WE are a broad coalition of black and minority ethnic (BME) charities and anti-racist organisations providing services for and/or supporting BME communities in Edinburgh.
We are deeply concerned about the news that services for vulnerable BME children and families are being recommended for funding cuts to Edinburgh Council’s Education, Children and Families Committee at a meeting taking place today at Edinburgh City Chambers.
The charity Positive Action in Housing has written to Adam McVey, leader of the council, and the committee, asking for an urgent review of the officers’ funding recommendations and questioning whether any consideration was given to Section 3.26 of the Lessons Learnt Report (2016), which recommends a full equality impact assessment is carried out before recommendations are made about funding. Despite the urgency of the matter, we have not heard back from the committee or Cllr Mcvey.
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Three BME organisations – the Multi-Cultural Family Base, Sikh Sanjog and Intercultural Youth Scotland – have been informed that their services targeting vulnerable and hard-to-reach BME children and families will not be recommended for continued funding in the list of Children and Families Third Party Grants for the years 2020-2023. Even if they wanted to, it’s impossible for these organisations to stay quiet.
Hundreds of groups applied for this grant. 63 were told they would be recommended for an award. With the exception of a small youth work grant, none of the grants proposed are for services supporting vulnerable and hard-to-reach BME children and families. Three out of four BME organisations were told they would not be recommended for funding. This equates to a 75% failure Rate.
Only 1% of the overall grant of £3.4 million has gone to services specifically designated for BME communities, yet according to the 2011 census, 16.1% of Edinburgh’s population is from a BME background. When Scotland says that it welcomes immigrants and refugees, this should apply to its resources and services and not just words about equality. BME communities pay taxes too.
This decision will have a massively disproportionate impact on people with protected characteristics, in this case BME, refugee and migrant communities in Edinburgh. We strongly question the existence or validity of any equality and diversity impact assessment that has been carried out. That’s why we are standing together to challenge this recommendation.
If the cuts go ahead, it will have a devastating impact on more than 600 BME children, young people and their families who currently access these projects, lead to the loss of 14 workers, many of whom are from BME communities, and threaten the future of the charities themselves.
These cuts show a stark disregard for the needs of the city’s BME communities. All the statistics available from the census and various research show clearly that BME communities across Scotland are over-represented compared to the rest of the population when it comes to poverty, unemployment and poor housing conditions. To award only 1% of the overall grant to BME organisations when their communities represent 16% of Edinburgh’s communities is shockingly woeful. One could argue it is the very definition of institutional racism.
BME organisations are specialist – and specialised – organisations. They exist for a reason – because despite appearances, mainstream organisations are generally ill-equipped to understand or even have the necessary resources to respond effectively to the specific unmet needs of BME communities.
If the mainstream were serving BME needs, then these organisations would not be needed, and no-one would visit them. The converse is true. Sadly, the danger is that the most vulnerable families will simply become invisible (again). Mainstream organisations can continue in blissful ignorance and get away with saying there is “no problem”. Meanwhile, the suffering of those who have the least voice or resources continues unabated.
We are now calling on the Convenor Cllr Ian Perry and members of the Education, Children and Families Committee to restore parity and fairness to the grant-giving process. We also call on the leader of Edinburgh City Council and the Education, Children and Families Committee to reverse this highly unjust decision to avoid causing further misery for hundreds of vulnerable BME children and families in the city.
If the proposed cuts to BME services are not reversed, the charities are seeking a full review of the grants process from the Scottish Parliament. We are actively investigating what legal grounds there are for challenging these cuts under the Equalities and Human Rights Act and will ask for this issue to be raised in parliament if necessary.
Positive Action in Housing - Robina Qureshi, Director
Multi-Cultural Family Base - Anne Spiers, Acting Chief Executive Officer
Sikh Sanjog & Punjabi Junction Social Enterprise Project - Trishna Singh OBE, Director
Intercultural Youth Scotland - Khaleda Noon, Executive Director
Saheliya – Shruti Jain, Chair & Alison Davis, CEO
Muslim Women’s Association of Edinburgh - Tasneem Ali
Shakti Womens Aid – Aleksandra Kasprzak, Support Worker
Edinburgh & Lothians Regional Equality Council – Parveen Ishaq, Manager
Sir Professor Geoff Palmer
Freedom from Torture - Fiona Crombie, Clinical Services Manager,
PATH Scotland - Najimee Parveen, Director
Score Scotland - Nabirye Balyejusa, Manager
Challenging Violence Against Women - Hassan Darasi, Project Manager
STUC Black Workers Committee - Rachel Thomson, Campaigns & Communications Officer
Edinburgh Interfaith Association - Iain Stewart. Executive Director
Community InfoSource - Sheila Arthur, Director
BE United - Areeva Goliath, Director, & Emma Picken, Founder
Shared Parenting Scotland - Ian Maxwell, National Manager
Syma Ahmed - BME Development Officer, Glasgow Women's Library
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