NFNPA 343/10 Annex 1 Mosaic in the New Forest National Park Mosaic Project Officer Progress Report to May 2010
1. Summary
The Mosaic Project Officer, working with the New Forest National Park, saw a significant level of interest from the BME communities in London and Southampton in the first year of the initiative. This has resulted in 16 Community Champions recruited and active: 12 from London and four from Southampton.
Despite there being no specific recruitment in London, each month the national Mosaic office receives at least one enquiry from a potential Community Champion based in London. Possible reasons for this are examined in Section 4 Issues Encountered. To redress the balance, the BME communities of Southampton will be the subject of active promotion in 2010 through face to face meetings with key contacts plus a presence at events such as the Ropewalk Multicultural Event and Southampton Mela.
The concept of Mosaic has been well received by colleagues at the New Forest National Park and local partners such as the Forestry Commission, which is beginning to reduce dependence on the key Mosaic contact, Nigel Matthews.
Due to the early success of the work in the New Forest, the Project Officer was asked to focus on progress in the south west from November 2009 until the new financial year. Progress has been slower in the south west but the refocus has enabled the profile of the initiative to significantly increase and developmental effort is coming to fruition. The team of New Forest Champions have continued to be in regular contact with the Project Officer during this time.
As part of the Mosaic initiative, a one year “transferability” research project is was undertaken with Dartmoor & Exmoor to assess the feasibility of extending the Mosaic model to another priority group, such as young people. The project ended in April 2010, with 18 Young Champions recruited, but with a further 11 months funding secured. The report by David Rolls is available on request.
2. Summary of Activity January 2010 to May 2010
2.1 New Forest Community Champions have demonstrated a high level of engagement with the Mosaic initiative. Currently the Community Champion representatives to the Mosaic Management Team and the CNP Council include people from the New Forest team. Southampton Champions are attending the full Authority meeting and staff meetings in May/June 2010.
2.2 Development of Community Champions includes a detailed Personal Development Plan and a Skills Audit to help shape their Mosaic activity. 12 of these have been completed since December 2009 for New Forest Champions.
2.3 All Champions are required to take two core Mosaic training events: Organising a Group Visit and Fundraising. 10 New Forest Champions attended the training day in April based at Brockenhurst Village Hall.
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2.4 The team of Southampton based Champions are actively engaged in supporting work to recruit more volunteers from their city. Including a meeting of Cultural Kitchen members; participation in the forthcoming publicity events and Unity 101 Radio interviews.
2.5 Colleagues in the Inclusion Team of Southampton City Council have continued to support the work of the Project Officer and currently a list of named contacts provided by them is being used to develop face to face meetings for the next quarter.
2.6 YHA Burley has yet to actively engage Mosaic. This is simply due to the limited availability of accommodation, given that Burley is the only YHA in the New Forest.
2.7 With the support of Nigel Matthews, the New Forest National Park Authority Partner Action Plan has been revised for the new financial year.
(Please see Appendix: 1 for analysis of time.)
3 Progress to Date
• The New Forest National Park Authority demonstrates a significant level of commitment to participation, highlighted in the strategic and operational plans. This is reflected in the accessible materials produced by the Authority for the general public which have been well received by the New Forest Champions. The web site has also been described as welcoming and straightforward to use.
• Despite the lack of local National Parks in the south east, it is evident that Community Champions are reasonably well acquainted with National Parks in general. Many have already visited and used the facilities available but often did not become regular visitors partly due to lack of knowledge and confidence.
• Organisational change is a key element of the Mosaic initiative, specifically attending meetings with staff teams and the Members groups. In 2010 Community Champions will continue to be encouraged to meet with teams as appropriate, plus staff and members are welcome to join in with Mosaic activities.
• One tangible benefit of Mosaic is the identification of existing skills in the Community Champions team, as part of the Personal Development Plan. This lead to two of the Community Champions running the fundraising element of the New Forest Champions training in April 2010, enabling them to pass skills onto others in the team.
