Health Issues

Worked alongside PCT to draw their attention to certain ethnic minorities who are pre-disposed to certain medical conditions such as heart disease, diabetes or HIV.

Persuaded PCT to establish a separate sub-group which will discuss issues of ethnic minority and black people.

Events

“Milaap”, a truly cultural evening where different religions, and cultures were on show to the wider public.

“Inter-faith discussion”, where members of various communities were bought together to highlight the issues involved in the different communities.

Domestic Violence

Liaised with the local police to produce awareness posters in different languages to encourage communities to gain confidence with the police, for issues regarding domestic violence.

For the past 3 years we’ve worked closely with the domestic violence forum and are now involved in their core decision making group. 

Successfully arranged courses on domestic violence for different community leaders to raise awareness.  

Now, victims of domestic violence who aren’t British national but who are legally in this country will be entitled to receive help from the police.

Translation

Free translations for local carers and organisations have been provided.

Charity

Always regarded local charities as a highly important aspect of the local community and have worked alongside BHF and “Healing Hearts”. 

This summer a garden party was hosted whereby the proceeds went towards “Strokebusters”

Education

Visits have been made to local primary and secondary schools raising the awareness of different cultures amongst youth. 

Collaborated alongside the youth council to arrange meetings between youths from various ethnic minorities, to enable them to play an active role in shaping ethnic youth policy.  

Informed the council about the problems faced by ethnic youths.


Closing comments..

This forum was set up with the vision to bring different communities together on a single platform. We wanted to highlight the problems faced by the minorities and to explore avenues to support them. I’m very proud to say that a platform has been made to break down the barriers that normally hinder integration. Recent events such as “Milaap,” which was a huge success have shown us the benefits in understanding different cultures, enabling us to harbor positive relations within the larger community. I would like to extend my thanks to the local police, PCT and domestic violence forum as without their encouragement and enthusiasm, such success wouldn’t have been possible. We must however now look towards the future to ensure that various communities and particularly the youth benefit and respect this multicultural society in which we live in.
 

 

 Vice-Chairman

Dr. Naila Khokhar

 

Chairman’s comments

The Southend Ethnic Minority Forum was first set up to communicate with the residents of Southend by gathering their views on local issues and work with them to identify and address areas of importance and concern in a mutually supportive environment. 

As a body, we aim to reach a very broad spectrum of people from minority ethnic backgrounds living and working in the borough and hope that our   efforts in doing so will create a friendly climate. 

We know that achieving our aims will not be easy and we will face many difficult challenges.     However a very promising start has been made and we are confident, that with your help and   support, we will be able to rise to those challenges and make a real difference, community-wide, to the lives of our families,friends,neighbours and colleagues
 

 

Chairman

Ahmad Khwaja JP