Changemakers: Proving why community health and youth services are so vital

Ten years ago, the National Lottery Community Fund embarked on a big, bold experiment, to put money directly into the hands of communities who had previously ‘missed out’ – leading to the creation of 150 Big Local partnerships. A decade later, in the face of austerity, a global pandemic, and a cost of living crisis, many of these partnerships act as an immediate lifeline to local residents, whilst also creating long-term change.

Content warning: This piece includes themes of child sexual exploitation (CSE), as well as discussions on mental health, violence and crime.

Imrana’s story

Imrana Niazi has been the chair of Palfrey Big Local in the West Midlands for seven years. She got involved during the first consultation, driven by her desire to create awareness around healthcare and patient rights after what she experienced during her father’s battle with pancreatic cancer.

In her own words, she has had to “fight a lot of battles” to bring about change. This has not been easy whilst acting as the carer for her mother (who passed away last summer), bringing up two young children and living in a tight-knit, predominantly Asian community in which, in her words, “it is not considered normal to have a Muslim Hijabi as a chair of any organisation”.

Imrana explains that she has had to overcome “huge misogyny in the area” to continue in her role as chair. It is the duty she feels to her community that has stiffened her resolve, an outlook she inherited from her late father.

“It’s the community that has kept me going,” she confirms. “It’s children who’ve met me in the streets and said I’ve helped them to stand up to bullies. It’s the women who say that they’ve set up their own forums, been part of different training or applied for jobs because they’ve seen me. That’s what’s kept me going.”

It’s the community that has kept me going … It’s children who’ve met me in the streets and said I’ve helped them to stand up to bullies.”

Q: Why do you think it is that the community in Palfrey has been neglected in terms of health care?

Imrana: One thing I feel we have struggled with and still struggle to do is to find consistency in partnership work with statutory organisations. There’s a lack of understanding of the area’s needs and a lack of understanding about who’s fighting for Palfrey.

It is seen to be a councillor’s role to deliver anything, but it’s not. It’s left to volunteers. Residents are fed up but there are plenty who probably have a good moan but don’t want to do anything about it. Then you’ve got passionate volunteers like myself and my Big Local board. We have given it our all to change attitudes, to show everyone’s got a duty to their community. We’re happy to be advocates for that. Responsibility lies within.

Q: The first few years of the Big Local programme were stop-start for a number of reasons. In 2017, you did another consultation with the residents. What emerged from that?

Imrana: The board felt the other big thing that happens in the community that’s not spoken about is crime. In 2017, a neighbourhood sergeant was invited to a board meeting to talk about local crimes. At that meeting, CSE was discussed. The board agreed to work with the police which caused a bit of an upset with a few members.

We did a lot of brainstorming and as a board we decided to create awareness on crimes and encourage residents to report them. I had to make the decision that we would be focusing on crimes in the area with early intervention programmes and that we’d be working with the police and not against them. A lot was said and a few board members resigned.

Q: Were you aware that CSE was an issue in Palfrey?

Imrana: The first time I heard it was when I was chairing that meeting. It wasn’t known to me. I knew drugs and gangs were an issue in the area, but I had to educate myself more, once CSE was raised by the police sergeant. We launched a project called iMatter Walsall, which saw us reach out to 6,000 children in six months.

The project was recognised by the Police Crime Commissioner and in 2018, I got an award as runner-up for outstanding community project. What we found was that residents were happy to discuss crimes with us but reluctant to talk to the police.

I was passionate about what we had started and wanted to continue for the betterment of my community. When we were hit by COVID-19, I applied for the social enterprise UnLtd award. I was awarded £5,000 and started adapting commonly played games, snakes and ladders and a foosball table, to create awareness around crimes in the area, such as CSE, child exploitation, drugs, gangs and knife crime.

The whole idea is children learn through play and through play the message will be conveyed. Once I set that up, I decided to take ownership of the work and created my own community interest company (CIC). We were very clear that we were here to offer early intervention programmes, education and awareness, and to signpost.

I took the iMatter campaign away from the Big Local initiative because it required an innovative idea and a lot more time and thought. We started to get overwhelming information from community members and coupled with the pressure to deliver the Big Local programme and the constant challenges I faced, I began to suffer from depression and anxiety. I had therapy and counselling to help me continue. I have not shied away from the work although it can be overwhelming.

We have given it our all to change attitudes, to show everyone’s got a duty to their community. We’re happy to be advocates for that.”

Q: Investing in youth has been something you wanted to lead on. Why?

Imrana: Investing in youth is a big priority for our residents and something I was very passionate about. Working with the police, we created a pathway for Palfrey Big Local and what we wanted to do in terms of investing in youth. We’d start with early intervention programmes and go all the way to youth social enterprise, activities for the youth, identifying skills and then offering training opportunities and helping with jobs.

I’m a social entrepreneur and I felt sure the youth would enjoy the opportunity too. We commissioned The Lionheart Challenge, a nationwide enterprise programme based in Glasgow, to deliver to our local schools and inspire our youth, aged 14 to 16.

The youth participated in marketing, business plans, human resources and finances. They worked as a team. We gave them the challenge of ‘How can you make improvements to Palfrey? How can you make Palfrey a better place to live?’ They had to present their ideas to a panel made up of Palfrey Big Local, the police, the council and youth justice team.

They worked really hard and what they came up with really surprised us. They presented projects about cohesion, helping refugees and food banks. They talked about their concerns for the elderly and online scammers. We were really impressed and offered to fund the youth initiatives and bring some of the projects to life.

We decided to give them a new challenge: ‘How can you reduce youth violence?’ There were tensions between schools so we decided to take them out of their setting for the session. Some of these children have not even been out of the area. They haven’t ever seen the town hall. Our intention was to bring them together to create tolerance and to learn how to behave outside school settings. They were really good, really, really impressive.

We have empowered women to get involved, to do stuff and have pride in the area and to recognise their own skills and flourish.”

Q: You’ve been volunteering for Big Local for ten years. What would you say is your greatest achievement? 

Imrana: We were going through all these challenges with the misogynist views people had. [Palfrey] was very male dominated and led. I think Palfrey Big Local made the change where we now have more females on our board than males. We have empowered women to get involved, to do stuff and have pride in the area and to recognise their own skills and flourish.

When I was going through my counselling and therapy, Local Trust gave me the chance to take part in the Community Leadership Academy. I had coaching for 18 months and was then offered the chance to complete the Community Leadership Academy.

This is when I recognised my own strengths. I’d say I’m a good listener. I like to help others and guide them on getting the best out of themselves. I’m really good at signposting. I like to learn. I feel that we’re always learning. I have had the opportunity to meet some really amazing individuals who have supported me throughout my journey. I never wanted to say it before but I would say it now, I’m a good leader.

Interview by Dan Davies.

Listen to Imrana discuss how Palfrey Big Local delivered innovative youth violence and victim support programmes in Walsall in The Community Power Podcast.

Read more Changemakers stories from the people delivering Big Local on our Voices page.