Citizens Advice Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole (BCP) have been funded by the Dorset Police Crime Commissioners Office to work with Night Time Economy – Black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) staff to raise awareness around hate crime and how they can get support from services.
Recent statistics have shown that takeaway workers, taxi drivers, security and off-licence staff from BAME backgrounds suffer more from hate crime. It is estimated that the UK economy is losing £2.6bn due to ethnic minority discrimination and Black, Asian and minority ethnic people are twice as likely to be unemployed than white British adults.
The current political and social climate has meant that there has been a surge in the number of hate crime reports. There has been a greater willingness to report, however there is still much more needed to be done to tackle hate crime. This is more relevant than ever, as the country edges closer to ‘Brexit’.
Citizens Advice BCP wants to carry on the successful start they have made in raising awareness in schools, offering one to one support, developing community champions and providing frontline staff training on effective reporting. By reaching out to the night time economy and offering advice and guidance on resilience and about who can support them further.
Ebi Sosseh, Project Coordinator says “The night time economy workers often work in challenging circumstances, where their personal safety can be compromised by prejudice, abusive language and hate, just based on their race. The support offered will be timely to know that we are here for them.”
For more information contact:
Tel: 03444 111 444
Website: www.citizensadvicebcp.org.uk
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