Learning event sets out steps for a more inclusive community
More than fifty people representing a wide range of community organisations attended Positively Diverse, a learning event organised and co-hosted by Forth Neighbourhood Partnership and the Living in Harmony group at Spartans Community Football Academy last week.
The event was organised to give local organisations an opportunity to look at how they operate and to encourage them to be more inclusive.
Keynote speaker Dr Giovanna Fassetta is a leading member of Glasgow Refugee, Asylum and Migation Network (GRAMNET).
http://www.gla.ac.uk/research/az/gramnet/
Rather than bamboozling the conference with high-brow academic research, she started by asking delegates how they make a cup of tea, and where they store their jam and their eggs!
The responses showed that there is no one ‘right’ answer – that different people prefer to do things differently and that we often just do things the way we’ve always done them. There are a number of ways of doing things that can be equally successful – and that is also true for working well across different cultures.
Dr. Fassetta (above) has a wealth of experience, both as an academic and as a volunteer (including sessions at Dungavel detention centre), and she used a string of anecdotes to get her key points across:
Dr Fassetta concluded: “So you don’t need to be an expert to be able to respect different cultures and understand diversity. What you have to do is relax, be curious, be open – and ask. Ask questions. Yes, you may feel uncomfortable at first but these feelings can be overcome – and that can make you grow as a person.”
North Edinburgh has a proud history of welcoming people into the community, and conference delegates saw a short documentary on the successful Muirhouse Against Racism (MARC) campaign.
Back in the 1990s MARC was a grassroots reaction to the emergence of racism in the area. Local people came together to support a black family who had been subject to abuse from racists and campaigned to change thinking and letting practices within the city council’s housing department.
It was as a result of this campaign that the Black Community Development Project (BCDP) was formed in North Edinburgh. BCDP later became CORE (Community Organisation for Racial Equality) but that community organisation was forced to close due to a lack of funding in 2012.
The closure left a void – the need for an organisation to work to support the BME community and encourage community integration remained as great as ever, and Pilton Community Health Project established the Living in Harmony group to meet this need.
The Positively Diverse event, while recognising achievements of the past, concentrated very much on the present – and, in particular, what individuals and organisations can do to create a welcoming community.
Local residents (above) shared their sometimes painful stories of life in their new communities – of barriers, of lack of opportunities and of the frustration of being unable to find employment suitable to their skills and abilities.
But although challenges undoubtedly remain, many organisations across North Edinburgh have been successful in adapting their programmes and services to become more inclusive and welcoming.
Speakers from Muirhouse Medical Centre, Create at North Edinburgh Arts, North Edinburgh Libraries (below) and Spartans Community Football Academy (their promotional film was particularly well received) all told participants about the range of things they have done and are doing to create a more inclusive community: it’s clear that good things are happening – sometimes small, simple things – and that the will is there to become even better.
Conference delegates were asked to make pledges, and in the spirit of taking practical steps towards a more inclusive community, Forth councillor Vicki Redpath made three pledges on behalf of the local council office.
She told the conference: “We’ve heard so much today to make us think. We don’t know everything and we must all constantly reflect on what we’re doing and think of ways we can do things better.”
She went on: “Things have changed, things are changing but we must not become complacent – there are still challenges out there. And that’s why I am so encouraged by what I’ve heard from the organisations represented here today.”
And on the pledge theme, Cllr Redpath (above) concluded: “As we’ve all been asked to make pledges, here are some I will make on behalf of the council.
“We provide a lot of housing, and our tenants pack contains pretty basic information at the moment. We could be adding information about medical practices, dentists, libraries, schools, youth clubs and sports facilities to the tenants pack – and update it regularly.
“Employment problems have been raised today: one simple thing we can improve is the notice board system at the local office. We can make it simpler with a nice big headline – JOBS – and underneath it a bulletin of vacancies. Let’s put job vacancy notices outside, too, let’s get information out there – and not just council jobs.”
“And finally, speakers today have talked about difficulties in accessing services and getting information. We do equalities and diversities training at the council, but I want to make sure this training is effective and up to scratch. Our people are brilliant and they want to provide the best service they can and I will be working with colleagues to ensure that we improve our service.
“If we all do a little, we can all go a long way to improving the lives of the people who come to live here in the great North Edinburgh community.”
Commenting after the event, PCHP’s Anita Aggarwal (above) said: “A big thank you to everyone who contribute and helped it be such a successful day.
