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Latest News
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Young, Black and Tackling Inequalities
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Ending Ethnic Economic Inequality (EEEI)
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New regional initiative for Gypsies and Travellers
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MENTER helps refresh Regional Business Support Strategy
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MENTER sets up Task Force to break down the barriers to BME access to business and employment services
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Tackling the Employment Gap
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Sixty young Black men meet national role models Clive Lewis and Adrian Rollins
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Ministerial Reception celebrates the BME Third Sector
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Speech Ila Chandavarkar: “Tackling deprivation is needed in economic, moral and social terms.”
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Victory for Southall Black Sisters is a Victory for all Equality Groups
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Young, Black & Tackling Inequalities
MENTER, Peterborough Racial Equality Council (PREC) and Bedford African Community Support Project (BACSP) are collaborating, as part of the MENTER Empowerment through Participation Partnership, to invite you to this youth project launch event. This youth project is developing initiatives that inspire Black & Minority Ethnic (BME) children and young people to achieve their desired life goals.
 Date Wednesday 24th March 2010
Venue: The Møller Centre, Storey’s Way, Cambridge CB3 0DE
Time 09:30 – 16:30
Catering by the The Møller Centre
Overview:
The event will explore and provide delegates with an opportunity to learn about: MENTER’s consultation with BME young people, Youth Led Participation, Positive Parenting, Tackling Race Inequality and Childrens Trusts. Please click here for a provisional overview and programme.
Key speakers:
Momodou Sallah & Carlton Howson
Authors of “Working with Black Young People” & “Europes Established and Emerging Immigrant Communities: assimilation, multiculturalism or integration” Delia Modeste
Young Leaders Academy pioneer, national REACH project manager Mahebub Ladha
Director of Peterborough Racial Equality Council
To Book:
Please click on the booking form and send back to us via:
E-mail: office”at” menter.org.uk (replace “at” with @) or
Post: 62-64 Victoria road, Cambridge, CB4 3DU
Text: type “book event” followed your name to 07774 969577. This is a free event.
Directions to the venue:
The Møller Centre is at the crossroads of the UK’s main transport network, being just one mile from the M11 motorway and a short taxi ride from Cambridge railway station with its frequent express services to London Kings Cross (45 minutes), London Liverpool Street (1 hour and 15 minutes) and Stansted Airport (30 minutes).
Partners
  
  
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Ending Ethnic Economic Inequality (EEEI)
This event is to showcase good practice within the region and plan for the future in the context of the changing skills, employment and enterprise landscape within the region.
Date: Thursday 11 March 2010
Venue: The Kaetsu Centre, New Hall, Cambridge CB3 OSH
Time: 10.30am-3.00pm
Audience:
The event will bring together:
Policy makers Regional and sub-regional commissioners Providers of skills, employment and enterprise services with an interest in delivering to BME communities Business representatives . BME community partners
Event Details:
The event will be practical and benefits for attendees will include:
Better understanding of the case for and level of problems in addressing BME economic inequality An opportunity to look at existing good practices and how to engage with BME groups/remove barriers The opportunity to support Local Authorities and contribute to improving economic development performance with BME access to skills, employment and enterprise services The opportunity to network with colleagues with common purpose Contribute to the future planning of regional/sub-regional work . Become part of the solution!
The programme for the day and keynote speakers have yet to be finalised but we knew that you would like early warning in order to put a place in your diary. There will also be the opportunity for a Question & Answers' session and discussion with the speakers. We also hope the event will encourage networking and partnership working.
If you are interested fill out the booking yourself onto the event, please fill out the Booking Form and send it to Marion Wilford via e-mail at: marionwilford”at”eescp.org.uk (replace “at” with @) by Friday 19 February 2010.
Joining instructions and a detailed agenda will then be sent out to those who have booked in week ending 26 February 2010.
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New regional initiative for Gypsies and Travellers
For many years now much has been said about the plight of the region’s Gypsies and Travellers and their needs. MENTER has often been approached by policy makers and service providers who are trying to improve services to these communities. Where possible those enquiries are directed to various community groups for advice. However, all too often that advice comes not from the region but from non-Gypsy organisations or from “experts” from outside the region, leaving the voices of the region’s communities largely unheard.
