The programme works in four of the five local authority areas in East Sussex - Eastbourne and the districts of Lewes, Rother and Wealden. It is a multi-agency partnership of eleven organisations: East Sussex County Council; four local district and borough councils; three NHS primary care trusts; Sussex Police, Sussex Police Authority and Sompriti, the lead partner.
Sompriti is a BME community organisation. Its main areas of work are community development, race equality, reporting and addressing racism in East Sussex and meeting the aspirations of BME people.
The Connecting Communities programme started in January 2004 and has made a significant impact through partnership working with local agencies to support of many often isolated and marginalised BME people, who had previously been unaware of or unable to access public services. Achievements to date include:
- baseline survey of over 300 BME people identifying their level of knowledge, trust and confidence in and access to local public services and employment
- increased knowledge and understanding of local public services through the delivery of over 300 tailor-made one-to-one information sessions, delivered to BME people in their language of choice and venue of their choice
- the identification of these well-received information sessions as a model of good practice to deliver information to BME people from vulnerable and isolated groups
- over 600 information and access casework interventions with bilingual support as required, enabling BME people to effectively access services and obtain positive outcomes
- the creation of an integrated bilingual casework support service and through this, the identification of previously unmet areas of need and the development of new partnerships to help meet these needs
- helping to empower BME people by building confidence and skills through working alongside bilingual community workers
- information groups jointly delivered with local public agencies, to meet the information needs of BME people on topics, such as elders' services, services for children under five, women’s health and licensing legislation, decided upon by feedback from BME beneficiaries of the programme
- providing opportunities for BME people to find out more about local services - such as through a successful partnership event in Eastbourne library, where over 300 people took part, and a countryside event for BME elders (photograph below)
- informing local public agency race equality work through tailor-made consultation exercises with specific BME groups
- quarterly reports to all partners informing on the programme’s progress, identifying needs, making recommendations and passing on knowledge to local public services
- activities from the programme incorporated into local public agency’s Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 race equality schemes
- a fuller picture and better understanding of the needs and requirements of BME people living and working in a semi-rural context
Arising from this programme has been the development of an integrated bilingual casework support model. BME beneficiaries of this model have consistently expressed their high satisfaction with it and its accessibility and this is the part of the Connecting Communities progamme that beneficiaries most value. Due to its success, two local Connecting Community partner agencies - Eastbourne Downs NHS and Sussex Downs and Weald NHS Primary Care Trusts - are working in partnership with Sompriti to pilot this model with their health care providers.
