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A great day is here Indeed it is a great Year to celebrate the BMECP Centre Official Opening. In 2012 we’ve celebrated the Diamond Jubilee, In 2012 we’ve celebrated the Diamond Jubilee, cbofficialopening

the Olympics and Paralympics and it is only fitting to use the achievement of our Olympians to take you through our story so far cbofficialopening190912

Fourth time lucky: Grainger added Olympic gold to her three silver medals cbofficialopening190912

SRB5 Citywide Consultation cbofficialopening190912

The SRB5 Identified Services Business advice and start up support services ICT services and training Employment advice and training Elderly services - Women’s specific services Health and related services - Housing services Legal advice - General advice Racial harassment services Youth related services - Children related services One stop shop service provision for refugee/asylum seeker communities Interpreting and translation - Arts and cultural events Social and family related events cbofficialopening190912

The consultation identified several issues: cbofficialopening190912

Separateness At the heart of this was not a desire for separateness, cbofficialopening190912

Insensitive but rather a recognition that service provision across a range of statutory, mainstream and other service provision did not always fully engage with, and was insensitive to the needs of the BME people cbofficialopening190912

Striking Gold BMECP was delighted to learn that The SRB6 BID was successful this time and that SEEDA committed £960K of funding for the BME Centre cbofficialopening190912

The Property Search cbofficialopening190912

Challenges to Date 4- The reality/ Challenges - BMECP experienced problems in securing appropriate sites. Most properties available for development were designated for housing or business use. Vendors were not in a position to wait for the long SRB funding processes. Sites were not large enough to accommodate both the housing element and the Centre the community wished BMECP had to negotiate the scaling down of the facilities. This was not acceptable to some of the community members and is still an issue now. Refusal of the planning for one of the most suitable sites was perceived as being due to both political and locally driven agenda as local residents had objected to the development of a BME Centre and affordable housing within their area. This was a blow to BMECP as a lot of resources including extensive work had already been undertaken including a feasibility study. The Adventure Capital Fund (ACF) processes were long as we had to meet certain milestones before drawing down the funds. Working with consultants funded by ACF helped us tremendously. The community groups were very diverse with differing and sometimes competing priorities Funding was a challenge cbofficialopening190912

Finally In October 2004 BMECP was informed of a possible site Block D a brand new development near the Station. cbofficialopening190912

New England Quarter Block D

The Offices cbofficialopening190912

BMECP Offices cbofficialopening190912

View from the HUB cbofficialopening190912

The Offices cbofficialopening190912

The Meeting Rooms -The Rose! cbofficialopening Shell and Core

The Rose cbofficialopening Community groups rent rooms for community events which include Regular community meetings Wedding celebrations / Religious celebrations

The lagoon/Mulberry! cbofficialopening As a Shell and Core

The Lagoon cbofficialopening Training Celebratory events

The Mulberry cbofficialopening Board /Committee Meetings

Agencies such as these cbofficialopening Hire the Centre for their meetings and events.

BMECP Services and activities BME Infrastructure – provide support to diverse BME Community Groups and Organisations BMECP works with diverse BME community groups and organisations providing support and representing their issues. About 50 groups benefit from this work. This also includes the management of the BMECP Centre. BME Elders Groups Activities and support BMECP provides support to the following elders groups: BMECP Elders Group, Chinese Elders Group, Hindu Elders Group and Arabic Speaking Elders Group BME Women’s Groups Activities and support One Stop Shop Service for Refugees and Asylum Seekers BME Engagement and Participation programme BME Mental Health Contract Community development work and support cbofficialopening190912

The Future cbofficialopening190912

“The prejudices of our minds that continually distort and hinder what we really see” cbofficialopening190912