MINORITY ACTION PKAVS Minority Communities Hub Quarterly Update March 2018 Welcome! Welcome to the first PKAVS Minority Communities Hub newsletter of 2018! Inside, you will find information & updates from the hub from January-March 2018. The first months of the year are always incredibly busy in the Hub, for a variety of reasons. There are deadlines for our staff and for our communities in March, being the end of the financial year. As you will read, there has been plenty going on! Highlights include: The launch of our new Employability and Active Citizenship pilot projects I feel safe at PKAVS. I don t feel so alone now. Bridging the Gap has changed my life. It s changed everything. -BtG Client Our Bridging the Gap celebration event The launch of our new Business Plan Royal recognition for two of our dedicated volunteers! We hope you enjoy reading about our work! If you would like to find out more about anything you read here, please email minoritieshub@pkavs.org.uk. Sign up to receive these updates here. In This Issue Active Citizenship Classes Bulgarian Liberation Day celebration International Women s Day celebration Volunteer News Bridging the Gap Celebration Business Plan Launch Amina Employability partnership work Short Break for European and Chinese Carers Chinese New Year Bulgarian Liberation Day celebration at The Gateway, Saturday 3 March Cross-Cultural Ceilidh
Royal Recognition for Hub Volunteers On February 14th this year, two of the Hub s most dedicated volunteers were invited to attend a reception at Buckingham Palace by Her Majesty the Queen in recognition of their dedicated volunteering. Active Citizenship Sabiha and Suhaib Ahmed, a married couple who are originally from Pakistan, have been volunteers with the Hub for eight years, since its inception in 2010. Over the years, they have supported the Hub to reach many members of ethnic minority communities in need of support, as well as volunteering additional time for events. The couple now run the men s and ladies walking groups respectively, which meet weekly. These groups, which are part of the Hub s Bridging the Gap Project, allow members of ethnic minority communities who are over the age of 50 to meet, tackling social isolation as well as providing regular, light exercise. This 10 week block of classes has included sessions on topics such as the NHS, using the library, schools and getting involved in politics. Hub manager Mohammed Afzal, who nominated the couple for the honour, said, We are delighted to see this recognition for these two dedicated volunteers. The work we do would not be possible without the help of volunteers like Mr and Mrs Ahmed. It is a great honour for them, and for PKAVS Minority Communities Hub. We are extremely grateful to Sabiha, Suhaib, and all of our amazing volunteers, for the key role they play here. 8 March 2018 was International Women s Day. This year, some of our Polish clients brought the ladies of the Hub flowers! We found out that in Poland it is traditional on International Women s Day for men to give an individual flower to all the women in their lives. One client said that they wanted to do something nice for the Hub, as the staff here had helped him so much. We were very touched! January saw the launch of our pilot Active Citizenship course. The goal of this project is to give recent migrants the opportunity to find out more about getting involved in local life, and raise the capacity of ethnic minority and migrant communities. The classes have been a big success, and we hope to run another block later in 2018. Bridging the Gap On January 16th, we celebrated 3 years of our Bridging the Gap project for over 50s. Colleagues from the council and other partners joined us for an afternoon of celebration where guests could hear more about the project and its successes from PKAVS staff, partners and the clients themselves. Jackie, a BtG client who is a member of the travelling community, said, I feel safe at PKAVS. I don t feel so alone. Bridging the Gap has changed my life. It s changed everything.
