About Real Hope
Real Hope Leeds was born out of Arash’s own experience of seeking asylum in the UK. Whilst waiting for his case to be decided he saw how easily asylum seekers and refugees could be exploited in the black market. He decided that one day he would use his passion for food, and desire to help others, to empower refugees for work in the main economy.
Arash shared this compelling vision with Phil Thomas, who joined him to set up Real Hope Leeds as the other director. Phil has 20 years of experience as the founder and director of Transformations Leeds, a charity that works with international students. More recently the team has grown to include Paula Moore, an experienced and highly qualified ESOL teacher, Raymond Kwan, a barista trainer and Sangeetha Joseph the ‘work placement manager’.
The initial pilot project was run from St Luke’s Church in Holbeck where Real Hope also ran a cafe. The pilot evidenced that refugees and asylum seekers had a need for such a project. The cafe also received excellent press coverage in the Yorkshire Evening Post and the South Leeds Life. The pilot paved the way for an improved way of working as Real Hope moved its operations to the city centre.
Thanks to funding from The National Lottery, Real Hope started delivering an expanded training programme in Autumn 2024. This includes: ‘English for customer service’ taught from meeting rooms at Virgin Money, barista training at 200 Degrees Coffee and work experience placements at different cafes in Leeds. Real Hope now offers quality catering, enabling some Real Hope trainees to have a fair wage.
Real Hope has come a long way in a short space of time and Arash and the team look forward to what is to come in the future.