About Us
Surrey Minority Ethnic Forum (SMEF) is a community organisation with charitable and company status, and it represents over sixty multi ethnic community and voluntary groups in Surrey and its surrounding areas.
SMEF is an umbrella organisation, bringing together over sixty grassroot community groups, voicing the diverse views of all ethnic minority communities living and working in Surrey, to strategic partners such as Surrey County Council, local and district councils, Surrey Police, Surrey Heartlands, and the NHS. SMEF was set up in 2009 to represent the needs and aspirations of a growing diverse multi ethnic minority community and organisations in Surrey; it became an independent charity in 2013.
SMEF’s vision is to develop a unified and diverse community with an active focus on improved wellbeing for all in Surrey and its mission is to engage and empower ethnic minoritised communities to work together to actively find solutions to the social and economic challenges they face.
SMEF was awarded the Queens Award for Voluntary Service in 2021 for the unique way it works with minority ethnic communities from a diverse range of ethnicities, race and faith backgrounds and ensuring inclusion and fairness between all these communities. It connects ethnically diverse community groups to work together to create a more unified county.
SMEF is an exceptional and unique volunteer-led grass roots organisation serving the all the diversity in the minority ethnic communities in Surrey. Our volunteers focus on developing a “unified and diverse community with improved wellbeing for all of Surrey” driven by a desire to engage, educate and empower ethnic minority communities in the County.
SMEF volunteers encourage community cohesion, resilience and empowerment amongst groups which would never ordinarily interact, offering a broad suite of services through free membership. These services range from the strategic such as governance support and fund raising, to the practical such as setting up a community project at the grass roots level.
Over the 12 years of its existence, and overcoming significant obstacles, trustees have developed relationships with key statutory and community organisations, fostering a two-way dialogue. SMEF identifies and communicates community needs. At the same time, SMEF acts as a conduit for local government, health and police messaging to the communities that are hardest to reach.
SMEF has generated a symbiotic relationship, using its network to listen to and amplify the voices of the ethnic minority groups that it brings together. No other organisation in Surrey undertakes this role for over 24% of Surrey residents who hail from ethnic minority communities.
SMEF has created a strong reputation locally and nationally as the organisation with which both minority ethnic organisations and statutory organisations wish to be associated. Its voluntary trustees have fought hard to sustain the organisation its formative years. Through perseverance and sheer determination, the trustees sustained the organisation through a tricky lean period. This ensured that the SMEF networks were preserved and consolidated with a track record for delivering excellent outcomes.
SMEF is a much-needed organisation in Surrey; being the only organisation that engages, educates, empowers, and brings together minoritised ethnic communities and promotes working together to find solutions to the common economic and social challenges in today’s Britain. Through its facilitation, diverse groups come together to discuss and resolve key issues which in many cases are shared. Sharing ideas and best practice is key part of the SMEF role in the county.
SMEF is a strong advocate for its communities, putting a spotlight on inequity, racism, and discrimination. It endeavours to be the race equality and advocacy charity, championing the voices of all diverse minoritised ethnic communities in Surrey.
SMEF focuses on empowering diverse communities to articulate their needs in order to better influence system partners to address inequality, discrimination, and racism.
SMEF works with an inclusive and broad-minded approach, its work provides people with opportunities to share and give views.
SMEF’s model is one of providing a neutral space – where people of diverse cultures, faiths and ethnicities come together to find solutions to the inequities they face living in Britain today.
A space where communities have the confidence to shape their destinies by a shared understanding of their values, rights, and responsibilities.
SMEF connects, collaborates, and builds long lasting relationships within and across communities and organisations; it aims to improve quality of life and well-being with a view to promote harmony and community cohesion across the county.
SMEF aspires to be a catalyst for positive change by focusing on providing solutions to address race inequality and discrimination as well as empowering minoritised ethnic communities through its services.
SMEF works in the community and in key neighbourhoods, delivering a number of projects across the county to tackle social, health and economic inequality, to reduce isolation and stigma and to improve mental and physical health.
SMEF supports projects for diverse ethnic communities who often experience isolation due to cultural and language barriers. These projects increase skills and confidence enabling participants to build community resilience, access community services and play a fuller role in the society in which they live. The projects themselves have become rooted in the communities, with priorities determined by the participants and volunteers playing the lead role in the setting up and delivery of the sessions.
SMEF is the paramount organisation bringing cohesiveness for Surrey’s diverse and hard-to-reach minority communities, ensuring their voices continue to be heard and providing targeted accessible and relevant support to build engagement, resilience, and capacity.