So while much has been said about the needs of Gypsy and Traveller communities in the East of England, all too often it has been said for them and not by them.
Following the regional Gypsy and Traveller accommodation needs assessments, MENTER noticed that there is a need for a regional Gypsy and Traveller voice that presents the collective needs of those communities.
MENTER is now developing a regional initiative designed to assist Gypsy and Traveller groups that are active in the region to engage better with those that provide services to their communities. Part of this initiative is the development of a Regional Gypsy and Traveller Empowerment Network that will bring the Gypsy and Traveller organisations together. This network will then be able to:
Develop unified work on benchmarking and ascertaining the needs of Gypsy and Traveller communities across the region, in order to provide real and substantial evidence for service providers and policy makers. Provide a forum where issues that are important to Gypsy and Traveller communities can be discussed, resulting in unified and agreed strategies and a common voice on how best to resolve those issues. Provide better lines of communication between groups, organisations and communities, resulting in better transfer of information, for example on new funding opportunities. Link with MENTER staff and expertise on a wide range of subjects, from support to setting up groups to access to a the library of research reports. Help with developing a fast two way referral system allowing referral of cases to the nearest relevant organisation and referral of issues with regional implications to be addressed by MENTER. Help develop a voice in those regional institutions where policy is developed. Help with a better understanding of and support for Gypsy & Traveller issues from the wider BME Voluntary Sector regionally and nationally by Voice4Change, England.
Anyone interested in joining the network should contact; John Day on office tel: (01733) 341061 or mobile: 07702 835944 or e-mail: john”at”menter.org.uk (replace “at” with @)
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Regional Business Support Strategy Refresh
MENTER has been invited by EEDA to join a Steering Group to review the Regional Business Support Strategy together with colleagues from representative business organisations, EERA and contractors delivering Businesslink and Train to Gain services. The strategy will inform the new Businesslink/Train to Gain integrated contract that will be tendered shortly and become operative on 1st April 2010. In support of BME businesses MENTER has been able to promote the need for improved policy leadership, enterprise coaching (especially at pre-start of a business), better access to finance for BME businesses and better training for service providers to ensure they meet the needs of BME clients. The draft submission to government of the Ethnic Minority Business Task Force has informed our comments.
Terry Harding, Head of Policy and Enterprise at MENTER said “It is great that MENTER has been invited to participate in the refresh at this strategic level and that discussions are very open. It will be good to see the needs of BME businesses recognised in the Strategy and then the contract.”
A further report will be published when the Strategy is completed.
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Tackling the “Employment Gap”
MENTER is part of an organising group to plan a major regional event to promote tackling the ‘Employment Gap’ between BME and the white British community – 14% nationally and 8% regionally. The DWP recently held a meeting in the region attended by Go East, EERA, JC+ and MENTER and explained that the employment gap was a priority for the DWP and they invited all regions to hold an event to initiate action to reduce the gap. The event will mainly target local authorities and may focus on LAA indicators around worklessness.
Terry Harding, Head of Policy and Enterprise at MENTER, said “The work MENTER has been doing at regional level has now been recognised at national level and the ‘barriers’ research has been submitted to the DWP. It is hoped that MENTER can play a key role in the planning of the conference and follow up actions to tackle the employment gap in the region”.
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Ministerial Reception celebrates the BME Third Sector
On Wednesday 22nd April 2009 Voice4Change England (V4CE) held its first ever ministerial reception at Admiralty House, Whitehall.
Hosted by Office of the Third Sector Minister Kevin Brennan MP the landmark reception brought together guests from leading BME Third Sector organisations as well as V4CE partners across England. In addition, figures from the main funding bodies for groups working in BME communities and senior civil servants were present. The theme of the event was “Eliminating Racism: Are we there yet?” which is also the title of a new V4CE booklet analysing the state of the BME Third Sector ten years on from the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry. The booklet features the perspectives of twenty eight leading representatives of BME Third Sector organisations, key bodies funding BME groups, and senior civil servants. It also contains contributions from Doreen Lawrence OBE and Dr. Richard Stone, who was an official advisor to the Inquiry.
