City of Sanctuary Bradford

17/08/2026

Kinda chic to be a city of sanctuary 🧡

05/08/2026

Here's what attendees at our Lift The Ban Festival last month have to say about the campaign!

Bradford City of Sanctuary is proudly a member of the campaign, which asks the government to grant people seeking asylum the right to work.

Granting people seeking asylum the right to work would enable them to integrate into their communities, find a sense of purpose, lift themselves out of poverty and contribute to the economy. Currently, people seeking asylum receive about £7 a day from the government, and are prohibited from providing for themselves.

(Featuring some of the beautiful blooms in in Bradford's city centre 🌺🌼🌷)

29/07/2026

Huge congratulations to Ahmad, who has just graduated from the University of Bradford with a first class degree in pharmaceutical and cosmetic science 🥳

Ahmad left Syria as a child and spent seven years in Turkiye before arriving in the UK not speaking a word of English! What an incredible achievement, we can't wait to see what Ahmad gets up to next.

The University of Bradford is proudly a University of Sanctuary, reflecting its oustanding commitment to welcoming and including people seeking sanctuary.

A REFUGEE who fled Syria as a child is celebrating after graduating with a first-class honours degree.

15/07/2026

Last month, we hosted Bradford's first ever Lift The Ban Festival in collaboration with our friends at Stand & Be Counted - SBC Theatre and Race Equality Network. The festival was organised to raise awareness of the Lift The Ban campaign, which asks the government to give people seeking asylum the right to work. The day was filled with positivity, collaboration, energy, and creativity, and we all left determined to take the campaign to the next level. 🤝

If you couldn't make it on the day, you can read all about it in our latest blog post 👇

Building a culture of welcome

13/07/2026

Last week we travelled to sunny sunny Birmingham for the City of Sanctuary Away Day☀️

We connected with groups from up and down the country who are working hard to make our communities truly welcoming for people seeking sanctuary. We put our heads together and planned for how we can make our work more impactful, more strategic, and more led by people with lived experience.

We heard about incredible projects happening across the UK - from hosting courageous conversations on the South Coast, to speaking up for sanctuary in Wales. We had many inspiring conversations with kind, compassionate people, and came away with loads of ideas for how to develop our work in Bradford.

Street by street, city by city, town by town, we will build a culture of welcome in this country in which everyone can thrive. And I couldn’t think of anyone better to be doing it with.

Thank you City of Sanctuary UK 🧡 for organising such a thoughtful and energising event 🧡

09/07/2026

🤝Lift The Ban/ Refugee Week photo dump! 🤝

At the end of June we got together with Stand & Be Counted. 🧡 and to organise our first ever Lift The Ban Festival during Refugee Week. The day aimed to raise awareness for the Lift The Ban campaign, which asks the government to grant people seeking asylum the right to work so that they can rebuild their lives and live with dignity.

The day was filled with inspiring panel discussions with community activists and people with lived experience, as well as workshops and creative performances. The day started with Nigerian drumming and ended with dancing, a true testament to the energy, passion, and creativity of people seeking sanctuary in Bradford. We all came away energised and filled with ideas to ramp up the campaign in Bradford.

Lift the Ban is about so much more than just the right to work. It’s about inclusion, dignity, empowerment, and freedom.

Other highlights from Refugee Week include:
🧡delicious food from Cafe Delyssa
🧡the wonderful Furaha performing at a Refugee Week event in Leeds
🧡the excellent Northern Race Equality Conference organised by
🧡meeting Commonweal and learning more about their incredible radical lending library

15/06/2026

This , we stand 🧡

We are proud to be part of a movement celebrating the contributions, creativity, and resilience of people seeking sanctuary in this country. The theme for this year’s Refugee Week is courage, reminding us to be courageous, stand up for people seeking sanctuary, and learn from each other.

Join us.



08/06/2026

A cup of tea for I, a cup of tea for we ☕️🧡
Our founder Will recently went on BCB Radio to talk through some of his favourite pieces of music and describe how he moved to Bradford and set up Bradford City of Sanctuary. It's a beautiful listen with a wonderfully eclectic mixture of music - from local Bradford talent, to the shipping forecast theme song and everything in between!
You can listen to Will's interview here (it was the 12:00-13:00pm One-To-One programme): https://listenagain.bcbradio.co.uk/?pgdate=20260521

04/06/2026

We are looking for a wonderful volunteer minute-taker!

Our volunteer minute-taker will attend our quarterly trustee meetings (online) to take notes, but will not be a trustee. They will also attend our yearly AGM and Away Day if they are available.

We are looking for someone who:
- shares our values
- is happy taking minutes

If you would like to contribute to our work to build a culture of welcome in Bradford, this is a great way to get involved. Please email [email protected] for more information or to express your interest.

❤️

28/05/2026

🤝How to build a culture of welcome through language 🤝

Featuring ‘Don’t Judge a Book By Its Cover’, a stunning phrase book for English learners by designer Bahbak Hashemi-Nezha, co-edited with people attending Sheffield City of Sanctuary’s weekly English classes. The book features phrases translated into seven languages (Arabic, Farsi, Kurdish, Tigriniya, Amharic, Spanish and Ukrainian) alongside beautiful illustrations by Danielle Rhoda. We were grateful to be sent these phrase books and we can’t wait to share them with learners here in Bradford.

Here are some of our ideas for how to build a culture of welcome through language:

1. Learn how to say hello in a variety of languages! Even learning a few simple words of someone else’s language can help them feel at home. 👋
2. Translate signs into other languages. If you have a lot of people who speak English as a second language at your workplace or community centre, consider translating signs. This can help people navigate a new place while they are still learning English. 🛃
3. Volunteer with an English conversation club. You don’t have to be a qualified teacher to help someone learn a language. Volunteering with a conversation club will show people that they are welcome, and creates opportunities to connect with others. 🗣️
4. Advocate for ESOL opportunities in your workplace or community group. Many people want to learn English, but do not have the opportunity. ✏️

Let us know if we’ve missed any!

Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover is designed by and
Illustrations by