The Northamptonshire Black History Project, Northamptonshire Racial Equality Council (lead agency) and Northamptonshire Library and Information Service (community partner) - Winner
The Northamptonshire Black History Project is a unique and innovative community-led project that aims to record and promote the histories and stories of Northamptonshire’s Black communities and individuals over at least the past 500 years. The project aims to document and acknowledge the presence and contribution of people of Asian, African and Caribbean origins, a contribution that has been little documented and recorded.
In the 1980’s an informal group began to research the Black presence in Northamptonshire. By 1998 it became clear that the stories of the Black presence past and present that were being uncovered had a great potential to develop new audiences for local and national heritage. Northamptonshire Racial Equality Council, the lead agency for the project, invited groups and individuals to get involved and together they developed a three year project that secured significant funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Home Office and other grant-making bodies. They brought in other partners that included community groups such as Sri Guru Singh Sabha in Kettering, Wellingborough Black Consortium and Ghana Union, as well as Northamptonshire Libraries andInformation Service, Northamptonshire Record Office, University College Northampton and Northampton Museums and Art Gallery.
The project’s vision is to bring together three distinct activities, historical research, community archiving and oral history interviews and to involve people from a range of communities and age-groups in collating their hidden histories. The project has also been working to challenge people to work and think differently and encouraging people across the communities to share their skills and experiences.
The achievements of the project include: 660 references on the database from late 16th Century to the present day; creating an oral history archive of over 185 interviews; producing magazines and publications; encouraging innovative learning for young people by bringing history alive in the classroom, eg. 20 schools visited in partnership with Northampton Town Football Club as part of Football Racism and Cultural Heritage project, sharing stories of Black Historical Figures.
This community-led and based project has successfully engaged and involved local communities in its activities; introduced people to information held within libraries, archives and museums, and developed skills to use a wide range of resources. It is reversing historic discrimination, celebrating cultural diversity and changing and enhancing the lives of individuals and communities in Northamptonshire.
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It's My Life, Enfield Libraries and Enfield Disabilty Action - Finalist
It's My Life is a project which has been jointly managed and facilitated by Enfield Disability Action and Enfield Libraries. The project works with adults with learning difficulties, offering training in computer skills to enable them to produce their own life-story book.
The project offers people with learning difficulties training in computer skills to enable them to produce their own life-story book. We felt it was essential that people learn skills for a purpose rather, so each person was supported to write their life-story as a focus of the learning. Not only was this a chance for people to put their newly acquired skills to a practical and tangible outcome, but the opportunity to talk about and record significant life events is one often denied to people with learning difficulties. For those participants who had completed the life-story work there was the opportunity to consolidate their skills by producing a short PowerPoint presentation on a topic of their choice. This included recording an audio 'voice-over' to accompany the presentation.
The project originally started in October 2001 following a successful to bid for funding from the Learning and Skills Council. The Libraries Development Team and EDA had previously worked together on the several projects. They ran two life-story groups for five months and were amazed by the response and what these initial groups achieved in that time. As a result of this, the team felt that it was right to apply for further funding to extend the project.
It's My Life has not only been successful in getting people to join the library and borrow videos, CD's and books, and library familiarisation sessions have also helped raise confidence in using libraries. But moreover, the results for the individuals involved have been staggering and life-changing. In the words of one participant, "When my mum comes to see my book she will say, 'My Stephen can't do that, it's impossible, it's not his work.' Brian will say, 'Oh yes it is, he has worked so very hard.' And mum will be proud of me, and I will be very happy. Stephen Gold 2003.
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New Horizons Estate Reading Campaign, Islington Library and Cultural Services -Finalist
The New Horizons Estate Reading Campaign is the first of its kind in the UK. The aims of the project have been to get as many people back into reading as possible, and to provide an opportunity for those people that have never read to discover the pleasure of reading. The project targets the most socially excluded and disadvantaged people in Islington, a borough with the third greatest extent of deprivation in England and the second most densely populated in the country. To reach these people Islington Libraries opened small, informal community libraries on the five most deprived housing estates in Islington, taking books right into the heart of the community.
The project was launched in February 2003 with the aim of reaching as many people as possible (approximately 900 people taking part each year, borrowing 6700 books). It aims to offer residents living on social housing estates improved service provision, with the opportunity to acquire higher levels of reading skills and to be part of local community activity. It also aims to help foster family reading enjoyment with participants taking their improved skills back to their homes.
Over 90% of the books and materials purchased for these community libraries are a direct result of requests from the local residents. All the stock is brand new, and is displayed on tables and in dump-bins. There are few library procedures involved - no tickets and no fines. This together with the enthusiasm of the staff and the quality and speed of delivery of the books, are the main reasons for the success of the service.
The project has linked with local partners who provide services within the communities. It operates the libraries to coincide with other activities on the estate, eg. opening at times linked to Sure Start activities, crèche and mother and toddler groups, to maximise attendance.
New Horizons has links with the In Touch Project at Hanley Crouch Community Centre. This is an educational project that has been set up for teenagers excluded from school. By targeting this project they have been able to engage with young people, providing magazines and books that they request and reviving their interest in reading.
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