Oulu Opens Finland’s First Anti-Racism Sup­port Cen­ter

Finland’s first anti-racism sup­port cen­ter opened in the City of Oulu – as part of city’s anti-racism action plan. The goal of the cen­ter is to com­bat racism and pro­mote equal­i­ty by pro­vid­ing low-thresh­old sup­port for those who have expe­ri­enced racism.

The sup­port cen­ter offers assis­tance to Oulu res­i­dents who have faced racism. Ser­vices include guid­ance and coun­sel­ing, help­ing clients nav­i­gate offi­cial process­es, and coor­di­nat­ing a com­pre­hen­sive range of mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary ser­vices.

– The cen­ter engages in advo­ca­cy work and inter­venes in dis­crim­i­na­to­ry struc­tures when nec­es­sary. It will also col­lect anony­mous data on experiences of racism. Through sta­tis­ti­cal report­ing, we can make the extent of racism vis­i­ble at the local lev­el in Oulu, says May­or Ari Alatossa­va.

Indi­vid­u­als who have expe­ri­enced racism can vis­it the center’s office, which serves clients two days a week at Busi­nes­sAs­e­ma. No appoint­ment is need­ed; ser­vice is pro­vid­ed with a queue num­ber.

Open­ing times and con­tact infor­ma­tion

Busi­nes­sAs­e­ma, Uusikatu 52, Oulu 
Open­ing hours: Mon 12 PM–3 PM, Tue 12 PM–3 PM

Phone ser­vice: 
040 1874 609 
Wed–Thu 9 AM–11 AM

Sup­port and guid­ance for Oulu res­i­dents

You can uti­lize the Sup­port Cen­tre if you have expe­ri­enced racism, dis­crim­i­na­tion or unjust treat­ment based on your eth­nic back­ground or nation­al­i­ty.  

The Sup­port Cen­tre offers approach­able ser­vices. The ser­vices are con­fi­den­tial, and you can uti­lize the ser­vices anony­mous­ly.  

The cen­tre coor­di­nates mul­ti­sec­toral sup­port to ensure that you get the help and ser­vices you need in your sit­u­a­tion. If need­ed, you will be guid­ed to Vic­tim Sup­port or oth­er sup­port ser­vices. 

At the Sup­port Cen­tre

• You can dis­cuss your experiences con­fi­den­tial­ly 
• You will get sup­port in pro­cess­ing the sit­u­a­tion and eval­u­at­ing res­o­lu­tion options 
• You will get guid­ance and advice in author­i­ty process­es 
• You will get help in fil­ing a com­plaint or report­ing a crime 
• You will get advice in dif­fer­ent lan­guages via inter­pre­ta­tion if need­ed.