Toolkits and Case Studies

Toolkits and Case Studies

Gravesham Borough Council has identified five main themes or areas of strength in their working to promote racial equality.

These five themes are Effective Consultation, Effective Partnerships, working with the North West Kent Racial Equality Council, the Corporate Approach and Working with Young People

Gravesham prides itself on its willingness to share and promote good practice and as a result has produced a series of toolkits giving practical guidance around each of the five themes, to enable other local authorities to emulate Gravesham’s approaches within the area of community cohesion.

If you feel that you need more detailed information surrounding individual tips please do not hesitate to contact us as in most instances we will be able to provide you with background information. More specifically in relation to the Effective Consultation theme we have developed a comprehensive toolkit attached to the tips. These additional sections are available upon request and should you require these then once again please contact us and we will forward them to you in an electronic format.

Effective Consultation

Gravesham Borough Council recognises that building a cohesive and sustainable community requires involving all of the community in consultation work carried out around policy and service provision and delivery. Gravesham has recognised that to achieve this there is a requirement to reach out to people who are less likely to participate in conventional forms of involvement. The council continues to work hard in this area to develop initiatives to improve community engagement with Minority Ethnic groups.

A 'People Bank' was developed by the council, initially to represent residents, with a strong focus on ensuring good representation from minority ethnic groups, and with the opportunity for involvement in consultation surrounding housing related policy. A Reading Group has emerged from this initiative. This group ensures that all information material is accessible to all tenants, particularly those from minority ethnic communities.

The council are currently developing a Residents Panel for the borough, which will be consulted regularly using a range of consultation methods on a variety of policy issues. The panel has been recruited through postal questionnaires with additional face to face interviewing methods to ensure that it is fully representative of our community in Gravesham.

At the council's flagship community festival, the Big Day Out, a Council Village was developed to enable residents to talk informally to staff and Councillors about council related issues that affect them. In addition to this the Cabinet are now holding several of their formal meetings away from the Civic Centre in various local meeting places around the borough. These Cabinet Roadshows enable local people to engage with the political process, and provide a platform for leading figures in the council to demonstrate commitment to the race equality agenda.

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Effective Partnerships

Gravesham has a strong record on partnership working across a wide spectrum of community life, which not only enables the development of innovative joint ventures but also influences and is influenced, by the work of other partners. This is beneficial for opening fresh channels of communication between the council and the local community.

Gravesham has built significant and effective partnerships on a wide scale both locally with tenants, hard to reach groups and the North West Kent Racial Equality Council and beyond the Borough. Within the Kent Thameside growth area, Gravesham has established strategic partnerships across political and geographical boundaries to ensure that new and existing communities are involved in the decision making processes that will affect their quality of life and life chances.

Gravesham's effective partnership work is informed by extensive community involvement and consultation, engaging with local communities in ways designed to build understanding, trust and support.

These effective partnerships do not stop at information sharing. With its partners Gravesham is also striving to re-profile services in order to achieve a better fit with the needs and aspirations of local communities, including those voices which may not previously have been heard, in an incremental approach to service planning.

The Community Safety Partnership has the council, Kent Police and REC as core members and is a further example of a strong partnership at work. This partnership has a key role in monitoring racist incidents and coordinating community safety initiatives.

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The Corporate Approach

There is strong political and managerial support within Gravesham Borough Council to the race equality agenda. This approach is driving forward the theme of community cohesion within the council's own organisational structure, as well as providing a basis for improving services tailored to the needs of the local community and individual services users.

The council's Leader has a key role in leading the council's executive team, which is committed to championing the benefits of social inclusion and community cohesion. The Lead Member for Community Well-being, along with Cabinet Members, have clearly defined work plans and roles, which include a strong commitment to race equality. There is a firm political and corporate commitment not only to consult with minority ethnic communities on key strategic and policy areas, but also to ensure through the use of more innovative consultation methods, that engagement with harder to reach groups within the community is continuously improved.

Gravesham has deliberately avoided developing a specialist race equalities team, and has adopted an alternative corporate approach to race equality across the authority. A top level Community Cohesion Group was set up by the authority in 2003 to advise and coordinate community cohesion and race equality issues across the council and this has been a major driver for change. The group is chaired by the Executive Director of Corporate Services, and includes an officer from North West Kent Racial Equality Council, and the Lead Cabinet Member for Community Well-being. The group is responsible for coordinating the development, implementation and review of the Race Equality Scheme, as well as driving best practice and change within the council's corporate culture.

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Working with the North West Kent Racial Equality Council

Gravesham Borough Council's commitment to racial equality in the borough is underpinned by the very strong links the council has established with North West Kent Racial Equality Council (NWKREC).

This transparent partnership founded on mutual respect played a significant role in Gravesham Borough Council achieving Beacon Status for promoting racial equality. The council and the REC have worked together on numerous projects promoting community cohesion and race equality in the borough. Notable achievements include the Big Day Out, the Annual Vaisakhi Celebrations, Connecting Communities, Football Festival, Future Citizens Youth Events and the Racial Harassment Group.

Gravesham Borough Council views the REC as a critical friend which is prepared to support and advise the council in an open and honest way on community issues. The council often uses the REC as a facilitator to disseminate information to, and as retrievers of, real feedback and opinion from the local community.

The council recognises that the REC has a key monitoring role to play with the council, and the open door policy which the council has developed with the REC ensures that feedback is taken in a positive light and is usually adhered to.

The close working relationship with the REC has also opened the doors to improved dialogue with local minority ethnic community groups, and has fostered the development of genuine partnership working between the council and the minority ethnic voluntary and community sector in the borough.

The Council has also invited representation from the REC to sit on the Community Cohesion Group, which is made up of Senior Officers and co-ordinates the council's work around promoting race equality both within the organisation and in the borough.

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Working with young people

A key element of Gravesham Borough Council's work around promoting race equality in the borough has been the work carried out with young people.

In partnership with North West Kent Racial Equality Council, Gravesham has developed a series of events specifically designed to bring together young people from different ethnic backgrounds within Gravesham. A Youth Council has been established and is made up of representatives from local schools and youth organisations. Proactive work took place to ensure that minority ethnic youth were represented on the youth council.

A Future Citizens Project was developed which involved working with local secondary schools, to run a series of seminars discussing issues around diversity, good community relations and what promoting race equality means. This allowed young people to become more aware of the work that the council, in partnership with the REC, were doing to promote good community relations within the borough.

Gravesham has also used sports and the arts as a means of engaging with young people. Recent successes include the Connecting Communities Cup, the work done through the Kent Football Partnership, the Big Day Out and the Vaisakhi Education Day.

This proactive approach has allowed the council to not only send out a positive message to the young people around the work it was doing on race equality, but it has also allowed the council to develop a dialogue with schools, youth groups and with young people in the borough, to ensure that meaningful projects are worked on for the future.

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The following toolkits, which give more information on the above themes, have been produced around the work that the council carries out in these areas, and will developed further over the forthcoming months.