate positive financial and social outcomes for vulnerable people in your local community
- Arrange a Borderlands' 'Lunch & Learn' at your workplace to expel myths about sanctuary seekers
- Join us at one of the shared hot meals at our busy Welcome Centre
- Participate in a meeting with our group of Changemakers (asylum seeking ambassadors) about their experiences of life in Bristol
- Attend our regular events as 'Friends of Borderlands'
- Fundraise for us through 'charity of the year' schemes, ad hoc appeals and other employee schemes
- Volunteer with us as a mentor, chef, ESOL tutor, alongside many other opportunities
- Join our Board of Trustees
- Receive our quarterly newsletter to keep up to date with other ways to get involved
Contact:
If you are interested in supporting our community in some way, please get in touch at yasmin@borderlands.org.uk and we can arrange call and/or visit to discuss further.
Borderlands has a strong focus on empowering the people we work with (our members) to take charge of their own lives, working alongside them and learning from them. We are committed to finding ways to empower our members in the development and delivery of our work. Most Welcome Centre activities are delivered by a team of ASR volunteers and any new activity is only offered after consulting with members so we understand if it is needed, timings/availability and barriers to attending. Members are given opportunities to bring ideas, share feedback and project plan through consultations, focus groups and annual surveys.
All our members are from BAME groups and around 20% are young people. We also support ASR who are disabled, carers and LGBTQIA+.