Voscur Reps Reports May 2007
Equalities Action Group | Neighbourhood Renewal Residents Forum | Regeneration Group
New Race Equality Service
It was with great sadness that we recently saw the demise of Bristol Racial Equality Council (BREC) - one of the UK's oldest and most established Race Equality Councils. BREC was instrumental in promoting good race relations in Bristol and in setting up many of our local services for Black & Minority Ethnic (BME) communities including Support Against Racist Incidents (SARI) and the Black Development Agency (BDA). Its loss is symbolic of the difficulties BME-led voluntary groups face no matter how important the service they provide.
The folding of BREC has not been an easy experience for Bristol's local communities but we are now in the process of setting up a new race equality service for Bristol and South Gloucestershire that we hope will pave the way for a responsive and forward thinking service for our local communities.
The new service is being supported by a representative steering group made up of local service provision agencies including the Primary Care Trust; Avon and Somerset Constabulary; South Gloucestershire Council (SGC); Bristol City Council; SARI; the Race Forum; the Law Centre and the Council for Racial Equality. This steering group consults regularly with the wider community to check it is on track with local people's needs for the service.
SGC have seconded Inder Singh as temporary project manager for the project. We aim to have a Director, Caseworker, Policy Officer and Administration Officer in post by the end of the year. We hope to compliment services provided by SARI, BDA and the Law Centre who all work to counteract racial discrimination in its various forms.
A meeting was held on 27th March with local community groups and agencies to communicate latest developments of the service; consult with the general public on the latest draft of the business plan; and to steer the service for the coming months.
If you would like any further information on the service, please contact Inder Singh at BDA on tel: 0117 939 6645
Alex Raikes, Voscur Rep at the Equalities Action Group
Residents are Influencing Decision Making
Residents on the Neighbourhood Renewal Residents Forum (NRRF) play an active role in the work of the Bristol Partnership’s Regeneration Group and within their own communities’ Neighbourhood Renewal Groups. Here are a few things that they have been involved with recently.
Residents influence funding
Mo Ismail, a NRRF rep from St Paul’s attends the Regeneration Group (RG) and contributed to the discussion on how Neighbourhood Renewal (NR) under-spend for 2006/07 should be spent to ensure that it didn’t end up being returned to the government. Mo lives in St Paul’s NR area and also teaches maths at the City of Bristol College and Workers Educational Association. He was aware of the huge unmet demand for extra English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) courses. Mo discussed this with other residents at the NRRF meetings and then at the RG meeting argued that NR under-spend should, where possible, be used to provide additional ESOL provision. The Regeneration group supported this use of under-spend.
Residents influence the tackling of crime
Rose Manning, a NRRF rep in Knowle West has been involved with organising a public meeting for residents concerned about local crime and drugs which attracted 100 people. Rather than the meeting becoming a talking shop, Rose (and others) made sure that the discussion revolved around drawing up a list of actions that residents, the police and others could work on together. The action plan is now to set up a panel called Community Justice to work with young people who have been cautioned by the police and to also run parenting classes. A further public meeting has been arranged for November 2007.
Residents influence meetings
Kathleen Horseman and Esther Orchard are NRRF reps from Southmead. Like many residents, before Neighbourhood Renewal there weren’t many times when they needed to chair formal meetings. With so many NR theme groups now taking place the need for residents to chair meetings is much higher. Kathleen and Esther have undertaken training in how to chair meetings
Closing the Gap
There have been changes to the Regeneration Delivery Group recently. The deletion of the word ‘delivery’ from its name is a reflection of the changing role of the Group. It is no longer responsible for the allocation of European, national and regional funding, and will now take on the role of checking and challenging the Delivery Groups of the Bristol Partnership.
The Regeneration Group will be trying to ensure that the gap between deprived neighbourhoods and the rest of the City is reduced. The group has produced a report showing what needs to happen in these neighbourhoods, linked to key areas across Neighbourhood Renewal themes. In future months the Group will focus upon overall performance of one or two themes at each meeting.
The group will receive a revised Regeneration Framework in March 2007. The revision will have clearer links to the Community Strategy and demonstrate how regeneration benefits will be channeled to deprived neighbourhoods. There will be timescales for implementation and the contribution that voluntary and community sector organisations can make to the future regeneration of Bristol will be highlighted.
Ian Steele, Regeneration Group Voscur Rep