“We will be producing a report of the day which we will send out as soon as possible. If people are looking for further information about the barriers that BME residents face there are two reports on our website: ‘Living in Harmony’ 2012 http://pchp.org.uk/resources/living-harmony-report and ‘Talking about our Health’ 2009 http://pchp.org.uk/resources/talking-about-our-health-participatory-research-project-health-needs-bme-community-greater
“The next Living in Harmony forum will take place on Wednesday 28 October from 5 – 7pm at PCHP – all welcome and crèche available if booked in advance.
“We will be running Equalities and Diversity training three times before the end of March – 20th Nov, 22nd Jan, 25 March all from 9.30am – 1pm at PCHP – further information will be available on our website.”
So, to recap: what we can do next
Make A Pledge
If you couldn’t attend Positively Diverse or didn’t get a chance to fill in a pledge postcard but would still like to, please fill in the postcard below and send it back to lih@pchp.org.uk
And if you filled in a postcard but might have forgotten to put your name and address on it (yes, there were a few of you..!) please let us know and we will try to match you up with your card!
Join the Living in Harmony Forum
All are welcome to come along and it would be a great place to follow up conversations that were started at the event. The next Forum meeting is on Wednesday 28th October 5-7pm at PCHP (73 Boswall Parkway).
Equality and Diversity Training
Delivered by ELREC – if you didn’t get a chance to sign up for one of these FREE sessions there are still spaces, so please do email lih@pchp.org.uk to book a place for yourself or a colleague.
The dates for the training sessions are 20 November, 22 January and 25 March – all 9.30am -1pm at PCHP (you only need to attend one session!)
More pictures will appear on our Facebook page later
Is your group or organisation fully engaged with the BME community? Would you like to think about ways to do this more effectively?
Forth Neighbourhood Partnership and Pilton Community Health Project’s Living in Harmony Group are staging a Positively Diverse, a free one-day learning event for local workers to encourage and support them to think about how to include a more diverse section of the community in their activities.
The event takes place at
Spartans Community Football Academy at Ainslie Park
on Thursday 1 October from 10am – 3.30pm.
To book your place call PCHP on 551 1671 or email admin@pchp.org.uk
Taking the next steps forward to tackle food poverty
Pilton Community Health Project recently produced a report on December’s ‘Good Food for All’ conference which focused on food poverty in North Edinburgh.
http://pchp.org.uk/sites/default/files/resource/files/Good%20food%20for%20all%20final%20report.pdf
The report identifies a number of issues that we, as people living and working in the community, cannot solve ourselves. We need action on policy issues
Particularly:
– Living wages
– Job creation and security
– Social security and the punitive sanctions regime
– Better recognition of the contribution that this local community makes towards improving its own food culture and access to affordable, fresh, healthy food and further support for this
– The role of business in the provision of food.
You are invited to a meeting on Tuesday 28 April from 10 – 12 at Pilton Community Health Project to discuss how we might go about having our voices heard on these issues.
Please let me know if you are able to attend.
Anita Aggarwal (Community Development Manager)
Pilton Community Health Project
73 Boswall Parkway, Edinburgh, EH5 2PW
Telephone 0131 551 1671
Do we have the ingredients for a well-fed North Edinburgh?
That was the question posed at a conference organised by Pilton Community Health Project at West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre last week – and more than forty delegates replied: yes we have!
The event examined food poverty in Scotland – what it is and it’s impact on poorer communities – and what is being done to tackle the problem. The conference was also an opportunity to celebrate successes and to showcase good work, share ideas and discuss and develop a plan to bring to bring more resources to North Edinburgh to tackle food poverty in the area.
A broad spectrum of speakers helped fashion the discussion over the course of the day. Bill Gray of Community Food & Health (Scotland) set the food poverty context, Broomhouse Health Strategy Group’s Lucy Aitchison talked specifically about their health project and explained why it works well and Mary Anne Macleod of the Poverty Alliance gave a presentation on national best practice.
There was also an opportunity to ‘tour’ information stalls to find out what’s happening locally – the Granton Gardeners, Fresh Start and Edinburgh North West Foodbank were all on hand to offer advice and information, while Granton Improvement Society also had an information stall.
The event was all about information, ideas and discussions and all of these ingredients were present in abundance – look on the conference as an appetising starter … a taste of things to come, maybe?
A conference report is currently being produced and it’s hoped the Good Food for ALL conference will result in an agreed community manifesto to tackle food poverty in North Edinburgh.