After a period of registration and networking, there were a series of presentations by senior representatives of BME Third Sector organisations. They were invited to speak on the contribution made by the Sector to civil society and how it had fared during the past decade.
Introducing the presentations was V4CE Director Vandna Gohil, who welcomed everybody to the special occasion in celebrating the work of the BME Third Sector as a whole. She added that Doreen Lawrence's contribution on behalf of The Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust was particularly important to the booklet and that her son Stuart was representing her at the reception as the event marked the tenth anniversary of the “Stephen Lawrence Inquiry”. She said that V4CE had produced “Eliminating Racism: Are we there yet?” to review the impact the Inquiry’s recommendations have had on the work of the BME Third Sector and the communities they serve. She noted how the contributions reflect the diversity of the BME Third Sector from the past decade to present day, and identifies achievements, challenges and opportunities for the future.
Thereafter there were speeches made by:
Rob Berkeley, Director of the Runnymede Trust, who said that there was still a very long way to go and that race still constrains people’s life chances. Jeremy Crook, Director of the Black Training & Enterprise Group, commented on how the BME Third Sector compared today to how it was ten years ago Sumanta Roy, Director of Imkaan, addressed questions of what progress there had been for BME women in the past decade Jabeer Butt, the deputy chief executive at the Race Equality Foundation, spoke about the health and social care context for BME communities in the past decade Ila Chandavarkar, Chief Officer of the East of England BME Network (MENTER) and Chair of the BME Regional Networks Committee, addressed the question of the challenges and opportunities for regional BME networks. She paid tribute to the very many small Sector groups that achieve so much with a couple of hundred pounds. She noted that the Inquiry had made a huge difference in giving language to the experiences of many and in identifying the need to challenge structures as well as individual bigotry. The problem is that BME networks do not get the same recognition from external funders as mainstream regional networks. Yet, the economic, social and environmental contribution of BME organisations needs to be harnessed. Otherwise the failure for some is failure for all. Pavan Dhaliwal, the Head of Policy at Race on the Agenda, spoke about their work on race issues in London and the on-going campaign with the Equality Bill. Kevin Brennan MP, the Office of the Third Sector (OTS) Minister, began by saying how pleased he was to put right the omission that there had not previously been a reception for the BME Third Sector in Whitehall. He said that it was very important to provide support for umbrella bodies and that the role of the BME Third Sector is recognised very strongly in the OTS. For him, the sector strengthened self determinism, empowerment and builds social capital. That is why OTS funds the BME Third Sector through its two BME strategic partners. He went on to announce that OTS will provide the funding for a BME Fellow in the new ‘Core Leadership’ programme and invited V4CE to be involved. He ended by stressing his commitment to working together with the BME Third Sector.
In bringing the presentations to a close, Vandna Gohil gave special thanks to CCLA for sponsoring the publication of ‘Eliminating Racism: Are we there yet?’ She finished by announcing the V4CE subscriber paper application pack and asked guests to join V4CE in working together to strengthen the BME Third Sector as a force for positive change in our diverse society.
For more information about the event or general views about what you have read, please contact Ila Chandavarkar by Email: office”at”menter.org.uk.
A copy of ‘Eliminating Racism: Are we there yet?’ Can be found at the following Website: www.voice4change-england.co.uk/docs/Eliminating%20Racism%20Are%20we%20there%20yet.pdf.
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Sixty young Black men meet national role models Clive Lewis and Adrian Rollins
First National REACH youth event in Cambridge
MENTER, Restoration and Soul Skills successfully held the first National REACH youth event in the country, welcoming over 60 children and young people to Soultree, Cambridge on Saturday 25th April 2009. This event was designed to look at the experiences of local Black young men and hosted inspirational workshops and presentations. Everyone had a great day and had the opportunity to meet two national REACH Role Models, Clive Lewis and Adrian Rollins, whilst also recognising our local heroes during an Awards Ceremony presented by MENTER.
