Pictured above: Ravinder Kaur
A Coventry housing association is cementing its commitment to
supporting residents from ethnic minorities by breaking down
cultural and language barriers.
Ravinder Kaur has been appointed by Whitefriars Housing Group to
help residents from ethnic backgrounds have their say.
The new post will see residents who may experience difficulties
in having their voice heard given a range of opportunities to feed
back their views and shape the service they receive to meet their
cultural or specific needs.
Prior to taking up her new role as Whitefriars' community
cohesion and engagement service manager, Ravinder was the
Whitefriars project manager within the Coventry Partnership Your
Neighbourhood Matters Project. Here she supported residents in Bell
Green, Foleshill and Paradise, Spon End, Willenhall, Stoke
Aldermoor and Hillfields to make a difference to the way their
neighbourhood is managed.
From a chocolate challenge and community barbecues to clean up
your street days, Ravinder's wealth of experience in pioneering
unique methods will help to bring people from different backgrounds
together to create positive change.
She said: "My new role will be about finding out what issues,
such as anti-social behaviour or the environment, are most
important for a people from different ethnic backgrounds, and
learning how we can adapt the services we provide to better meet
their needs.
"I will be focusing on groups of people that don't normally get
involved through the existing opportunities we provide and seeing
what events and activities we can offer to change this - even if
that's simply knocking on doors and talking to people on a
one-to-one basis.
"What inspires me is empowering people to improve their quality
of life. We want to ensure we are flexible in meeting the varying
needs of our residents and I am looking forward to finding new ways
to further improve the services and support we offer."
Ravinder has also recently passed her PRINCE2 (PRojects in
Controlled Environments) exams. This means she is qualified for
best practice methods in project management.