Aurora Community Centre — Kraków
The heart of our work: a safe, welcoming space where refugees, migrants and neighbours learn Polish, get one-to-one support, cook together and build a community.
Aurora is a multi-purpose community centre in Kraków's Nowa Huta district, run by Vela together with the Freedom Space Foundation. It is open all year, and it is where most of our work happens: individuals and families come for structured activities, individual support and child-focused programmes, and — just as importantly — for a sense of belonging.
Every week the centre offers free Polish language classes from A1 to B2 for Slavic and English-speaking learners, with dedicated groups for seniors and for people preparing for the state certification exam, plus speaking clubs where participants discuss everyday topics and get to know the city they live in.
Our social worker provides one-to-one consultations — accompanying people to MOPS and ZUS, helping with legalisation of stay, social benefits, health care and finding work. Our psychologists run individual and group psychosocial sessions. For children there are educational and creative activities, including the "Small Hands – Big Art" expressive art classes.
The Nook Kitchen is Aurora's community kitchen: a fully equipped space where members cook healthy meals daily and where culinary workshops bring people of different cultures together around food. In 2025 the Nook supported more than 300 people through engagement and livelihood-oriented activities.
In 2025 Aurora delivered 808 Polish-class participants, 501 individual social consultations, 1,644 participants in community activities, 3,954 families supported through food and non-food distributions, and 247 people served at the centre's info point.
