Policies and practice
Goodwin Development Trust: Teaching staff a new language
Initially there was no joined up programme of supportfor asylum seekers in Hull and few skills to draw upon. No work was done with the existing residents on the estate to prepare or educate them for the arrival of asylum seekers in the community. Goodwin felt that they needed to be involved in managing an integrated process. The first role that Goodwin took on was that of a reception centre. They would liaise with the Council to find out when asylums seekers were coming and find out where they were from. In addition, they would arrange to have someone who could speak to the new arrivals, which in Hull is quite difficult as they have few linguistic skills to draw upon. The asylum seekers were mainly Kurds, Iraqis, Palestinians, Nigerians and Afghanis and Goodwin found that Arabic tended to be most widely understood. They would supply a food parcel and show the new arrivals a map to explain where they are. It was seen as a good point of first contact for both Goodwin and the asylum seekers as it helped build trust and the asylum seekers were aware that if they had a problem they could go to Goodwin for help.
"The first couple of times people arrived here, buses came from ferry ports in the south east where they'd spent up to twelve hours on a bus, because they'd drop off everywhere on the way and you'd see three families arrive from say Kosovo, Iraq or Afghanistan with a black bin bag and four kids in tow. You just felt that it would be really good if when you arrived someone tried to say hello in your language and offered you a cup of tea...so we offered that service." (Peter McGurn, Chief Executive, Goodwin Development Trust)
Goodwin decided not to set up a specific team to work with asylum seekers but to ensure that all their existing services were geared towards asylums seekers’ needs as well as those of the rest of the community, and help asylum seekers link into mainstream services. As part of this commitment all Goodwin staff have been taking basic Arabic training offered by Arabic speaking staff. They monitored the take up and attendance of all services and activities and found that asylum seekers are very well represented across their services. In addition they have two Arabic speaking Surestart workers and an Ethnic Inclusion Warden, they offer English language training for families and prepare children for attending the local school.
"It’s an approach on a community scale that makes the difference.... people arriving from others countries can immediately become involved in a community."
Contact: Peter McGurn (Chief Executive Officer), Goodwin Development Trust Ltd; 01482 587 550 pmcgurn@goodwin-centre.org www.goodwin-centre.org
Attercliffe & Darnall Community Enterprises: Raising awareness of cultural needs
Attercliffe & Darnall Community Enterprises (ADCE) aims to improve work opportunities for ethnic minority job seekers in the Lower Don Valley area of Sheffield. The Lower Don Valley was the centre of the Steel Industry and therefore the working heart of Sheffield. The loss of heavy engineering jobs in the late 80’s and early 90’s resulted in exceptionally high levels of unemployment, derelict buildings, large brown field gap sites and high levels of deprivation. Derelict housing was filled by a new immigrant population and the mix of local jobs was changing from heavy engineering to service sector, an activity not well suited to the new population of the area due to English being their second language. Darnall is now one of Sheffield’s most culturally diverse neighbourhoods with large Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Yemeni and Somali communities. The unemployment rate for young ethnic minorities is almost twice that for young white people.
ADCE’s main focus is to ensure that ethnic minorities: gain social recognition and a feeling of belonging; have the opportunities to progress and develop on a fair basis and to contribute more fully to organisational and social life; have access to better quality products and services and improvement in material, social, psychological and health conditions.
The Trust has used this approach with its own workforce and decided to employ personnel who can speak minority ethnic languages and can communicate with an ethnically diverse clientele. Currently 50% of ADCE’s employees are from an ethnic minority background and specific provision is made to accommodate their cultural needs. In particular, flexible working patterns are designed to allow time for employees to attend religious ceremonies and take part in events central to their cultural beliefs. Some will ask for longer holiday breaks to return to their native country or visit relatives.
ADCE Projects that have put these policies into practice have included: (1) a Driving School providing subsidised driving lessons, in recognition of the fact that not having a driving licence was a barrier to employment especially for young Asian women; (2) a Classroom Assistant ILM (Intermediate Labour Market) providing work experience within local schools, open to all but proving particularly suitable for women from a BME background as a culturally acceptable employment route; and (3) a Work Life Balance project designed to introduce flexible working practices into local employers, thereby enabling BME jobseekers to meet working commitments alongside family and religious commitments.
Contact: Dermot Reader (Development Worker), Attercliffe & Darnall Community Enterprises Ltd; Tel: 0114 249 4111 Email: tom@adce-joblink.org.uk, Web: www.adce-joblink.org.uk
Questions, strategies and advice from practitioners:
What policies do you have in place for promoting diversity in your workforce?
Are you based in the community you intend to serve?
Do you take into account religious and cultural festivals and holidays when planning events?
Other resources:
Interfaith calendars are available online at www.diversiton.com and www.interfaithcalendar.org
The Black Training and Enterprise Group (www.bteg.co.uk) has a range of resources to improve opportunities in BME communities.
The Runnymede trust (www.runnymedetrust.org) focuses on the fight against social injustice and racial discrimination; and offers a range of resources on the subject.
