Birmingham Cabinet member Alan Rudge looks at the power of communities
The city council’s Cabinet Member for Equalities and Human Resources, Alan Rudge, looks at the power of communities.
As Cabinet Member for Equalities and Human Resources I have been happy to take lead responsibility for Community Cohesion in our city. In September 2006 I launched a strategy document which was endorsed by our local community partners, and now in 2009 holding a Summit to discuss its continued importance and its future direction.
Community cohesion is not just a vague concept. It is about everyone having a stake in society and being able to join in and influence the decisions that affect their lives.
Birmingham is a city of great diversity, both in terms of culture, art, faith, race and language.
Yet it is a city that is cohesive, vibrant and innovative. The city welcomes all people who decide to put down their roots in our city benefiting from the peace, harmony and the social and economic development that the city is famous for.
Community cohesion is about ensuring that all people from different backgrounds and communities feel they belong to the place in which they live. We cannot realise our ambitions by living in isolation to one another, it must be as a united city, where the differences of race, colour, and religion are embraced.
It is in the interest of all our citizens, whatever area of the city they live in and must be at the heart of the work of the Council, our Partners and communities.
For Birmingham, real community cohesion means living together positively; so people feel secure that their different backgrounds and circumstances are appreciated and valued and strong, positive relationships are forged,
It’s giving all our citizens a stake in the city’s success and opening up similar positive life opportunities, creating fairness and openness and encouraging enterprise, excellence and innovation – making people feel good about the city they live in.
To promote these principles we need to strengthen a range of attitudes and behaviours which we take for granted but in the diverse world in which we live we need to further cultivate.
This includes valuing and respecting all people – their ideas, energy, skills and talents.
Building trust between and across communities so we are able to work towards a common goal and the greater good of the community and city as a whole.
Empowering individuals and communities to generate and release individual capabilities and collective resources, so we can all contribute to the growth of communities.
And through valuing, respecting, trusting and empowering individuals and communities, we create bonds of trust and respect which develop over time and through experience to create relationships that are essential to good community cohesion.
To meet these aspirations, we need to recognise that these attitudes and behaviours have to be embedded into the social ethos of our society, and mediated through our social institutions. To achieve this I believe there are a number of areas to which emphasis should be given.
The family, for one, is where the values of community cohesion begins. Yet with increasing pressures and demands put upon it, the family is becoming fragmented and ignored as an important source of social development for our young.
Our young need to be nurtured and encouraged and as one of the most youthful cities in Europe, special attention needs to be given to this section of our community.
As someone who has been involved in youth work, I am always amazed at their resilience and inspired by their courage and creativity.
They are the future leaders and managers of our city and they will make a major contribution to its social, cultural and economic development.
However, whilst most can be an inspiration, we can’t ignore that some can prove a challenge and that is why for my part, I also lead on Birmingham’s Reduction of Gang Violence and Preventing Violent Extremism.
Faith communities also have a valuable contribution to make in building a sense of local community and renewing civil society, although also having distinctive characteristics and potential of their own.
I believe the new challenge for these communities, and in particular their leadership, is how in a secular multi-faith society, there can emerge a theology that transcends their boundaries to reach out to others to work for a mission which promotes cohesion between and across faiths.
Further emphasis should also be given to the voluntary and not for profit sector which has a crucial role to play in the reinvigoration of civic life and promoting community cohesion and its values. Having myself been a life long volunteer, and involved in a number of voluntary organisations, it is something I passionately believe in
We need to use the voluntary and not for profit sector’s strengths to challenge and stimulate new ideas, complement our shared objectives, to work with citizens and communities to respect, trust and value each other.
One of the final areas of focus needs to be our democratic culture. The Conservative led Progressive Alliance in Birmingham City Council has been a champion and advocate of local democracy, and recently in partnership with Be Birmingham (the Cities local strategic partnership, bringing together partners from the business, community, voluntary, faith and public sectors to deliver a better quality of life in Birmingham) we have established the Neighbourhood Boards, and the Neighbourhood Boards Strategic Partnership, which I chair.
I see democratic and civil renewal as a key priority for us where equal and high participation by our citizens in civic life is a central goal. Civil renewal should be about developing constructive dialogue between people and local government, working together to make life and our environment better.
I believe that consultation, engagement and participation with the broadest cross section of our communities, is at the heart of the Council policy-making.
That is why I have established a number of community networks, (currently 15) to ensure we are able to hear the voices of citizens in various local communities from across the city, not the usual suspects, but the unheard voices who work tirelessly without proper recognition. Community Cohesion is critical to the quality of life of local people and, as community leaders, local authorities have an essential role to play in facilitating this.
