Brap – Back to the Future? Inderjit Dehal

Going way back in time Brap established in 1998 A third sector agency established by the main public agencies in the City The board and funders: City Council, TEC, Health Authority, BVSC, Focus Housing An interesting concept – a private limited company pushing the boundaries of race equality practice led by key public agencies in the city

The context The Stephen Lawrence Inquiry published February 2008 – Institutional racism on the agenda Realisation that Birmingham - the UK’s second biggest city - was fast becoming a majority ethnic city Growing recognition of the need to address gaping inequalities between ethnic groups and of the diversity within and across groups.

The environment Paternalistic, divide and rule attitude toward BME communities, which “Community Leaders bought” into BME Communities represented through their leaders Race/inequality a marginal “special interest” issue A passion for simple, often bolt on, and ineffective solutions to complex issues

The Birth of Brap – radical for it’s time Non-ethnically aligned engagement Issue based approach Advocacy over representation Looking beyond leaders to new models of engagement Building capacity Addressing issues seriously – using the evidence… Challenging the status quo

The resistance Leadership of the key public agencies BME leaders Fragmentation of BME communities – no single unifying narrative Established Race equality officers in key positions

Key Successes Race equality on the map & exposed the tokenistic Challenged and shook the status quo Moved beyond community leaders Some agencies began taking the issue seriously – a dialogue beyond the simplistic Innovation - SIREN

The Lessons Don’t under-estimate the strength and power of vested interests The difficulties associated with being so closely tied to public agencies in the City The underlying principles were correct The models of engagement were too crude

The hanging questions Can we think beyond race? Can we think beyond our own narrow interest to deliver equality for all? Can we develop genuinely democratic processes of engagement? Have we moved on?