On 24th September 2019 Micro Rainbow and its corporate partner, Weil Gotshal and Manges were crowned winners of the Lord Mayor’s Dragon Award for Innovation.
The Lord Mayor’s Dragon Awards celebrate businesses that are achieving excellence in social impact both in Greater London and nationally, for the Regional Impact Award and Lord Mayor’s Award categories.
The Innovation award
The Innovation Award celebrates businesses that have developed new ways to benefit Greater London communities and was awarded to Weil Gotshal and Manges and Micro Rainbow for their innovative solution to tackling homelessness of LGBTQI asylum seekers and refugees.
Micro Rainbow created the first safe house for LGBTQI asylum seekers in October 2017. It now operates 10 safe homes in three UK regions.
Rob Powell, head of pro bono and corporate responsibility at Weil, said:
“At Weil, we call the time we spend on pro bono work ‘Our Finest Hours’ and that is certainly true of our partnership with Micro Rainbow. Their ground-breaking approach to supporting LGBTQI refugees and asylum seekers has delivered a tangible social impact and it’s a pleasure to have played a small part in it.”
Sebastian Rocca, Founder and CEO of Micro Rainbow, added:
“We are proud of the long-standing partnership with Weil. The firm has been supporting Micro Rainbow since 2016 with tax, banking, property and corporate legal advice. Weil also delivers crucial employability workshops to LGBTQI refugees. This is a great example of how the private sector can be instrumental in achieving social change, and in our case, in changing LGBTQI people’s lives”.
The partnership between Micro Rainbow and Weil Gotshal and Manges was facilitated by TrustLaw in 2016. TrustLaw is the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s global pro bono legal programme. They connect high-impact NGOs and social enterprises; working to create social and environmental change with the best law firms and corporate legal teams; to provide them with free legal assistance.
Micro Rainbow plans to increase its service provision to 45 safe homes by 2021. Weil Gotshal is committed to continue supporting Micro Rainbow to scale and replicate its model throughout the UK.
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