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Southall Black
Sisters
This page has been posted to ask local people in West
London visiting this website to support the Southall Black Sisters who are
facing closure due to a change in funding policy by the
The threat of closure
Although not directly connected with energy healing,
Southall Black Sisters (SBS) are a mainstream organisation supporting women going
through very difficult situations in their lives. For those who do not know
them, SBS are based just up the road in Southall and provide a range of support
services for Asian and Afro-Caribbean women who are suffering various kinds of
disempowerment and abuse at the hands of others. SBS is also active in
influencing national and local government policy development on issues within
its area of operations such as forced marriages and honour killings. You can
read more by going to the SBS website by clicking here.
SBS is an organisation in the voluntary sector which
is dependent upon funding from various public sector and charitable sources for
its ongoing financial survival. Its largest funder is the
The reason for mentioning SBS on this website is that
this organisation needs all the support that it can get from the local
community so that it can continue to provide specialist support for Asian and
Afro-Caribbean women. If readers of this page would like to help, please write
to
Details of your local MP can be found by clicking here.
It would be helpful if readers of this page who would
like to help Southall Black Sisters could e-mail their friends and relatives in
Also, it would be a big help if other potential
sources of funding from within the local community could make themselves known
to SBS.
If
Explanatory briefing about the
funding situation issued by Southall Black Sisters
From Southall Black Sisters
21 Avenue Road
Southall
Middlesex
UB1 3BL
Tel: 020 8571
9595
Fax: 020 8574
6781
Email:
southallblacksisters@btconnect.com
8 February 2008
Dear Friends
Southall Black
Sisters is under threat of closure
We are writing to
you to request support for our organisation. We are currently facing threat of
closure as a result of our local authority’s (Ealing) decision to withdraw our funding
as of April 2008.
Since the mid
eighties our ‘core’ funding has been provided by Ealing. Over the years we have
on average received £100,000 per annum from the local authority and this is
utilised to provide advice, advocacy, counselling and support services to black
and minority women in the borough who experience violence and abuse. The
experience and insights gained through this work has led us to become a
strategically important service, providing advice on policy and legal
developments to government, and international, national and local organisations
and professionals. The Ealing grant has, of course, had to be supplemented by
funds raised elsewhere.
The local
authority’s decision is based on the view that there is no need for specialist
services for black and minority women and that services
to abused women in the borough need to be streamlined. This view fails to take
account of the unequal social, economic and cultural context which makes it
difficult, if not impossible, for black and minority women to access outside
help or seek information about their rights. In effect the council proposes to
take away essential life saving services provided by SBS. Ealing council
suggests that we either extend our service to cover the needs of all women in
the borough or that we set up a consortium of groups to provide such a service
for the same sum of money. The amount of funds available to the voluntary
sector in Ealing has shrunk year in, year out, but the withdrawal of funds to
SBS will have a number of far reaching consequences:
- The attempt to compel us to meet the
needs of all women will mean that we will have to reduce our services to
black and minority women across
- We will no longer have the same
national impact in terms of our input in policy and legal development in
relation to black and minority women which has been highly effective over
the years. Our campaigns in such critical areas of work as forced marriage,
honour killings, suicides and self harm, religious fundamentalism and
immigration difficulties, especially the ‘no recourse to public funds’
issue, will have to be drastically cut back .
- A unique, specialist and experienced
organisation (members of the staff and management committee have a
combined experience of over 50 years) will lose its identity - an identity
that has become synonymous with high quality service provision. We are
seen as a ‘flagship’ organisation. Indeed Harriet Harman, the Deputy Prime
Minister in her speech at the House of Commons on 18 July 2007, made
specific reference to SBS as exactly the kind of group that the State
should support.
