The intercultural center Althjódahús has requested funding from the Icelandic government to continue its operations, without result.
The City of Reykjavík recently decided to reduce funding to the intercultural center by ISK 10 million (EUR 116,000, USD 147,000), decreasing funds by a third. Now, the yearly funding from the city is ISK 20 million (EUR 232,000, USD 294,000).
Einar Skúlason, manager of Althjódahús, told Fréttabladid that he had requested funding from the Ministry of Social Affairs, but has had no luck.
Skúlason explained that with increasing immigration in Iceland the center’s services become more important.
He said he would like to hire more staff to meet the needs of the immigrants. Skúlason added that his current staff is under a lot of pressure.
Skúlason feared that with no new funding Althjódahús will have to reduce its services and turn people down.
Althjódahús, among other things, offers language courses, legal advice to immigrants and employs interpreters.
For further information, see www.ahus.is.
