voice east midlands

BME Elders Project

The East Midlands Regional BME Elders Project is a 3-year joint programme being implemented by Voice East Midlands and Age Concern East Midlands.

The project is managed and directed by a regional planning group which includes representatives from local and regional Age Concern organisations and Voice East Midlands.

The project has employed a Regional Development Officer for 2 years to take the project forward. Funding for this post has come from the Connecting Communities Unit at the Home Office.

This programme is a partnership with Age Concern East Midlands – comprising 5 Age Concern organisations and 34 Age Concern groups – is the largest direct service provider for older people in the East Midlands. Age Concern Organisations at local level are well-known and have a well-established track record in providing services for older people from minority ethnic communities. Age Concern Organisations also have well-established relations with statutory service-providers and often play a facilitative/liaison role between statutory service providers and community-based BME groups providing services for elders within the community.

Both Age Concern East Midlands and Voice East Midlands are developing relations at a regional level with Government bodies, such as the Regional Assembly, the East Midlands Development Agency (EMDA) and the Government Office for the East Midlands (GOEM). These contacts with key regional policy-making bodies will ensure that the East Midlands BME Elders Project is able to engage with and influence public policy and service provision to benefit BME elders in the region.

The key aims of the project are:

To help the development of local forums to which any group or organisation in the East Midlands, which delivers a service to older people from a minority ethnic background can contribute their ideas and make their views known.

To feed back these views to decision-makers and policy-makers and to ensure that the voice of those groups that serve minority-ethnic elders is heard.

To work with Age Concern East Midlands to assist in the development and success of this project.

The increasing diversity of the older population of the East Midlands, and the contributions, views and specific needs of older people, particularly those from black and minority ethnic groups, present particular challenges for policy development and service provision at regional and local levels.

The findings of Voice East Midlands’ Mapping research report revealed that the sector as a whole is generally under-funded, and that BME organisations lack awareness of funding programmes, and the capacity and skills to apply for grants. BME voluntary and community organisations also have low levels of involvement in local, sub-regional and regional initiatives, and are thereby excluded from the development of regional social and economic policy. Community-based organisations providing crucial support services for BME elders are even more likely to lack skills and capacity in these areas.

Launch Seminar

The Launch Seminar for the project took place on June 10 th 2004 at Biocity in Nottingham.

The purpose of the seminar was to launch and introduce the project to key regional and local agencies. 30 people attended the seminar from 20 organisations in the region.

The project and its partners were introduced by Len Shillingford, Vice Chair of Voice East Midlands, Mick Tinkler, Chief Executive of Age Concern Nottingham and Nottinghamshire and Chair of Age Concern East Midlands, Claire Ball, National Ethnic Minorities Development and Policy Officer for Age Concern England and Naeem Sheikh, Chief Executive of Voice East Midlands.

Another seminar is planned for mid 2005 towards the close of the project. It will outline the achievements of the project and its continuation strategy. This event will be open to all parties with an interest in services for older people from black and minority ethnic communities and will help to disseminate the learning from this project.

Supporters

Seminar attendees included representatives from the following organisations:

East Midlands Development Agency, East Midlands Regional Assembly, Government Office East Midlands, Racial Equality Councils, Community Fund, East Midlands Tomorrow, Local Authorities and Age Concerns from across the East Midlands.

Project progress:

So far, forum structures have been established in Nottinghamshire, Leicester and Leicestershire and Rutland. Next year similar structures will be set up in Derbyshire, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire. Development work is already happening in these areas.

Leicester BME Forum:

Has met 3 times
40 representatives attend each meeting
Has carried out capacity building of members
Is carrying out local and sub-regional lobbying

Nottingham BME Forum:

Has met 3 times
Has developed strong and successful links with Age Concern Nottingham and Nottinghamshire at board level and below

Leicestershire and Rutland BME Forum:

Has met 4 times
Is liaising successfully with local and sub-regional statutory sector
Is developing successful information and dissemination sessions

The Regional Development Officer will ensure the development of a unified regional structure by the end of the 2005.

Please visit this page for regular updates on project progress.

For More Information

For more information about the development of Forums in your area or to join a local BME Elders Forum, please contact:

Sangita Jobanputra

Senior Sector Development Officer

Black and Minority Ethnic Elders Project

Telephone: 0115 950 8820

Fax: 0115 950 9232

Mobile: 07773 356 404

Email: sangita@voice-em.org.uk