Surviving life in the Black Voluntary Sector
‘Smaller community organisations at the local level play an integral part in community development. One of their great strengths can be sensitivity to local issues and culture. Many such organisations live a precarious, hand-to-mouth existence because of scarcity of funding. Despite this they will often have accumulated extensive expertise and knowledge of their specific areas. In some cases an organisation working at the neighbourhood level can offer unrivalled insight into the perceptions of local people about their community. They are generally well placed, given the right support and encouragement, to foster cross-cultural links.’ (Local Government Association, 19)
The Asian Resource Centre has survived successfully for twenty-five years, in a period where many other black projects have folded. This review of the project is a chance not only to assess the work and progress of the Centre, it is also an opportunity to review the state of the black voluntary sector and to consider the position and priorities of black communities in contemporary Britain.
A proper understanding of the development of ARC and its evolving service provision requires an examination of the social and political context in which the project developed; a discussion of the formation of the black voluntary sector; and an assessment of the new challenges facing the organisation.
The report examines the approach of the ARC to the following issues.
i) the need to create a service to respond to the needs of Asian communities and to ensure that this service remains responsive to new needs;
ii) the wish to respond to failures of state provision and other forms of state racism;
iii) the need to create an independent black-lead organisation based in the community.