Archive

SETTING

SCHEME: Race equality

LOCATION: Leicester

STAFFING: Affects all mainstream staff activities, but Leicester has a social services race equality unit with two policy officers and two consultation officers

INSPIRATION: To rise to recent developments in community cohesion
 
COST: About £100,000 (for race equality unit staffing)

Following the race riots in 2001, a government task force was set up to suggest ways of improving racial cohesion. No surprise that an early port of call was Leicester. The city shines as a leading example of ethnic diversity and community harmony. And has since been awarded beacon status for promoting racial equality, writes Graham Hopkins.

On visiting Leicester, what is so striking is that so much, which for others might be classed as ground-breaking, is simply part of the everyday. And yet there's no delusion that its everyday is in every way perfect. Leicester recognises, for example, imbalances in its workforce. A recent report conceded that while a quarter of "our junior administration and clerical staff are Asian females, they represent one in fourteen of our managers."

It's simple stuff - like the inclusive language ("our managers") - that works. Even its approach to something as potentially daunting as institutional racism is refreshingly open and all-embracing. "When the Macpherson report into the death of Stephen Lawrence came out, we were quite willing to accept that we weren't perfect," says Leon Charikar, service equality officer for social services, "and that there were examples of institutional racism and that we needed to identify them. So, we developed an audit tool for use by staff to talk about the service, to go through it step-by-step to see whether systems or procedures were unwittingly discriminating against ethnic minorities. And we did a number of training courses with staff. Some things were really amazing. For example, were we getting people's names right?

One thing that recently arose was Hindu funerals. "Somebody wanted to do a cremation," says Charikar. "But found the city services closed for Easter. That's an example of unwitting discrimination against a minority group. So we need to think about that and change it. And in a style that is saying, 'Okay, sometimes we make mistakes, it's not done deliberately, but let's look at it and if that means we have to change our staff holidays or make sure we have staff working on those days, then let's do it.'"

One area that Leicester has started to do it is in working with the increasing numbers of its dual heritage population. Often dual heritage children, for whom their is little recognition of their needs or role in society, are brought up as black or white reflecting the stronger parent's influence, and miss out on one perspective.

"For years there have been a lot of dual heritage children being referred, who are usually cared for by a single, white mother " says Jacqui Francis, officer-in-charge of Charnwood children and family centre, which organises a support group for parents of children with dual heritage, "but there didn't seem to be any services specifically for them."

Francis continues: "So the idea was get a support group together so parents could meet, share ideas, talk about experiences and to see if there were any common difficulties." While its aim was to help parents better understand and challenge racism, it also looked to provide practical information on physical care, health and diet.

As with all things there is some way to go. Even its name - "A group for mothers of mixed parentage children" - is up for review: at the  first meeting a father turned up. Also, although set up for any mixed parentage children, the centre now specialise in working with white/Caribbean children.

"We try and make it friendly," adds nursery officer, Sue Williams. "We're not just there to preach. We want them to be as involved as possible. It's just to make them aware that children can get racism. But we do try to make it fun - have quizzes, for example."

But rather than finding ways to stimulate the group, it's finding relevant resources that's proving the toughest challenge. "There are dolls that claim to be dual heritage but they don't really look that good," says Francis. "It's just highlighted the gaps that are there really. You often find that only parts are relevant so it's a case of cutting and pasting. Our latest video is "Give racism the red card". Some bits of that are relevant. Videos help generate a lot of discussion."

Despite the need for continued fine-tuning, the main purpose of the group has been, as Francis says, "to get people thinking, get people talking - that's the only way we're going to effect change."

Getting people talking is not a problem at the Belgrave Neighbourhood Centre. The ex-methodist church is positively  bursting with purposeful bustle. "We cater for anything and everything," smiles Pravin Ruparelia, facility manager. "Our monthly attendance is 15-20,000 a month. It's busy, yeah..." Although open to all, there is a strong emphasis on the older Asian community. The elderly activity club (anything from swimming to massage) runs seven days a week. Other services include legal, immigration and nationality advice. Help is also provided on benefits, DSS form filling, housing and employment. And just in case the centre's extensive programme is not enough, trips out to Navratri festival, Diwali show and Satyanarayan Katha are all planned this summer.

The lunch club for elderly people runs Monday to Friday and the splendid food is a big hit. "It is very good here," agrees the table of people I sit and eat with. This is undoubtedly a community centre with the community in it.

"We have 35 projects that are specifically run by ethnic minority service providers," says Chariker. "There's been a very deliberate strategy to encourage the ethnic minority voluntary and community sector to get involved. But we are also working with more mainstream traditional service providers. Age Concern, for example, have their own project now for ethnic elders, which is very good.

"It's recognising that communities have the expertise," he continues, "and that you can empower those communities to deliver social services." This is clearly the case at the Sanatan Manvata day care service, which aims to plug a gap in services for Asian older and disabled people. It allows users to communicate in their own language and express their culture, customs and traditions with others. It is run by a management committee.

Occupying a small part of the ground floor of an old school, the building is not especially welcoming - unlike the small staff team or the service users, mostly Hindu or Punjabi, who are keeping their minds sharp playing competitive card games, chatting and singing along to music. After tea and a small breakfast on arrival, the users "pray to God and do a prayer which involves clapping - it is a religious exercise but a little physical one as well," says day care assistant, Jayana Shah.

Everyday 23 older people from local community attend, "but we have 28 people on the waiting list," says day centre officer, Yashwant Patel. Those who have a place have but one complaint: they want more time here. "We're looked after well - like mother and daughter," say Mrs Pithra, "I have two days here but I want to come five days." Mr Gautami agrees: "The food is good, the people looking after us are very good - so I like it here." If the service did not exist, Mrs Lakhani was clear about the consequence: "We would get bored," she says.  As was Mrs Patel: "I'm not very well and at home I am very, very lonely. Coming here is very nice really."

Yashwant Patel explains the cultural camaraderie simply: "Many have an English language problem and they want to be with people who they can understand."

Indeed, it is understanding - a fair, open and spirited understanding - that instructs every step of Leicester's approach to race equality.

RESOURCES:

Information pack available. Call Leon Charikar on 0116 225 4764 or e-mail: charl003@leicester.gov.uk