The MENTER Awards Ceremony was “a proud and beautiful occasion”, said Karl Lewis, one of the organisers. The following nineteen local Black men were presented with awards for their efforts in the Eastern Region’s communities:
Jason Horne for his commitment of over 10 years in youth and community work and current role at the Unity Project in Peterborough David Akinsanya for his campaigning and mentoring work with children in care and young people leaving state sponsored care in the East of England. David’s recent work; Find Me a Family was televised on Channel 4 from 9pm on the 11th, 12th and 13th May 2009 and is available on 4OD here: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/find-me-a-family/episode-guide/series-1 Graciano Masauso (pictured above with young men from Norwich) for his work at MENTER with BME communities in Norfolk and Suffolk and his personal development of Afrekid to support African kidney patients and promote kidney donation awareness among African communities Craig Simpson for his work at the YMCA Cambridge Elvett Phipps and Daniel Brown for their teaching work at Biddenham Upper School in Bedford Ciceron Pangi and Jaron Johnson for their achievements as students in Bedfordshire Obed Abudoffou for his achievements as a student and volunteer for the African Beats Club in Bedfordshire Simeon Ferguson for his music teaching in Cambridgeshire John Cumberbatch for his work with the One Foundation Saturday School in Luton Sean Whyte for his community development work at Norwich and Norfolk Racial Equality Council Carlton Howson for his work as a Senior Lecturer at De Montfort University with students studying youth and community work in the East of England. Carlton teaches Black perspectives and is researching the experiences of Black students in higher education Allan Johnson-Mwangi; Chege Githiora; Jordan Simpson; Mortimer Barnett; Jimlee Ndario, and Jamaal Robinson for their work with the Young Leaders Project in Luton.
Before and after the awards ceremony, there were also workshops and performances by the following facilitators and performers: David Monteith (Actor and Youth Worker) who traced his ancestry for a Channel 4 documentary The Last Slave to commemorate the two hundredth anniversary of the abolition of the British Slave Trade in March 2007. Lisa Thomas who facilitated the diary room and edited the final video Dianne Thomas (Teacher and Researcher), who is looking into the educational experiences of Black young people in secondary education and will provide findings and recommendations to MENTER Pauline Stepney (MENTER’s Strategic Development Officer) and Tony Lindsay (MENTER’s Research Manager) who gave a lively and enthusiastically received workshop on Black History. Cambridge Capoeira who entertained all with their martial arts display in the afternoon Kyan Kuatois who gave a breathtaking performance as singer and pianist during the gala meal
Karl Lewis and Simeon Ferguson, who organised the event on behalf of MENTER together with Anna Burgess, were pleased to see the young people get some education on Black history, and further inspiration to become what they want in life. Karl: “We met some beautiful people and could see the potential in each individual that attended the event. All the workshops went well and it really was good to see everyone enjoying the workshops”.
Simeon: “I think the event went well as there were a lot of positive role models who made me open my eyes and made me see what I can achieve. I liked how everyone got involved in our workshop, and the mixing and mingling from different areas. We networked for future work.”
Simeon also received a role model award. “It made me feel really respected and I did want more people from my community to be there. So I took the award to church the next day to show my family and they were very happy for me, and with the work I put into my teaching. They have seen my progress over the years and seen how hard it has been, so I feel really proud”. Both Simeon and Karl concluded that at the next event they would like to see sports included and a wider group that reaches out to more mixed heritage kids as well as all Black children. “We all need education about our heritage.”
MENTER would like to thank the Windsor Fellowship, Black Training and Enterprise Group (BTEG) and the Seventh Day Adventist Church for their support in putting on this event and we would also like to warmly thank all those who contributed and attended.
Clive Lewis and Adrian Rollins are keen to hear about other local events they could attend and assist with, and the best way to organise this is by contacting Anna Burgess on (01223) 355034 or 07774 696577 or Email: anna”at”menter.org.uk (Replace “at” by @) with details of your event. Please also contact Anna if you have any questions about the REACH event or about Regional Equalities work.