Business Plan Launch In January, we officially launched our new Business Plan, with a two -appointment referral system for all clients. This new model was developed over a year with the help of an external review from Nicki Souter Associates. The new way of working will help us to see people in a more efficient way and extend our support to more community members. The Hub welcomed senior management from our partners to an event at The Gateway where we heard from staff from both PKAVS and partners about the positive impact of the new plan. To request a copy, please email : jenni.keenan@pkavs.org.uk. International Women s Day Jar of Jewels, one of the community groups supported by the Hub, hosted a truly international celebration for International Women s Day this year. Over 60 ladies from all over the world came together for a potluck party, each bringing food from their own culture to share. Two ladies had the opportunity to share their own stories with the group; Iman, who came to the UK 2 years ago from Syria, and Rani, an Indian lady who migrated to the UK in 2004 from South Africa. The ladies were treated to beauty therapies including nail art and mendhi, and there was a bouncy castle to keep the children entertained. The event was a great success, thanks to the hard work of the group and all the volunteers who made the day special. Cross-Cultural Ceilidh In January, we had a Cross-Cultural Ceilidh organized in partnership with John Corrigan from Perth & Kinross Council. This took place at Rattray Community Connect in Blairgowrie & Rattray. The event brought together a traditional Scottish Ceilidh band and traditional Polish dancing, giving everyone the opportunity to learn. It was a great success and we hope to continue these events in the future. We are particularly grateful to John for all of his hard work to make the event happen.
Bulgarian Liberation Day Carers Short Break On Tuesday 6 March, carers from the Chinese and Eastern European communities took a short break together to Edinburgh with some members of our team. Saturday 3 March marked Bulgarian Liberation Day, a celebration of the re-establishment of the Bulgarian state under the Treaty of San Stefano of March 3, 1878. To mark the occasion, one of our dedicated volunteers, Krasimira, arranged a celebration event in The Gallery here at The Gateway. Councillor Peter Barret, our Chief Executive, Paul Graham, and Chair of the board Andy Chan also attended, and were pleased to learn more about the festival as well as getting to know some of our Bulgarian community members. The event included traditional food and dancing, as well as a helpful presentation from Krasimira for those of us who did not know too much about the celebration! In recent years, the Bulgarian community in Perth and Kinross has been growing, and with Krasimira s help the Minority Communities Hub is thrilled to be able to reach out and offer support to Bulgarian community members, as well as fun events like the Liberation Day celebration. The Hub is especially grateful to volunteers like Krasimira who make these kind of events possible. The group visited the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, and went out for lunch together. Trips like these provide much needed respite for carers and cared-for people, as well as reducing social isolation by providing an opportunity to connect with people from a similar culture. This is the first time our Romanian, Polish and Chinese clients have been invited to one trip together, and is part of our move towards more integrated provision. Clients were very positive about the trip, and welcomed the respite it provided.
Chinese New Year Amina Employability Partnership Picture by Angus Findlay for the PA On Saturday 10 February, Perth Chinese Community Association celebrated Chinese New Year in partnership with PKAVS and Perth & Kinross Council. In the biggest celebration of Chinese New Year in Perth to date, over 12,000 people came out to celebrate. PKAVS Chairman Andy Chan said, This year was awesome. The partnership with Perth and Kinross Council and the Norie Miller lights was great. I want to say a massive thanks to the people of Perth for coming out and making this event what it was, as well as to everyone who came in from outside of the city. We re delighted to have put the Chinese New Year celebrations on the calendar. This year we got involved with the Polish, Bulgarian, Indian and Pakistani communities and proved Chinese New Year is not just for Chinese people. The Hub was delighted to see so many people come out, and we are looking forward to next year s festival! What s next for MCH? Our new pilot project of Intergenerational Digital Inclusion Classes are running February-April 2018. Joint sessions to be delivered with social work colleagues about options for Care At Home We hope to host awareness sessions with RASAC for parents about internet safety. Our team will be participating in Thinkins sessions for he women of the World conference in Perth, and taking minority women along with us. We will also be continuing our daily work of supporting members of migrant and minority ethnic communities in Perth and Kinross. Since January, the Hub has been delivering employability training to women from Ethnic Minority backgrounds in partnership with Amina Muslim Women s Resource Centre in Dundee. The 6 week course was tailored to needs of the group. 8 women from the South Asian Community took part. Sessions included topics such as how to work out the British equivalent of your existing qualifications from abroad., job search, goal setting, confidence building, applications and interview role play. Contact Us PKAVS Minority Communities Hub The Gateway North Methven Street Perth PH1 5PP 01738 576076 PKAVS Minority Communities Hub @PKAVS_MCH @pkavsmch