Oulu for all -blog: Oulu’s Anti-Racism Support Centre – a place to share your experience of racism and receive support

Before turning our focus to the present, it is worth looking briefly back in time. What important steps have already been taken in Oulu – and for the first time in Finland?

The Oulu for All project opened a support centre for residents of Oulu who have experienced racism. The support service marked its official opening at the end of November, and the customer service opened in early december at Businessasema, located at Uusikatu 52.

A social worker’s experience provides insight into anti-racism work

The Oulu for All project was launched in March 2025, and I started as a project coordinator at the beginning of April. Within this expansive project, my area of responsibility is the development of the anti-racism support centre’s services and providing support for people who have experienced racism.

I worked for many years as a social worker before moving into anti-racism project work. In my work, I met clients who sometimes shared their experiences of racism with me. These stories were heard, and the clients received support and advice on how to proceed when necessary.

However, not everyone who experiences racism has the opportunity or the means to get help. Many people do not know where to seek support or who to turn to in such situations. This is precisely the need that the City of Oulu’s anti-racism support centre aims to address: reaching out to residents of Oulu who have experienced racism and offering them support.

I believe that the most important aspect of the support centre’s work is meeting the client – genuinely listening to their experience. Together with the client, the situation can be discussed and the kind of support they need can be considered. Using the anti-racism support centre’s services is voluntary and anonymous for the client.

The support centre’s service model is developed through collaboration

As a project coordinator, I have had the opportunity to participate in developing the Oulu for All project’s anti-racism support centre service model together with key partner organizations.

Listening to minority communities has been particularly important. Valuable insights and ideas for developing the support centre have been gained through consultation events. The goal has been to create a service that genuinely responds to the needs of residents of Oulu who have experienced racism and offers support with a low threshold for access.

As a result of this joint development work, the support centre’s service model has begun to take shape. While the focus of the activities is on supporting individual clients, the support centre also has a broader role in making racism visible as a phenomenon and in preventing it.

According to the service model, the support centre:

• provides guidance and advice for clients
• makes the phenomenon of racism visible through anonymous data collection
• cooperates with different minority groups and organizations

Support centre’s development work will continue throughout the entire project, until the end of 2027. The service model will be evaluated and further developed based on experiences gained, views from partners, and needs identified through client work.

The support centre’s client services in brief

The core task of the support centre is to help clients in ways that suit them best. Listening to the client and understanding their situation is central to the work.

The support centre offers:

• guidance and advice for people who have experienced racism
• support in navigating official processes and making referrals to relevant services
• assistance in making a complaint or reporting to the police
• coordination multi-professional support process for the client

The anti-racism support centre provides services at the Businessasema Pop-up point on Mondays and Tuesdays from 12:00 to 15:00. During these times, you can receive service without an appointment, and interpretation is provided if needed. The support centre worker can also be reached by phone on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 9:00 to 11:00.

More information is available on the support centre’s website.

Do not hesitate to contact the support centre if you experience racism!