Living in Harmony update

Pilton Community Health Project’s Anita Aggarwal gives an update on a key local initiative:

Since the closure of Community Organisation for Racial Equality (CORE), PCHP, Community Learning and Development (CLD) and Edinburgh Lothian Regional Equalities Council (ELREC) have been working together to try to minimise the impact of the loss of this important organisation.

The City of Edinburgh Council commissioned a report which examined the ongoing needs of BME communities in the area. This highlighted the difficulties people have integrating with the local population, as well as a host of other issues.

You’ll find that report here: Living in harmony 13

At this point it was felt important to involve other agencies and more local people in this process, and so we pulled together an action planning session on 31 May.

Over 30 people attended this event, representing a wide range of local people and organisations. At this event we identified actions to be taken and many committed to take these forward.

These actions are recorded in this document: action plan 31.5.13 final

If you weren’t able to be at the event and have ideas about how you or your organisations can contribute please add them in to the plan. This document is an aid to action, not a fixed strategy document to sit on a shelf and get dusty!

We agreed to come back to discuss next steps at another meeting, when we will look at what progress is being made and how we resource some of the ideas on the action plan.

The next meeting will take place at the

Spartans Community Football Academy on Friday 19 July from 10 – 12.

This meeting is open to anyone – please contact me on 0131 551 1671 if you need crèche.

Anita Aggarwal

Living in Harmony: making it happen

National, citywide and local agencies, organisations and individuals joined together to find ways to fill the gaps when CORE (formerly the Black Community Development Project) was forced to close last year. That work continues, as Pilton Community Health Project’s Anita Aggarwal reports …

You may be aware that since the closure of CORE last year a small group of local people and organisations have been looking at the ongoing issues for the BME (black and minority ethnic) community.

There was a short consultation and the findings have been written up in the ‘Living in Harmony’ report (see below). We have offered to facilitate an action planning session to look at how local organisations and people can come together to tackle some of the issues raised in the report.

There has been a significant rise in the incidence of hate crime in the area, as well as many issues that affect the wider community. We hope that a broad spectrum of people and organisations will want to be part of this planning event. We also hope that by the end of the event local organisations and individuals will have committed to take forward actions that encourage interaction and integration between ethnic groups in the area and remove or reduce some of the barriers for the BME population to accessing services.

This workshop is open for all and we will provide creche (IF BOOKED IN ADVANCE) and refreshments. We particularly welcome members of the local Scottish community to take part.

It will take place on Friday 31 May from 9.30 – 12 followed by lunch, at The Spartans Academy at Ainslie Park. Please let me know if you will attend, or give me a call if you would like more information. Please feel free to forward this invitation to other interested parties.

Living in harmony

Anita Aggarwal
Senior Development Worker (Health Inequalities)
Pilton Community Health Project, 73 Boswall Parkway
Edinburgh, EH5 2PW
0131 551 1671
anitaaggarwal@pchp.org.uk
www.pchp.org.uk

World Cafe returns with a double helping!

The World Cafe is back! Black Community Development Project’s monthly dining event at North Edinburgh Arts was hugely popular, offering local people the opportunity to meet informally and taste foods from all over the globe. The Cafe was one of the victims of CORE’s recent closure, but the transition group subsequently established has decided to resurrect the global dining experience – and they’re kicking off with a double helping, with TWO World Cafes this month!

The Transition Group is keen to hear the views and gather the opinions of North Edinburgh’s BME residents and promise an afternoon of ‘workshops, food and entertainment’ for participants at the two World Cafe events.

The first World Cafe will tak place at North Edinburgh Arts Centre on Friday 16 November from 3 – 7pm, and this will be followed by a second World Cafe at a new venue on a new day – Saturday 24 November sees the first World Cafe at Royston Wardieburn Community Centre from 3 – 7pm!

Booking is essential, so to book or for further informaiton please contact:

Adil Ibrahim on 07533 790 126 or email adilabuelseed@hotmail.com or Deborah Clark at ELREC, dclark@elrec.org.uk

TG Event Flyer 6th Nov 2012-FINAL

CORE to close

The Pilton-based Community Organisation for Racial Equality (CORE) is to close. Formerly the BCDP (Black Community Development Project), the project which grew out of the Muirhouse Anti-Racism campaign of the early 1990s will be formally wound up at an extraordinary general meeting in Royston Wardieburn Community Centre on 29 August.

At it’s height CORE was one of the most influential community-led equality organisations in the country – growing from humble beginnings in a room in Craigroyston HIgh School to staging prestigious conferences in Edinburgh’s International Conference Centre – but funding issues and financial struggles over recent years has forced directors to seek closure of the organisation.

Chairperson Dr Fernando Almeira Diniz confirmed that CORE has been experiencing financial problems for some months, but said that the Board will not be making any statements at this stage. “I am sure that you will see that we cannot do anything which could be regarded as pre-empting what might happen at the EGM”, he said.

CORE’s EGM will be held at Royston Wardieburn Community Centre on Wednesday 29 August at 6pm. Following the formal business procedures it’s planned to have a general discussion – ‘an opportunity to reflect on the achievements of CORE /BCDP, followed by a Community-led discussion about ways of engaging BME Communities in developing future provision of public services in North Edinburgh.’

For further information, or if you plan to attend, please contact Adil Ibrahim at CORE, email adil@coregb.org.uk by 25 August.