Working with Central and Eastern Europeans
Working with EU Migrants
A free information seminar for the voluntary sector was held on the 25th September 2007 at the Thornbury Centre in Bradford. The Diversity Exchange invited frontline staff to the seminar whose object was to share advice and support.
Liz Hanney, the Diversity Exchange manager, welcomed over 60 attendees to the seminar. She explained the purpose of the morning and introduced the agenda which included presentations by various speakers, a DVD and time for questions and a sharing of resources.
The first speakers were Sarah Blow and Steven Kingston from the Central and Eastern European Working Group. They gave their presentation entitled Supporting Changing Communities - Supporting Changing Services. Sarah and Steven answered questions raised during their presentation.
The next speaker was Kasha Deverny, a Polish migrant who is the Children’s Panel Advisor for the refugee Council and also a core founding member of the Bradford Central and Eastern European Working Group. She gave those at the session a first hand account of her experiences coming to Bradford.
There was then a break for tea, coffee and cream cakes which gave the visitors a chance to talk to each other and discuss concerns. A DVD, featuring European Migrants talking about conditions and situations encountered when they first moved into the area, was presented by Jackie Ward, from Education Bradford’s Education Service for New Communities and Traveller Children.
The questions session gave members of the audience the chance to ask questions and also to give examples of the situations that they had discovered in their own work and ask for advice.
There were many resources available for attendees including: the Good Practice Guide: A guide to examples of local good practice in working with Central and Eastern European Migrants. The guide had been developed by the Diversity Exchange on behalf of the Bradford Central and Eastern European Working Group and the Welcome to Bradford booklet, which is translated into English, Polish and Slovak.
The Good Practice Guide: A guide to examples of local good practice in working with Central and Eastern European Migrants will, soon, be available to download by clicking on the cover of the booklet above.
Download the Powerpoint presentation used by Bradford Central and Eastern European Working Group.