Agenda item

Discussion Paper of Zareen Ahmed, Cheltenham black and other minority ethnic communities capacity worker

The BME Capacity Worker introduced the discussion paper as circulated with the agenda.  Also in attendance was the Policy and Partnerships Manager.

Ultimately she wanted the committee to consider whether a similar approach could be developed with other communities in Cheltenham (older people, carers, etc).  Before seeking the views of the committee she talked through some of the highlights relating to the work with BME communities contained within the paper. 

She provided a brief overview of the work, explaining that the post had been filled in 2007 and was tasked with identifying and engaging with minority communities.  Her role was then to build their capacity so that they became more actively involved with their local community, bringing them from isolation to engagement. 

The work responded to priorities within the Corporate Strategy and some highlights included;

Engagement and Participation: the main challenge was that the communities were small and dispersed, each with their own priorities and needs.  Working relationships had been established with a diverse range of communities and the emphasis this year had been bringing those communities together.  The most successful example of this had been the Community Ambassador pilot set out in 3.4 of the report.  Some exciting news was that this pilot, now renamed the Cheltenham Ambassadors for People and Services (CHAMPS) project had been short-listed for an award from the Institute of Community Cohesion, the result of which would be announced on 2 December 2010.

Health and Wellbeing: A healthy mind, healthy body programme had introduced BME communities to various agencies and topics included support for carers, services for older people and understanding dementia.  An emotional health and wellbeing event was being planned in partnership with the council’s Play, Sport and Development and Healthy Living Officers.  The event would be held at Leisure@ in December.

Enhance provision of arts and culture: A partnership with the Literature Festival and the Everyman Theatre bought about a new play about barriers to communication, called ‘You People’, which was showcased at the Literature Festival in October.  In February 2011 the BME groups would work with the Everyman Theatre to produce, promote and deliver International Week and the Everyman’s studio would be the venue for stage and screen performances. 

Safer and Stronger: A new community group called ‘Sahara – Saheli’ which meant supportive friends had been established and this was unique as it bought together women from Gujerati and Bangladeshi communities.   To celebrate Inter-Faith Week, an event was being organised in partnership with the University and Cheltenham Inter-Faith.  The event would be community-led and bring together Cheltenham’s diverse faiths.

Partnership working had been demonstrated throughout, with partners having given their time and money. 

This work had enabled BME communities to become more visible and cohesive and more involved in the decision making process (e.g. budget consultation).  The trust, rapport and confidence that had been built had also allowed individuals and groups that would not naturally come together, to work as a collective. 

The work with BME communities was at a mature stage but would continue, focussing on strengthening current and developing new structures in order that they became more self-sustaining. 

The following responses were given to questions from members of the committee;

• Carers Gloucestershire were invited to all events with new BME Groups, which often identified those with a responsibility for caring for family members. 
• The Everyman Theatre had in post a well respected Outreach Director and she could see no reason why they would be unwilling or unable to arrange a play by a group with learning difficulties or a deaf group of performers.
• Race equality legislation placed a duty on the Council but events did not need to be specifically targeted.  The paper did propose whether this should be extended.
• The BME community in Cheltenham were certainly starting to feel integrated to the wider community and whilst they may not feel fully integrated they were making their presence known.  The level of integration very much depended on which community you were looking at, the Hindu community for example, had been in Cheltenham for almost 50 years, this was not the case for all groups.  The aim was to work with those who were not integrated and build confidence. 
• The aim of Inter-Faith week was to bring people together and this was the first opportunity there had been to do this as relationships had needed to be developed and nurtured.  She was unconvinced that it was faith keeping people apart and felt that cohesion would take less time in Cheltenham than it had in some larger cities, given its size.
• There had been an influx of eastern Europeans a few years ago, but there were no groups dramatically growing in numbers at the moment and it was all fairly settled.

In response to the question posed to the Committee within the paper, as to whether a similar approach could be developed with other communities in Cheltenham, the answer was a resounding yes, especially carers. 

Councillor Driver urged Councillors that knew of BME individuals within their wards, who were not engaged in the community, to refer them to Zareen. 

The Chairman thanked the Officers for attending and wished the BME Officer luck for the upcoming awards, for which her nomination was most deserved.  This was echoed my other members of the committee.