About Us
Praxis is an award-winning human rights charity fighting for migrant rights since 1983. We give advice, provide support, and campaign so that migrants and refugees in the UK can live with safety, dignity and respect.
Our vision:
People who have migrated to the UK will not be marginalised or mistreated because of their immigration status. They will live safely, free from poverty, discrimination, and exclusion, and be treated with compassion and respect.
Our mission:
Our mission is to create positive change for and with individuals and communities who are marginalised because of their immigration status. We deliver this by working on three levels:
1. Delivering direct services: providing specialist legal advice and holistic welfare support to help people live securely and safely.
2. Building the capacity of other services in the UK: using our expertise to provide innovative solutions and sharing our knowledge through training and partnership working.
3. Campaigning for systemic change: building alliances and working in partnership with experts by experience to create positive, long-term changes to the policies and practices that cause exclusion and destitution.
Our history:
We were founded in 1983 by the Robert Kemble Trust, and we were originally based in 12 Goodge Street before moving to our current home at the United Reformed Church building in Bethnal Green. In 1997, Praxis was registered as a non-sectarian charity independent of the Robert Kemble Trust. Over the years our services have evolved to meet the challenges of the day, with community and human rights always at its heart.
Our name comes from the Ancient Greek term praxis, which means turning theoretical knowledge into practical action. Throughout the centuries its concept has been enriched by philosophers like Marx, Gramsci, and Arendt. It was Brazilian pedagogue Freire’s understanding of praxis that ultimately inspired the name of our charity: through praxis we learn we are in solidarity. When we combine our energies we are able to create a gentler, more caring world. At Praxis we strive for a better way, we learn together, we listen to the needs of the community, and most importantly, everyone belongs here.
Learn about our values:
“At Praxis there are so many transformations that sometimes you blink and there is something new, because it is responding to the needs of the people, that’s why they were one of the first organisation responding to the need of the Windrush generation, because they saw a need and offered a solution.”
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“Just being a human to another human”