• The support and work of Nigel Matthews as well as colleagues such as Winnie Sandhu and Libby Burke at the Forestry Commission has been invaluable in the progress of the Mosaic initiative. They are to be commended for their helpful support of Mosaic.
4 Issues encountered:
4.1 The need to make personal contacts. When promoting diversity initiatives such as Mosaic, there is an understandable degree of cynicism in targeted communities. Thus face to face meetings to establish credibility and develop working relationships are essential. This takes time. This point highlights the additionality of Mosaic for the National Parks, given that the existing outreach work is just one element of the officer’s remit and thus time for external meetings may not always be freely available.
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4.1 The need for personal contacts continued: It also emphasises the importance of having specific posts to address developmental work. In the New Forest this will be addressed if the current funding bid to Access to Nature for a ‘Breaking Down the Barriers’ project coordinator is successful.
4.2 Effective Promotion. To date no enquiries have resulted from any of the cold call emails in the 5 target areas. (No publicity has been distributed in London.) However the benefit of the general raising of awareness of the Mosaic initiative via articles with a large potential audience is invaluable. To date the concept has been well received by professional colleagues, with people commenting that they have heard of Mosaic.
4.3 The commitment of the New Forest Champions is significant and has established the foundations of a long and fruitful relationship with the New Forest National Park. Interest and activity are still high and we can be confident that this will continue providing there is ongoing support for the volunteer team.
4.4 The success of the New Forest Mosaic initiative is significant when compared with the general paucity of progress in the target areas of the south west. Why?
From my experience of working in Southampton in the late 1990’s compared with the present day, there has been positive and progressive shift in the lives of the local BME population.
The fundamental life needs such as access to decent housing, education and health care have largely been addressed. Some needs are less fundamental, such as the need for a beautiful environment. While this concept is not an absolute, many people experience a similar hierarchy of needs. (Ref: A. Maslow 1948.) Until each the basic needs have been addressed, people often find it difficult to progress beyond the necessities of day to day living.
In the late 1990’s my experience of promoting Hampshire Wildlife Trust in Southampton lead to me to conclude that the BME population was still focused primarily on basic needs and engaging in the provision of support for their communities. This, understandably, left little room for the natural environment although every Champion in Southampton is aware of, and has had some previous contact with, the New Forest.
BME communities of London, Bristol and, to an extent, Southampton are well established with 2nd and 3rd generation communities of Black British people who have largely acquired their basic life needs. Many of the new refugee and asylum seeker communities are still in the early stages of becoming established in Southampton, Plymouth and Exeter. Hence the National Parks may not feature in their lives even if we are all confident they could benefit hugely from being involved. This has been discussed and colleagues in BME organisations broadly agree with this conclusion.
4.4 The ownership of Mosaic and the commitment by NFNPA staff for the long term engagement of the diverse communities living in and around the New Forest this last point is essential. It is good to report that after 12 months of operation, this is evidently an active part of the NFNPA philosophy.
If you require clarification on any point, or further information on Mosaic in the New Forest please contact Clare Taylor, details follow below.
Clare Taylor Mosaic Project Officer [email protected] 07805 323 713
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Appendix 1. Mosaic Project Officer Time Analysis May 2010 to May 2010.
ALL 12% - meetings & events relevant to three National Parks (including Mosaic Management Team)
JOINT 24% - meetings addressing issues, or promotion, jointly for Dartmoor & Exmoor
DNPA 25% - specific meetings for Dartmoor
ENPA 10% - specific meetings for Exmoor
NFNPA 26% – specific meetings for the New Forest (excludes telephone and email support of 16 New Forest Community Champions)
YOUTH 2% - meetings with David Rolls re: Transferability
YHA 2% - Event for YHA Bellever
Please note: This analysis does not include time spent in office based activity which comprises a further 22 days since 01 January 2010
CT. 10 May 2010
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