Currently we are unable to support families in our catchment area who do not have English as a first language, regardless of their level of deprivation and need for support. There is a growing and diverse BME community in Telford & Wrekin and many of these people (particularly stay-at-home mothers) do not have English as a first language. This often places them at a disadvantage and makes it very difficult for them to access support as well as hindering development opportunities and involvement in the wider community. This is what the project aims to address. Project plan: Year 1 Appoint a bi-lingual recruitment/PR person for 10 hours per week, 1 year contract Work programme: •First 6 months – attend Home-Start induction and 1st volunteer prep course, 2/3 BME community visits or meetings per week, volunteer interviews as appropriate. Focus to be on recruitment of bi-lingual volunteers – minimum 5 •Second 6 months – as above but reduce visits to 1 per week during volunteer prep courses in order to support volunteers on course •Once volunteers are trained ask them to accompany to groups to ‘recruit’ families •Pass details of interested families to Co-ordinators to complete initial visits alongside bi-lingual volunteers •Aim to be supporting 5 families by the end of the first year •Focus on Asian and Polish community in particular •Job brief to be to recruit volunteers and families and support through prep course not to undertake Co-ordinator role Costs: Year 1 Advertising/recruitment: £1,000 Salary costs (including Senior supervision) 6,800 Training costs 160 Expenses (£70 per month) 840 Volunteer expenses during course 200 Family support (half of annual cost of £1,100 per family) 2,750 Sub total £11,750 TIG fee 211 Total £11,961 N.B. The first five items above are all one off costs associated with developing a new project, the on-going costs are based on the unit costs of supporting a family for a year Year 2 & 3 Co-ordinators to take over from PR person as follows: •Continue with occasional attendance at community meetings (involve volunteers) •Continue recruitment and training (recruit base of around 10 bi-lingual volunteers) •Involve mentor volunteers in visits to families for translation purposes •Widen programme to other BME communities •Support 10 families per year Costs: Family support for supporting 10 families a year, over 2 years 22,000 TIG 396 Total for years 2 and 3 22,396 Costs for year 1 brought forward 11,961 Total cost of project £34,357