United
Response Changing Lives
Diversity
Over the year, UR
have worked hard to build their networks with Black and
Minority Ethnic (BME) people in the localities in which UR
works. UR have also looked at how they could change their
recruitment practices to boost representation from BME
communities and have taken part in events including Asian
Melas, Refugee Week and community gatherings.
By doing so, UR now have some well established networks in
Oldham, Huddersfield, Leeds, York, Darlington and across
Tyneside with very positive relationships. In Oldham, they
secured funding from the Home Office’s Connecting
Communities fund for an outreach project which aims to
create links with BME communities. The new community
networker, Zaffer Ullah, will be working with local black
and minority ethnic communities in Oldham to find out what
services they need for people with learning disabilities
and to promote social care as a career option within those
communities.
UR have held mini-conferences for managers to share
knowledge and experience and to draw on the guidance of
outside advisers. In particular, they have been working
with Dr Ghazala Mir - of the Nuffield Institute for Health
at Leeds University and joint author of the Valuing People
report on ethnicity and learning disability – to look at
diversity issues around families, reaching people with
learning disabilities from minority ethnic backgrounds, and
staff recruitment.
In Cumbria, UR have made positive links with the Oaklea
Trust, whose supported employment schemes have introduced
them to a number of new staff over the past eighteen
months. In Sheffield, contact has been made with the
Burngreave New Deal regeneration project, with UR attending
information events for people from Pakistani backgrounds.
This gave UR the opportunity to reach out to communities
and promote all their services – including new mental
health services that are currently being developed and that
are now available.
www.unitedresponse.org.uk?Annual_Review/diversity.html
