About Us

The Asian Resource Centre of Croydon (ARCC) is a leading community infrastructure and delivery organisation established in 1999, dedicated to improving health, wellbeing, equality, opportunity and community resilience across Croydon and beyond.

For over 25 years, ARCC has worked with diverse communities to address inequalities, amplify community voices and create opportunities for individuals and families to thrive.

We deliver a range of community-based programmes and services, including health and wellbeing activities, mental health support, digital inclusion, advice and guidance, and opportunities for social connection and learning. Our work helps residents overcome barriers, access support and take an active role in their own wellbeing and community life.

Alongside direct delivery, ARCC provides infrastructure support to voluntary and community organisations, helping them strengthen their capacity, develop partnerships and deliver quality services.

We work collaboratively with local communities, the NHS, local authorities, voluntary and community organisations, funders, academic institutions and strategic partners. Through service delivery, community engagement, advocacy and research, we develop community-led solutions that respond to local needs and reduce inequalities.

As a trusted community organisation, ARCC is committed to:

Delivering accessible, culturally appropriate programmes and services
Community empowerment and participation
Equality, diversity, inclusion and belonging
Tackling health and social inequalities
Strengthening voluntary and community organisations
Partnership, collaboration and continuous improvement

Approach

ARCC takes a holistic approach, recognising that people’s health and wellbeing are shaped by their social, practical, emotional and economic circumstances. We combine direct support with community development and partnership working to achieve lasting outcomes.

Our approach has three connected strands:

Delivering programmes and services - We design and deliver practical support, activities and programmes that respond to community needs. Working directly with residents and delivery partners, we help people improve their health and wellbeing, develop skills, access services and build connections.
Building community strengths and organisational capacity - We use an Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) approach, building on the skills, knowledge, relationships and resources already within communities. We also provide infrastructure support to voluntary and community organisations, helping them develop, grow and deliver quality services.
Listening, gathering evidence and influencing change - We bring together learning from community conversations, research and service delivery to identify needs, barriers and gaps, particularly those affecting Asian and other marginalised communities. We use this evidence to shape our programmes, inform partners and commissioners, and ensure community voices influence decisions.

Our Values

The 4E’s

ARCC takes pride in providing a quality and accessible service to communities by delivering against a set of principles we call the 4E’s.

We believe Empathy at its simplest, is awareness of the feelings and emotions of other people. It is a key element of Emotional Intelligence, the link between self and others, because it is how we as individuals understand what others are experiencing as if we were feeling it ourselves.
Ensuring everybody has an equal opportunity and is not treated differently or discriminated against because of their characteristics such as age, disability, race, religion or belief, gender including gender reassignment, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy and maternity.
As an infrastructure organisation we will inspire and lead with our actions. We will strive to identify and disseminate the knowledge base for good practice in all aspects of our work as a VCS (Voluntary Sector Organisation).
We believe empowerment is about supporting communities and people to gain control over the factors and decisions that define their lives.