Budget cuts within the Icelandic government are everywhere, and one of the latest to get hit is the Multicultural and Information Centre.
Funding for the organization, which provides information and services to immigrants in Iceland, will be reduced by about 60%, to about 16 million ISK, next year. This effectively rolls the centre’s budget back to 2006 levels, according to RÚV.
Located in Ísafjörður, in the West Fjords – where some towns have immigrant populations of 25% or more – the Multicultural and Information Centre began in 2001 as an experiment of sorts. Today, it claims to have “the fundamental role of facilitating communications between individuals from different backgrounds, and to enhance the services provided to foreign citizens residing in Iceland and to those interested in moving to Iceland. The Multicultural centre provides an extensive number of services for foreigners. Among other services, the Multicultural centre offers assistance through phone in English, Polish, Serbian/Croatian and Thai.”