Home-Start Leicester
Key Facts
Location
Project Criteria
Project funding
£48,511
Funding round
Set up in 1973, Home-Start Leicester is a charity offering support, friendship and practical help to parents with young children in local communities. It recruits and trains volunteers who have parenting experience to visit families with at least one child under the age of five years and offer them informal, flexible, friendly and confidential support. To help give children the best possible start in life, Home-Start supports parents as they grow in confidence, strengthen their relationship with their children and widen their links with their local communities.
The Highfields and Belgrave areas of Leicester have a majority Black and Minority Ethnic population. Many in the community are of south Asian origin. Funding from the Parenting Fund will cover a 30-hour Co-ordinator post to support Black and Minority Ethnic Families living in these areas.
In Leicester, about a third of the Home Start volunteers are from a minority ethnic background. But, there are not enough volunteers of all ethnic/cultural backgrounds to meet demand, especially for the Muslim families who request a volunteer of the same cultural background. The Co-ordinator will recruit and train BME volunteers, offering bilingual preparation courses in English and Hindi. Volunteers will then be matched to families where their language skills and cultural and religious awareness will enable them to provide extra support.
In addition to one-to-one visiting, the Co-ordinator will set up weekly family support groups in the two areas, where BME families can meet and gain peer support. Home-Start family groups thrive because they are led by group workers and supported by volunteers who can offer extra emotional support to parents who may be suffering from isolation, postnatal illness or loss of confidence. Families will be encouraged to take ownership of the groups so that they become self-sustaining. Links will be built with services for children and families in the Highfields and Belgrave. These include neighbourhood centres, Sure Start and the forthcoming Children's Centres.