Big Issue supports Roma community through mentoring scheme

National social enterprise Big Issue Changing Lives has launched a new project to support the Roma community – the largest ethnic minority in Europe – through its funding from British Gas Energy Trust. Over two years, the project will provide targeted money and energy interventions to 1,250 Big Issue vendors and their families with Equal to Equal peer mentors – magazine vendors from the Roma community – playing a key role in increasing access to this vital support within the Roma community.

The project builds on the social enterprise’s ethos of ‘a hand up not a hand out’, helping people to build resilience through holistic support aimed at tackling social exclusion.

This different approach allows Big Issue an alternative avenue to build trust and address issues within what is often thought of as a hard-to-reach part of society.

Penny Walster, The Big Issue’s Service Development Director, said: “We’re not like a typical advice agency, people don’t tend to come to us with a specific problem, even though they may have issues that need to be addressed. They come to us to sell the magazine. But through this we have a unique relationship with the Roma community – around 60% of our vendors are from that community group.

“Selling The Big Issue works quite well for the Roma community, particularly women who can work around childcare and schooling arrangements.

“Because we’re not seen as an advice agency, we get a unique insight into the cost-of-living crisis and the situation around energy bills.

“One of the biggest things to overcome is communication. The Roma community often like to talk to friends and family so our Equal to Equal scheme works really well.”

Funded by British Gas Energy Trust, Big Issue has been able to support 12 people from the Roma community in London, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Bristol, Nottingham and Glasgow to become peer mentors. The social enterprise puts these mentors through two days of training on things like safeguarding, confidentiality and understanding boundaries as well as arming them with basic information around fuel poverty, benefits and the support available, with a view to follow-up appointments being made available for any person wanting to get support with different aspects of life.

Gwyn Thomas De Chroustchoff, Big Issue Changing Lives’ Service Development Manager, said: “Some of the best outcomes have been when people have just been wanting a fuel voucher because they’re in energy debt but when we’ve subsequently been able to sit down with them to discuss things, we’ve been able to talk about their wider situation and get them benefits that they have been entitled to for years, and that’s making such a big difference.

“The housing crisis – and therefore energy issues within the home – disproportionately affects marginalised communities. A high proportion of the Roma community are in privately rented accommodation and have informal relationships with their landlords, so might not have tenancy agreements. It means that they often don’t have access to the standard of accommodation that they should have. The insight we get from Equal to Equal mentors means we’re able to start conversations around this.”

Penny believes the project is also proving worthwhile from a wider perspective too, adding: “It’s gone really well so far, we’ve had really positive feedback and as well as it proving to be a really useful tool to engage with people around their energy bills, it’s also giving people an opportunity to pick up skills to go into employment.

“We’ve seen younger women particularly, stepping out of their normal roles, not getting married and having children young, taking up these opportunities and talking about going to college. It’s proving to be a really powerful programme.”

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