Tim Holtam (CF 2018) from Brighton in East Sussex is the founding director of the Brighton Table Tennis Club.

Tim will use his grant to set up a programme of support to help refugees and asylum seekers integrate into the community Refugees are some of the most marginalised and vulnerable people in communities and have been affected by issues such as loneliness and isolation as a result of the pandemic. Tim will work with local refugee organisations including The Refugee Council and social services to deliver weekly coached table tennis sessions at the Brighton Table Tennis Club and integrate refugees with other members of the community. He will also work with The Real Junk Food Project Brighton to provide food. Tim hopes that this will provide a friendly environment where they can meet new people, practise their English and receive information about other community activities and services, with a positive impact on their social, emotional and physical wellbeing.

Tim’s Fellowship to Italy, Jordan and the Netherlands in 2018 explored refugee and community integration through sport. It was supported by The Linbury Trust.

Jem Stein (CF 2018) from London is the founder and CEO of The Bike Project, a social enterprise that supplies second-hand bikes to refugees. During the pandemic, many refugees they support were struggling with loneliness and isolation. To address this, the charity developed Cyber Cyclists, a programme for refugees to connect and engage in online activities with other refugees and volunteers.

Jem will use his grant to develop a 12-week pilot that will test their existing online programme. To do this, Jem will engage 68 trained volunteers and 70 refugees and asylum seekers, asking them to gather feedback and recommendations that can be implemented to improve the platform. Jem also plans to increase the accessibility of the platform, by including translation services so that users can engage in their preferred language. Jem hopes that these improvements will help to increase social interactions and the number of social bike rides undertaken by refugees and asylum seekers, and ultimately reduce their feelings of loneliness and social isolation. When the pilot has been completed, Jem plans to share the findings and recommendations with other charities and social enterprises.

Jem’s Fellowship to the USA in 2018 explored effective large-scale social enterprise through collaboration. It was supported by The Rank Foundation.