Pilton Community Health Project’s Good Food For ALL event is tomorrow at West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre from 9.30 – 2.30. Don’t miss it!
Walking, cycling and sustainable transport were the themes of Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnership’s annual community conference held at Broughton High School last night.
Active travel, in particular encouraging walking and cycling to school, features high on the list of community priorities in Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnership’s hot-off-the-press local community plan for 2014 – 2107, so the conference theme was well chosen.
Around fifty delegates attended the event which was hosted by Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnership convener Councillor Nigel Bagshaw, who spoke enthusiastically of the considerable health and environmental benefits of choosing to walk or cycle rather than take the car.
Transport, Infrastructure and Environment Convener Cllr Lesley Hinds outlined the city council’s current transport systems, ongoing initiatives and future plans before delegates broke into workshop groups to discuss: ‘What are the challenges to making walking and cycling better in Inverleith?‘ and ‘What are potential solutions to improve and increase walking and cycling, including how can we make best use of local greenspace?’
A full conference report will follow, meanwhile here are some images taken during the event:
‘children and families in Scotland are suffering’
Families across Scotland are being hit hard by Westminster’s changes to the benefit system, according to a new report by the Scottish Government.
The report highlights the impact of changes to benefit uprating already implemented by Westminster since 2010-11. Over the six years to 2015-16, the changes made by Westminster are expected to reduce welfare expenditure in Scotland by around £6 billion.
This will result in families with two children in receipt of Child Benefit being £1,100 worse off over six years.
Mothers claiming statutory maternity pay will lose out on around £330 in 2015-16 as a result of changes to uprating of statutory maternity payment.
Speaking at the Annual Poverty Alliance Conference at Glasgow’s City Halls this morning, Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “It is clear that the UK Government’s benefit reform programme unfairly impacts on some of the most vulnerable members of our society.
“This report also shows there are adverse consequences for women, particularly mothers and their children, who will be hit hardest by Westminster’s welfare cuts.
“Nearly every household in Scotland in receipt of a working age benefit will be affected by plans to introduce a two year benefit freeze. These planned changes will see Scotland’s benefit expenditure reduced by around £300 million in 2017-18.
“These welfare changes do not work for the people of Scotland. Poverty increased in Scotland in 2012-13 for the first time in a decade – an increase that is expected to continue.
“An additional 100,000 Scottish children will be living in poverty by 2020 because of UK welfare reforms and this is before the next round of cuts due in 2017-18.
“This is a direct result of choices made by the UK government – for example, since April 2012, the number of children whose families receive in-work tax credits has decreased by 120,000.
“It is unacceptable that due to the decisions of the UK Government children and families in Scotland are suffering.
“This is why in the Scottish Government submission to the Smith Commission for more powers, I set out the need for Scotland to have full responsibility over welfare powers. Full powers over welfare and social policy will allow us to tackle child poverty and allow Scotland to become a fairer country.
“Full responsibility over tax and national insurance will allow us to create jobs and build a more prosperous Scotland that is necessary to support our ambition for a fairer society.”
The Scottish Poverty Alliance held it’s annual conference ‘No Turning Back: The Future Fight Against Poverty in Scotland’ at the start of Challenge Poverty Week, which runs until 18 October.
Peter Kelly, Director of the Poverty Alliance, said:“We welcome the Deputy First Minister’s contribution to the discussion at our annual conference today. Poverty is the biggest issue Scotland faces, and with one in five children growing up in poverty it is impossible to ignore.
“Today was our first opportunity after the referendum to take stock and look to the future. We are working with our members, our partners on the Scottish Campaign on Welfare Reform and groups from across civil society to consider what new powers would mean for Scotland and the fight against poverty.
“We will be using the learning from this event, and our event later in the month on more powers, to consider the implications of further devolution and how any new powers can work alongside existing powers to ensure the eradication of poverty in Scotland once and for all.”
The theme for this year is ‘increasing walking and cycling in Inverleith’ and we’d like to invite everyone living, working or travelling in Inverleith to have a say on how we can make walking and cycling easier, safer and more welcoming for all
Please come along and share your thoughts on how we can get people in Inverleith walking and cycling more, to pick up tips, advice and support and also to help us identify what the Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnership can do to make it happen.
Come join us on Thursday 30 October
from 6-9pm at Broughton High School
We’d also welcome local organisations to come along and display information on how you can help us achieve this!
Contact elaine.lennon@edinburgh.gov.uk for more info. or to book your place, email anne.brown@ea.edin.sch.uk