…we will work on
the issue of empowering women in black and Asian communities. Women play a crucial
role working together in their communities, whether they are working to reduce
crime in their area, like Mothers Against Guns…, or whether they are Asian
women, like Southall Black Sisters, working to support other Asian women. We
want to do more to support and empower those women as they tackle problems
within, and build bridges between, communities
This statement was made in the context of debates on cohesion in
which she specifically identified groups like ours as key to building cohesion
between and within communities. It is therefore of grave concern that at a time
when all local authorities have a duty to promote cohesion, Ealing Council has
chosen to undermine a group that has historically and effectively worked across
religious and ethnic lines within black and minority communities precisely to
bridge differences and build a sense of citizenship. Ironically, the Council is
seeking to set up Muslim women only groups under its ‘cohesion’ strategy – the
demand for which does not exist!
We also need to
address the new challenges posed by immigration and asylum difficulties,
growing racism and religious intolerance. But without adequate funding, SBS is
now in danger of closing down.
Current
Position
Following legal
action, we have compelled Ealing Council to carry out a race equality impact
assessment. This had not been undertaken prior to making a decision to withdraw
our funding.
Although the
Council has now undertaken such an assessment, it is only in relation to the
new domestic violence policy. In other words it only assesses whether or not
all women ‘may’ be able to access the new service. The Council maintains that
withdrawing funding from SBS will have no adverse consequences for black and
minority women! The assessment is also flawed since it does not consider the
consequences for black and minority women if SBS services are cut or closed. We
have submitted detailed representations pointing out the flaws in their
assessment procedure with a view to taking further legal action if necessary,
Over 50 users of our services have also written to the Council protesting at
their high handed decision.
Your Support
The issues raised
by the Council’s actions have wider ramifications for all black and minority
women’s organisations. It is imperative that we act now. We ask you to write to
the leader of Ealing Council, Jason Stacey whose details are to be found on the
model letter that follows.
We would be
grateful for any support that you can give us. If you do not have time to draft
a letter, please find enclosed a model letter which you may amend as you see
fit. Please also let us have a copy of your letter and any reply that you
receive.
If you are able
to support us in any other way please contact us. We look forward to your response.
Yours sincerely
Pragna Patel
Chair of Southall
Black Sisters
Pro Forma Letter of Support
MODEL LETTER
(on letter headed paper/with your address)
Jason Stacey
Leader of Ealing
Council
Ealing
W5 2BY
Date
Dear Mr. Stacey,
We are writing to
you to express our concern at Ealing Council’s decision to withdraw funding from
Southall Black Sisters, a flagship organisation that has brought credit to your
borough through its extremely valuable work locally, nationally and
internationally.
Over the years,
SBS has provided a much-needed service to local black and minority women. Its
work has been vital in bringing about much needed change to policy and good
practice on a range of issues from domestic violence to honour killings and
forced marriage. It has also served the borough well by organising services for
minority women across religious, caste and ethnic lines - a central aim of your
cohesion strategy. Given the Council’s record of support for the organisation
for the last 29 years, this must have been a view shared by the Council itself.
As you are aware,
black and minority women constitute one of the most vulnerable groups in
society. Recent national reports confirm that in addition to the problems that
all women encounter in exiting from an abusive relationship, black and minority
women face additional barriers to accessing advice and support. Consequently
they are in need of targeted specialist support.
You will also be
aware that SBS raises additional funding from a
variety of sources in order to continue to provide a comprehensive and high
quality service to minority women. It seems entirely unreasonable then to
expect the group to provide a service to all women from the same pot of money,
which had not adequately met the needs of minority women.
We are concerned
that you decision to withdraw the organisation’s funding appears not to be not
based on any proper assessment of the needs of black and minority women or the
impact that the closure of SBS will have on them.
We therefore urge
you to consider your new domestic violence policy and continue your support for
this important organisation.
Yours Sincerely,
Contact details
The contact details for Southall Black Sisters are as
follows:
21 Avenue Road
Southall
Middlesex
UB1 3BL
Tel: 020 8571 9595
Fax: 020 8574 6781
Website
: http://www.southallblacksisters.org.uk/
E-mail :
southallblacksisters@btconnect.com
Date of posting : 28th February 2008
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