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Victory for Southall Black Sisters is a Victory for all Equality Groups
When the women's domestic violence and abuse charity Southall Black Sisters (SBS) was threatened with the loss of its core funding earlier this year, its chairwoman, Pragna Patel, received many letters from service users. A third of the women stated that they were suicidal and could not cope without the group's support. The predicament SBS found itself in was caused by the London borough of Ealing's threat to withdraw its £100,000 annual grant to the charity after deciding last year to commission a borough-wide domestic violence service, rather than a specialist one. It appeared that the domestic and sexual violence charity was penalised by a shift in policy driven by last year's government-backed Commission on Integration and Cohesion (CIC) report, which suggested that "single-group funding" - meaning grants from public bodies to single community groups, for example, women's groups and Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) led organisations - harmed the principles of cohesion and should be the exception not the rule.
Now, however, after two SBS service users brought about a judicial review of the council's decision, SBS is able to inform all that the group has won a reprieve. Ealing Council effectively conceded defeat by withdrawing from the case and agreeing to reconsider its commissioning of domestic violence services. The outcome will be welcomed by equalities community groups and charities, which have been concerned that the new cohesion agenda will squeeze key funding sources as many equalities organisations are single community memberships.
At the hearing, Lord Justice Moses was told that the council had failed to assess the adverse impact on BME women of its decision to replace a specialist service with a generic one. Louise Whitfield, the Public Law Project solicitor who represented SBS, successfully argued that Ealing failed to carry out a full and proper race equality impact assessment. Moses' comments about the general cohesion agenda have potential massive ramifications for local government and specialist third sector services, and how the former funds the latter. He said: "There is no dichotomy between funding specialist services and cohesion; equality is necessary for cohesion to be achieved."
The SBS case was supported by the Equality and Human Rights Commission which demonstrated a serious error by Ealing Council as to the place of Section 35 within the 1976 Act. Section 35 allows for "Special Needs of Racial Groups in regard to Education, Training or Welfare" - "Nothing … will render unlawful any act done in according to a person of a particular racial group access to facilities or services to meet the special needs of persons of that group in regard to their education, training or welfare or any ancillary benefits."
The judgement in the SBS case concluded that the importance of Section 35 is that it recognises that the elimination of discrimination and the promotion of equality requires indirect discrimination to be eliminated and equality for those who are the victims of indirect discrimination may require their special needs to be met. The White Paper preceding the 1976 Racial Discrimination Act made it clear that the Bill should allow the provision of facilities and services to meet the special needs of particular ethnic or national groups. More recently, the Compact on Relations between Governments and the Voluntary and Community Sector in England 2008, which is an agreement between the Government and the voluntary and community sector in England, emphasises the importance of independent, non-profit organisations run by, for and located within black minority ethnic communities. That sector, it says, brings distinctive value to society. Cohesion is achieved by overcoming barriers. That may require the needs of ethnic minorities to be met in a particular and focussed way.
Ealing now acknowledges that the Equality and Human Rights Commission's views of Section 35 are correct. There is no dichotomy between the promotion of equality and cohesion and the provision of specialist services to a minority ethnic group. The judgement stated that “Barriers cannot be broken down unless the victims themselves recognise that the source of help is coming from the same community and background as they do”.
Specialist services for a racial minority from a specialist source is anti-discriminatory and furthers the objectives of equality and cohesion. In conclusion, Justice Moses said “I can do no better than to conclude this judgment - before giving the agreed order - by quoting the chairman of the Equalities Review in the final report Fairness and Freedom, published in 2007: An equal society protects and promotes equality real freedom and substantive opportunity to live in the ways people value and would choose so that everyone can flourish. An equal society recognises people's different needs, situations and goals and removes the barriers that limit what people can do and can be."
For a full version of the judgement visit: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2008/2062.html .
Crucial support for the SBS campaign came from the national BME partnership, Voice4Change England (V4CE). MENTER is a member and the accountable body for this partnership. Communities and Local Government (CLG) officers will be meeting with V4CE in November to discuss proposals for the cohesion guidance to be issued to funders.
