The Brighton and Hove Black and Minority Ethnic Needs Assessment

What is a Needs Assessment?

-Local Black and Minority Ethnic communities felt that the council and other public agencies in the city didn’t fully understand who the community were and what some of the problems they were facing might be. -The council and other agencies listened to this and identified some funding to undertake some research. -BMECP (the Black and Minority Ethnic Community Partnership) worked with the community to set up a steering group to over-see the project. -The Steering Group includes representatives of BME community groups in the city as well as the council, police and NHS. Why has this project happened?

BME Data ‘Snapshot’ – Key Findings

20% or 53,351 B&H residents are BME…. 44% of BME residents are Non UK/British White Our BME population is increasing…

BME residents’ age profile is younger …One fifth of our children and young people are from a BME background.

A quarter of our households include people of different ethnic backgrounds

BME Children and Young People tend not to reach their full potential, compared to White British EAL attainment gaps 2012 at EYFS, Key Stages 1 and 2 % achieving good level of development EYFSBrighton & Hove16% England9% % achieving expected Level 2 ReadingWritingMaths Key Stage 1Brighton & Hove 11%12%4% England 4% 3% % achieving expected Level 4 Key Stage 2Brighton & Hove6% England2%

This is particularly true for Black or Black British pupils eligible for free school meals

BME residents are much more likely to rent from a private landlord and less likely to own a home

All non-white ethnic groups had higher than average unemployment rates; four groups had rates at least twice the city average

What we have done and will do in the future. The Steering Group has prioritised working on issues related to Housing, Employment and Education It has held events to ensure the views of BME people are fed into the Council’s new Housing Strategy. Our Chair is now a member of the Council’s ‘Closing the Gap’ working group. This group is working on a number of projects to reduce the gap between attainment levels of BME pupils and their White British peers. It has presented the findings to the City Employment and Skills Steering Group and they have agreed to have a focus on skills and employment support for BME communities in their next action plans. We are now organising community events to feed into the schools work and look at what services the BME community would like to use and improve.

To help us with our work we would like to ask you some questions.

Q1 - Where do you (find it easiest) to get information from ? A.Word of mouth B.Leaflets C.Website D.Social media E.Schools F.Community/voluntary groups G.BMECP centre H.Other community centres

Q2. How would you like (prefer) to be involved in /kept in touch/contribute to the work of the BMENAG? A.Survey – paper / online B.Newsletter C.Events D.Regular meetings E.Drop in F.Direct contact with community groups G.Internet / social media