Our Goals
The primary purpose of the Fund is to assist qualified Roma with the acquisition of a secure and permanent home outside the current ghetto. In view of the de-facto apartheid system that prevails in much of rural Slovakia, the realization of this basic goal extends far beyond the simple purchase of a home. Our assistance includes a broad range of services which the semi-literate and marginalized residents of isolated squatter settlements are poorly equipped for – legal advice, collaboration with realtors, and negotiation with municipal authorities.
The Fund operates in the Prešov region of eastern Slovakia, where we focus on the Svinia settlement - a community which we know intimately and where habitable housing is in particularly short supply. Our assistance includes three main services: 1. Provision of fair and affordable loans to individuals who can demonstrate ability and willingness to pay off their debt, as well as a good potential for integration into mainstream society; 2. Advocacy on behalf of the future homeowners with municipal authorities, White neighbours, and local opinion-makers; 3. Close cooperation with the relocated families in matters affecting integration into their new neighbourhood. Since the formal inception of our activities in the spring of 2005, we have helped nine families from the Svinia settlement make a successful transition to life outside the ghetto. These families are the first local Roma living side-by-side with white Slovaks, providing a model for long-overdue desegregation. |