The Inspire Project was developed by The Welcoming Association and Volunteering Matters to meet the clear need of supporting young New Scots refugee’s and asylum seekers, to overcome the barriers faced with relocating and living in a new city, helping New Scots to thrive and play an active role in their new communities.

New Scots arriving in Scotland can often face multiple barriers to further education, employment, training and a whole host of other opportunities. The Inspire Project was set up to tackle these challenges, drawing on the unique skills and expertise of partners.

Throughout this project, we have provided tailored and bespoke support to young New Scots, helping them to build skills, confidence, explore career options, plan for the future, integrate into their communities and to ultimately move forward in life. We have empowered participants to volunteer in their communities and have facilitated the opportunity for each young person to benefit from a positive, trusting mentoring relationship as a wrap-around support.

Our amazing mentors

Through our equitable volunteer recruitment strategy, we have attracted Volunteer Mentors from many backgrounds and walks of life.

This includes Mentors of all ages including students, retired people and working professionals looking for a career change or an opportunity to give back to the local community.

We have welcomed Mentors from various cultural backgrounds who have lived experience of relocating, as well as people who speak additional languages other than English. Volunteers who can speak Arabic and Persian have supported us to reach beneficiaries with little to no English and successfully tailor our support to them.