| Description | Grant file containing correspondence, minutes, agendas, newspaper cuttings, leaflets, work orders, project proposals, receipts and funding requests relating to various race relations projects in the West Midlands, particularly in Handsworth. Funding source(s): Barrow and Geraldine S. Cadbury Trust, Barrow Cadbury Fund Ltd. Applicant overview: This file contains a number of applications under the race relations portfolio. St. James Church, Aston serves a diverse congregation, consisting predominantly of West Indians and Bangladeshis. As part of its remit the church operates a neighbourhood advice service run by two ministers. In order to overcome translation difficulties the ministers sought the assistance of the Birmingham Interpretation and Translation Service (BITS). The West Indian Federation Association (WIFA) embraces a black self-help community development agenda involving all races in its activities though placing a particular value on the island heritage of its membership. WIFA operates a community advice centre (dealing with queries raning from birth control to immigration) and is involved with youth education projects. The primary catchment area for WIFA includes Aston, Handsworth, Edgbaston, Balsall Heath, the city centre, Sparkbrook and Sparkhill. Harmony is a Birmingham community group of racially mixed couples or those who have adopted a child of a different race that aims to show racial harmony in action and to serve the needs and interests of multi-racial marriages. The Young Mothers Project (YMP) is a collaborative scheme between church leaders and the Social Services Department aimed at providing accommodation combined with social work and vocational guidance to teen-age girls in Handsworth. Many of the girls taking part in the scheme are non-white and have been rejected by their families. Nature of support: In 1977 the Trust approved a grant of £400 to St James Church, Aston to employ a BITS translator for its advice service. This support was subsequently renewed. A further grant of £2,500 was made in 1978 by Trustees to allow a pastoral worker to engage Bengali women (whose English language skills were generally poor) in the community. In 1977 the Fund approved a single grant of £800 plus an additional contingency grant of £200 to WIFA for improvements on its advice centre premises. That same year the Fund approved a grant of £100 towards public relations expenses at Harmony. In 1978 the Trust allocated £5,000 to the YMP to cover its initial expenses. A number of other small grants are also included in this file. Minutes: B&GSCT 4328, B&GSCT 4473, B&GSCT 4508, B&GSCT 4618, B&GSCT 4619, B&GSCT 4623, B&GSCT 4650, B&GSCT 4672, BCF 1603, BCF 1628, BCF 1654, BCF 1669, BCF 1698, BCF 1739, BCF 1742, BCF 1747, BCF 1750. Notes: File organised from newest to oldest. File not numbered. |