Since the last publication of NEN, CORE has been undertaking much work within the Black and Ethnic Minority (BME) community, and promoting the integration of all races within North Edinburgh.

Invaluable BME Employability work continues to support local people to gain access to education, employment, volunteering and training opportunities in adults and young people. The organisation of recruitment workshops for the new Primark store in the City Centre was well received by CORE clients, and these were well attended.

CORE’s youth work also carries on with a basketball group running for 10-18 years olds on a Thursday between 7pm-9pm (in partnership with Pilton Youth and Children’s Project) and a Health and Wellbeing group for 10-14 year olds taking place at Fet Lor Youth Centre on Wednesdays from 4.30pm-6pm.

In addition to these, CORE is about to start an exciting new music-making group on Saturday 10^th December called ‘Soundkidz’ which will run in partnership with North Edinburgh Arts and Edinburgh Mela. The group is mainly targeted at minority ethnic children in Primary 2 – Senior 1 (split into two age groups) and will run at North Edinburgh Arts Centre on Saturday afternoons from 2.30pm-4.30pm. The group will focus on music-making and discovering different types of music.

All of the groups aim to provide an environment where children and young people can have fun and accept others without judgment or discrimination. Through observation of the group and liaising with staff, the group is going very well and the feedback has been positive. By mixing young people we have broken down stereotypes and various barriers which would normally stop these young people mixing with other ethnicities.

In addition to the ongoing work, CORE has been busy planning and delivering an exciting project funded by Historic Scotland, which aims to ensure that local black and minority ethnic (BME) people are participating and experiencing the different aspects of the Scottish historic environment. As part of this project CORE organised outings to Craigmillar Castle, Stirling Castle (pictured below) and Edinburgh castle in the Autumn which were all fully booked! These events went very well, with the following feedback from one participant:  “We really enjoyed our day, learned a lot and also met with other communities. We would definitely visit another historic site again and enjoy learning about the rich Scottish history.”

As a follow up to these outings, CORE and Historic Scotland ran a seminar and training session on Friday 25^th November to educate the community in the importance of visiting and protecting Scottish historical places and focus on Scottish historic buildings – what and where they are and their functions. This was followed by their November World Café event.

The World Cafe continues to run on the last Friday of every month (except December) with the most recent event in October celebrating Black History Month with an excellent turn out of over 60 people (pictured below).  On the menu were flavours from Sudan, Mozambique, Iran and Italy which were enjoyed by all, with comments from customers including “Lovely place, nice food and friendly people” and “I had ‘seconds’! Delicious. Thanks”. This was topped off by the presence of the University of Edinburgh’s Drumming Society who demonstrated their fantastic musical abilities on the African drums throughout the evening, and even had the kids joining in!

The World Cafe aims to bring a diverse mix of local residents together to enjoy each others company in a social environment, while learning and embracing a variety of foods and cultures. November marked the World Cafe’s 3^rd Anniversary, and with good attendance at the events, it seems that it is successful in it’s goals.

Unfortunately we also have to deal with a number of issues impacting on the lives of minority ethnic Communities. We have dealt with a number of racial and anti-social behaviour cases in the North of Edinburgh. One particular family has been suffering racial harassment from the youth’s in the area. This has resulted in the father having to reduce his working hours as the rest of the family are scared to go out. The youngest child and mother now refuse to go out alone anywhere.  Mother commented “Before all of this happened we were very happy in the area”.

The family were given the option of moving to temporary accommodation but because they had invested so much money in their home they did not want to start again elsewhere.  Father called the police several times before any action was taken against the youths who were causing distress to all of the family. However the support provided subsequently by the police was great and we are pleased to say the situation has improved but it has left the family feeling vulnerable.

For further information on any of CORE’s activities or for advice and support, call 0131 467 7990 or email admin@coregb.org.uk. Alternatively, you can stay up to date with current events by checking our website at www.coregb.org.uk or ‘like us’ on facebook.