EUKN - United Kingdom - Ethnic Minority Youth Participation in the Built and Natural Environment

Ethnic Minority Youth Participation in the Built and Natural Environment

Introduction

This case study focuses on an Ethnic Minority youth participation project which was established to address the lack of representation of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) young people accessing, participating and seeking employment in environmental and heritage related activities.

Problem

Research undertaken by the Wester Hailes Multicultural Welfare project identified that young people from BME groups were under represented in the environmental / heritage sector.

The project sought to raise the issue within the sector itself as well as overcome the barriers to young people from BME groups accessing opportunities in the environmental / heritage sector.

Description

The case study describes how the Ethnic Minority Youth Participation in the Built and Natural Environment project was established in response to the lack of young people from BME groups accessing, participating and seeking employment in environmental and heritage related activities.

The focus of project activities was both to raise awareness of the lack of representation of BME groups in the environmental / heritage sector, and also to provide the opportunity for young people from BE groups to access work experience opportunities in the sector.

Approach

Through the work of the project, staff working in the environmental / heritage sector are given the opportunity to work with a new audience comprised of people from a diverse range of backgrounds.

Organisations and staff are also given the opportunity to access Diversity Training. The project also supports staff to overcome obstacles and challenge barriers by giving them the confidence to work with BME communities directly.

Results

Key successes from the project include:

Educational visits to heritage and environment venues.
Partners such as Historic Scotland have been able to develop new partnership working arrangements.
Young people now have an awareness of the volunteering and employment opportunities available.
Participants feel more confident in accessing the built and natural environment on their own initiative.
Young peoples photographs, drawings and diaries were exhibited at a Edinburgh art gallery to share good practice with mainstream organisations.
The success of the project was reported on in several newsletters of organisations in the heritage / environment sector.

Beneficiaries

Young people from the BME community.

Resources used

The Wester Hailes Multicultural Welfare project had already identified the gap in practical environmental activities available to BME youth. They successfully approached the Ethnic Minority Youth Participation project to work in partnership. This enabled the group to strengthen their funding application to Edinburgh Youth Social Inclusion Project (EYSIP) and develop a new innovative project to foster BME youth participation.

Contact info

Ethnic Minority Youth Participation in the Built and Natural Environment
Shaheen Sadfar

Project start date

//2005

Links

Visit the Scottish Centre for Regeneration website

Download the 'Ethnic Minority Youth Participation in the Built and Natural Environment' Report (PDF, Eng, 76 KB)

Document type

case

Themes

Urban Policy > Social inclusion & integration > Integration of social groups

Keywords

Ethnic minorities