WHO WE ARE

Bridge to Better Future
Schippersgracht 3
1011 TR Amsterdam
Email : info@bridgetobetter.org
Telefoon: 06 53519442

ING Bank: NL73 INGB 0006 3750 01
tnv St. Bridge to Better Future, Amsterdam

Bridge to Better Future is

an ANBI-foundation

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WHO WE ARE

Bridge to Better Future is a non-govermental, non-profit ANBI foundation that wants to offer future prospects for migrants who get stuck in their lives, where safety and dignity is our norm. Bridge to Better consists of a multicultural team that has been committed to this target group with heart and soul for more than 12 years. Hundreds of people have been helped by the effective approach. Read more about this in "stories"

Vision:

Every foreign national deserves a sustainable future perspective, regardless of whether they receive a permit to stay in the Netherlands or have to return to their home country. The sooner they are provided with the necessary skills and facilities, the faster and more successfully they can build a life in the Netherlands or in their own country. In addition to the perspective this offers for the migrant, this reduces the costs of benefits, shelter and illegality for Dutch society and fills vacancies at companies and institutions with staff shortages.

Mission:

Bridge to Better Future helps migrants through a proactive approach, empowerment, training, guidance, coaching and aftercare to build a sustainable future.

Target audience:

Migrants who are staying illegally in the Netherlands or have applied for asylum, are awaiting the outcome of their procedure or have recently received a residence permit or rejection.

• Refugees or victims of violence or human trafficking who sought protection here and are not believed, she wants to assist before or during their application for residence and look for solutions together with experts. 

• Helping migrants who apply for residence in the Netherlands at an early stage to get to work by means of coaching, study guidance and job choice in order to prevent them from ending up in a years-long assistance circuit with all the consequences that entails. Aliens who have been tried without a legal perspective for residence who have to orientate themselves to make choices, BtoBF wants to coach and guide them to a dignified legal existence.

• Migrants without a permit to stay who have been tried without a legal perspective for residence who have to orientate themselves to make choices, BtoBF wants to coach and guide them to a dignified legal existence. When there is no perspective in the Netherlands, they can be better helped with skills for the future than a temporary shelter and false hope. Many people would like to return, but lack the skills and connection.
  When people choose to return voluntarily, we help with this new restart an inkind amount in collaboration with IOM.
  
  In our two to four-month program, we help people from an underprivileged situation to a hopeful future. We do this through training and coaching, and we teach them how to start their own business so that they can stand on their own two feet and make a positive contribution to the local community.

In all parts, the foundation works together with professionals in the legal, medical and educational fields and with the business community and municipalities in order to make knowledge and experience available for this target group. We recruit volunteers from this target group to learn and support projects.

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Current situation

Approximately 100,000 undocumented migrants reside in the Netherlands, many of whom are economic refugees from safe countries. Every week, about a thousand new asylum seekers arrive. For many of them, it is not possible to get a residence permit even after 10 years of waiting. Because of their illegal status, these men and women often have no work or a home. Partly due to corona, many lose their small jobs and become homeless. They quickly find themselves in a hopeless situation where a safety net is missing.

Migrants without a permit who have been tried so often lose their self-confidence and dignity little by little, while the government costs for this group of people weigh on society. In this situation, everyone loses. If, after careful reconsideration, no legal perspective emerges, Bridge to Better strives for an honorable solution. which leads to a win-win situation for both undocumented people and Dutch society.
When economic refugees have no prospect of staying and their country safe, it is often better to help prepare them to return sustainably and honorably than to spend months, years in a shelter with false hopes and impending depressions.

For the government, too, voluntary return to the country of origin costs much less than detention, reception of migrants or new, hopeless procedures. We will therefore continue to do an apel on municipalities to work on projects like this. In addition to good preparation by means.m of training and coaching, Bridge to Better is therefore looking for more material support from partners, companies and funding to realize the restart in the country of origin.

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Current problem

Another important and current social problem is that the long lead time of applying for asylum (waiting for trial, decision, papers, follow-up assistance) and associated assistance is arranged in such a way that it puts migrants on hold for a long time and thus makes them unnecessarily passive and dependent. In addition, migrants often have little education and work experience, which gives them perspective on the labour market (both here and in their country of origin).

According to SER April 2021, it takes an average of 5.5 years before a status holder finds (temporary) work. Activating the migrant earlier and matching it to an apprenticeship can make a big difference in this.

Both for society and for (the self-image, self-confidence and motivation of) the people involved, it is important that a migrant can make a positive contribution as soon as possible after arriving in the Netherlands. In the absence of perspective, another danger lurks, namely labour exploitation and the sex industry, especially among victims of human trafficking.

Bridge to Better Future therefore wants to proactively approach people at an early stage through its network in order to activate the potential strength and talents of migrants who are currently in a relief and dependency position. By stimulating their intrinsic motivation, self-direction and personal responsibility and equipping them with skills to build a sustainable life, the time to integration can be shortened and people are more likely to find a job or make another meaningful contribution. By using short-term targeted learning trajectories in combination with necessary management and coaching, we build a bridge to a sustainable solution in which the migrant can take care of himself and his family.