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Help build a thriving BME Third Sector with Voice4Change England
Since its launch in 2007 Voice4Change England, of whom MENTER is a founding member, has quickly established itself as a powerful advocate for the interests of the BME Third Sector. It has excellent links with the office of the Third Sector, being one of its Strategic partners, and is prominent in representing the public policy concerns of the BME Third Sector to the media. It has responded to numerous Government consultations and has taken a lead on lobbying against CLG’s draft Cohesion Guidance for Funders. In addition, it has participated in many conferences and seminars, and hosted four quarterly policy roadshows to engage with regional audiences throughout England. The issues covered include; CLG Cohesion Guidance, the review of the BME Compact Code, Local Area Agreements, the principles of representation, Compact Advocacy, the Public Law Project, the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill, and the Audit Commission’s Comprehensive Area Assessment consultation. It also organised a policy symposium that brought together leading thinkers and practitioners on cohesion issues to inform the nation debate.
Now it is looking for individuals and organisations interested in building a thriving BME Third Sector to join as Subscribers to broaden its base of support. The Subscribers scheme is open to individuals, institutions, networks, forums, alliances, partnerships, social enterprises, voluntary and community organisations, registered charities and statutory bodies to join as supporters and strengthen V4CE’s role as a policy advocate for the BME Third Sector.. There are three Subscriber types: Full, Associate or Friend. The benefits to Subscribers include: participation in Voice4Change England’s policy responses to government consultations, discounts on services such as events and publications; plus regular news, updates and signposting to opportunities throughout the Third Sector. There is a free introductory offer and details with an online application form are available from www.voice4change-england.co.uk
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Ila Chandavarkar: “Tackling deprivation is needed in economic, moral and social terms.”
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“We need to develop a clearer evidence base of the impact of poverty on our region and the kind of partnership work that is needed to tackle deprivation effectively.” This was the key message that MENTER’s Chief Officer, Ila Chandavarkar, gave RODGE, the Regional One Dialogue Group East, on Thursday 5th June. She said that strategies to tackle deprivation are needed in economic, moral and social terms.
Ila argued for joint work leading to a strategy that can provide the environment to tackle deprivation. As such, RODGE, formed the ideal platform, being a voluntary and public sector partnership which aims to act on key regional issues and to stimulate partnership work on both a regional and sub-regional level.
At the start of the speech Ila focussed on the Regional Economic Strategy; goal 5 on economic participation: “The last RES goal was around social inclusion. This has now changed to economic participation. In 1997, New Labour came to power with a powerful rhetoric on tackling poverty, especially child poverty. Eleven years later the dialogue has changed. We may talk about poverty, we certainly don’t do this in connection with class. We may not want to use the word “working class” any more because of the association this has with an older style employment scene with a large manufacturing base. But we don’t have a word to replace it and I find that sometimes slightly derogatory terms are replacing it, like “under class”. On the whole, we refer to the “socially excluded or deprived” which might carry the connotation that poverty has to do with the social failure of those who are deprived. I think we need to re-look at the concept of class. People still divide into particular social groups not solely through income but through a complex structure of relationships, where income is only one factor. Aspiration, for example, may be another. We will fail to tackle deprivation if we do not base our strategies on understanding this grouping, however we want to modernise the language.”
General statistics show that the Eastern Region is quite affluent, but looking more closely 2003 figures show that 34% of all households in the region have an income of £15,000 or less per annum - in poverty or at risk of poverty. 16% of the population, an estimated 884,000 actually live below the poverty threshold. Debts levels are rising and employment levels are low for particular groups. To tackle deprivation in the East of England in any significant way, strategies will have to take on board poverty in working families, vulnerable employees and rural poverty.
With regards to BME groups, Ila had found that the word “migrant” suddenly seems to have replaced the word “BME” in employment and skills development strategies. Migrant workers are a section of the BME communities, not the whole. Ironically, strategies focussing solely on this group may lose understanding of what we term an “embedded ethnic penalty” as experienced by the resident BME population which in the end, may apply to migrant workers as well. ESOL provision and information services alone, will not help change matters for those at the bottom of the heap. There is a considerable body of research e.g. from Lucinda Platt at the University of Essex, showing that educational systems today may actually reinforce the disadvantage of deprivation rather than mitigate it. Ila believes that part of the solution lies in personalised services which will look into learning needs with an understanding of community/class/life factors. This may well be how those in greatest needs can be reached. “We need to fully understand the links between support, informal learning and formal learning to reach those most in need.”
The full text of Ila Chandavarkar’s speech can be downloaded here.
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