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Written by Cheryl Smylie
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Thursday, 15 January 2009 15:31 |
ASTON PRIDE BACKGROUND, HISTORY AND ACHIEVEMENTS
Aston Pride is one of the second round of New Deal for Communities ( NDC) Partnerships and has a grant of £54 million over 10 years. The NDC programme is innovative in providing grant funding over a long period - enabling local partnerships to deliver outcomes that make a real difference in their neighbourhoods. In this sense, the NDC programme is a radical departure from previous regeneration programmes.
All the NDC partnerships including Aston Pride are tackling five key themes – poor job prospects; high levels of crime; educational underachievement; poor health and problems with housing and the physical environment.
Aston is an area with a long and proud history and is now a bustling urban neighbourhood. However, the Aston Pride area remains one of the most deprived neighbourhoods in Birmingham and nationally with high levels of unemployment and economic inactivity, levels of educational attainment (for both children and adults) lower than the city average along with high levels of crime and poor health. Poor urban fabric and pressure on the delivery of local services have exacerbated the problems.
Lying to the northwest side of Birmingham City Centre, the Aston Pride regeneration area, according the 2001 census, has a population of just under 27,000 people in approximately 5,900 households. Overcrowding in the area is at a rate of 10.2 per cent, which is considerably higher than the national rate of 1.8 per cent and the Birmingham rate of 3.6 per cent.
In terms of ethnicity, the Asian/Asian British population is the largest non-White group in the area accounting for 55.1 per cent of the population. A further 15.4 per cent is Black/Black British. This compares to Birmingham as a whole, where the figures are 19.5 percent and 6.1 per cent respectively. The unemployment rate of 20.9 per cent amongst 16-74 year olds in the Birmingham Aston NDC area is far above that for Birmingham (9.5 percent) and nationally (5 per cent). A unique feature of the regeneration community is the relatively young population – almost one in three of the population is aged under 16 years, as opposed to one in five in Birmingham as a whole and nationally.
The current Aston Pride Delivery Partnership was established in 2003 with 17 board members. The new partnership board has been operational for just two years and indications of recovery are now becoming apparent.
KEY ASTON PRIDE ACHIEVEMENTS
AWARDS AND COMMENDATIONS
Over the years, Aston Pride and staff members have won awards and commendations for their dedication and the high quality of their work. These include:
- The Queen’s Police Medal for Sgt Dave Shergold, Community Safety Theme Manager (retired).
- RegenWM Chair’s Prize for the work of the Community Safety Theme
- Birmingham Lifelong Learning and Achievements Awards for the ICT scheme
- First Prize, Chamberlain Awards for Aston Pride StreetCare – a clean up, education and enforcement project.
- BECTA ICT Excellence ‘Best Primary School’ award for Prince Albert Junior and Infant School.
- Special BECTA ICT Award for Aston Pride’s use of ICT
- RegenWM “Most Transferable Good Practice”. Award for Employment Connections
- Ofsted reports for Pride area schools Prince Albert and Aston Manor note the positive contribution to attainment of the Aston Pride ICT Project.
- Aston Pride ICT Phase 1 scheme short listed for most innovative project (Computer Magazine National Computing Awards 2006)
KEY ASTON PRIDE PROJECTS
Health & Regeneration Theme
Aston Pride Community Health Centre – a brand new health centre with longer opening hours.
Community Outreach Family Support Services ( COFSS) – a ground breaking project that connects the hard to reach with important health services.
Breakfast Clubs – hot morning meals for children in all primary schools.
Education and Lifelong Learning Theme
ICT Phase 1&2 – a big push to equip every resident with career enhancing IT skills.
Interactive Whiteboards – use of state-of-the-art technology in classes to make lessons more fun.
Aston Pupil Guarantee – a major drive to enrich pupil’s experience of school and their after hours learning.
EDAS – supplementary schooling for children accompanied by their parents.
Learning Shop – careers information and guidance for residents.
Aston Pupil Guarantee – a big drive to enrich pupils’ experience of the school curriculum.
Letisha and Charlene Education Awards – help for residents to continue in education.
English Language Learning Support – for those who need extra help with speaking and writing English.
Employment & Business Theme
Rapid Response Fund – short-burst job-readiness coaching to help applicants prepare for interviews.
Young Persons’ Discretionary Fund – extra financial help for young jobseekers.
Employment Connections Job Matching – an award-winning jobsearch and matching service.
Community Champions - a scheme that provides young Aston graduates with training to become regeneration officers.
Business Employment Grant - support to stimulate business growth.
Mobile Skills for Life Centre – extending life skills and employment opportunities to the most disadvantaged.
Learn About Centres – 22 local centres have benefited with improvement grants.
Aston Ascend – help for residents who are not in employment, education or training.
Community Safety Theme
Safer Streets CCTV – Aston Pride security cameras are helping to reduce crime and the fear of crime.
Operation Trap – an award-winning initiative that has successfully targeted drug dealing in Aston.
Home Security – a high tech scheme that has massively reduced the incidence of burglary in Aston.
Home Safety – a remarkable fire prevention scheme that has already saved several lives.
The Outdoors against Drugs – sporting activities in and out of schools to combat drugs.
Burglary Reduction – alley-gating to shut down rat runs used by burglars.
Victim Support Outreach – signposting, advice and information.
Safer School Project – enhanced security and fencing for Pride area schools.
Housing & Environment Theme
Aston Hall & Park – safeguarding our heritage and providing more leisure and sports facilities for local people.
Cleaner Greener Aston – a scheme that has smartened up residential spaces and removed eyesores.
Aston Pride StreetCare – a scheme that offered practical help and advice on how to protect homes and neighbourhood from infestation.
Neighbourhood Masterplanning – joint work with local people to decide the look and shape of Aston in years to come.
Community Leadership Theme
Aston Pride Magazine & Website – updated information about Aston Pride projects.
Aston Pride Family Festival – attracts more than three thousand visitors every year.
Community Chest – small grants scheme for fit-for-purpose organisations.
Capacity Building the Community and Voluntary Sector – ongoing support and accredited training to grass roots organisations.
Sports and Football Development – developing skills for sporting opportunities.
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