Behind the beautiful facade of the regency architecture of Brunswick lies a number of social and economic problems. So much so that Brunswick was recognised as the 40th most deprived ward in the whole of England in the late 1990's. The project came about to involve local people in solutions to local problems to improve the quality of life for everyone living in the area.
A successful bid to the Single regeneration Budget and Brighton & Hove social services meant that a formal mangement committee of residents, supported by council officers, was formed. In 1998 three workers were employed and the project was housed in a small office in Rochester gardens.
April 1999 saw the the Project move
to its current base at the Old Market, off Western Road where there is
a comfortable meeting room as well as work space for workers and volunteers.
We hope to expand on current activities from this base, in response to
what local people want in Brunswick.
We started 2006 positively with funding being secured from the Department of Health to conduct a research project into the mental health needs of the Arabic-speaking people. This was a very successful project employing 4 sessional staff over 9 months. Apart from producing a report of our findings, one of the main outcomes of this project is to provide the opportunity for individuals without prior knowledge to gain a University Certificate in research while at the same time be gainfully employed doing the actual research. I am pleased to report that 3 people registered for this course administered by the University of Central Lancashire and that all have passed with flying colours
The Big Lottery (BLF) fund grant enters its second year giving the project the opportunity to continue the activities and services we deliver to Arabic-speaking, Chinese Elders, Refugees and Asylum seekers communities. This has been much welcomed by these under-resourced communities who do not fit neatly into mainstream funding. We are therefore grateful for the BLF for their continued support for such programmes
The Children and Young People Trust (CYPT - formerly Sure Start) has granted us funding for a further year for our very successful JIGSAW parents and toddlers drop-in group until March 2008. Despite a reduction in funding of 20% from the CYPT at the last count our data base shows a healthy count of 250 adults and as many toddlers that we were able to support fully thanks to funding from the Awards for All grant.
As mentioned above, The Awards for All grant benefited 79 Adults and 83 Toddlers throughout the year. This was specifically for:
1 Educational trips to Druzillas Zoo and Park, Bluebell Railway, Sheffield Park and Middle Farm, a 625 acres working farm - a rare opportunity for inner-city children and especially their parents/carers to ‘get out’ of Brighton and Hove for the day
2 50 weekly drop-in sessions of 2 hours duration mixing with others, learning about each other’s background and culture through the arts, music, traditions and food.
3 Overall, by accessing these activities made possible by an Awards for All grant, has helped the group towards improving their quality of life as well as contributing to an increased understanding, at an early stage of the toddlers development, of the many similarities and likenesses we all have in common, rather than our differences.
For this and the wonderful activities the group is thankful.
The Local Voice continues to be delivered very successfully thanks to the help of all the volunteers and the contributions of the advertisers. This very worthwhile publication backed up by www.brunswickproject.plus.com who continues to receive a steady stream of hits from visitors looking for pertinent information into the neighbourhood of Brunswick and Regency despite the welcomed emergence of a diverse resident associations and other websites' presence.
We are pleased that we were able to assist the Brunswick Festival organisation from our offices.
The Healthcare Commission supported by
the University of Central Lancashire has again retained the Project for
a further year to conduct 4 workshops/ interviews on its behalf with the
aim of improving service delivery to the community.
Volunteers
We could not survive without the continuing
support of our brilliant volunteers! We currently have almost 40
volunteers involved in all aspects of our work. Please let us know
if you would like to become one of our volunteers.
Now it's over to you!
We would like to hear from you. Please tell us the kind of things you are interested in, training, interests, volunteering, community events or other things you would like to see happening in Brunswick. This will enable us to insure that the work we do reflects what the community wants and also identify possible future initiatives.
You can e-mail
us , telephone on 01273 325039 or write to: BCDP, The Old Market,
Upper Market Street, Hove BN3 1AS