Community Groups Meet to Challenge the Cuts
Community groups and BARAC will be meeting on 24 February to challenge cuts to services
Public Meeting: 24 February, 6:30pm, Malcolm X Centre 141 City Road St Pauls Bristol BS2 8YH
A coalition of local groups, supported by Black Activists Rising Against the Cuts (BARAC) - including the Malcolm X Centre, Signpost & Rite Direkshon and the Bristol Pakistani Community Welfare Organisation - are joining forces to defend local services in Bristol.
The Council are seeking to ratify changes to funding at a Cabinet meeting on 28 February, which will mean many grass roots services may be forced into closure.
A public meeting is planned on 24 February, 6:30pm at the Malcolm X Centre, to unite groups in response to this, with guest speaker Lee Jasper. Lee is the Chair of BARAC and is a leading member of the Coalition of Resistance anti cuts campaign. All are welcome to attend.
It has been widely publicised in the national media that proposed cuts will hit particular groups harder than others - Doreen Lawrence recently spoke out against cuts, warning that spending cuts will hit working-class and black Britons the hardest. This is appears evident within the cuts proposed in Bristol, which will see some of the most deprived communities losing services - Easton ward will lose out on £162,000 worth of service provision, whilst Ashley and Knowle wards will losing funds of £50,000 and £40,000 respectively.
We are hoping that other groups and individuals will come out and unite with local community groups to protect grass roots provision. The Council are not excepting statements in person for this meeting but are accepting written public forum statements to set its Budget for the 2012/13 Financial Year - it is important, if you care about local services, that as many people as possible write to the Council to express their opinion. All statements must relate to the Council’s Budget, or they will be rejected and must be sent to democratic.services@bristol.gov.uk and the deadline for receipt of statements is 12.00 noon Thursday 23rd February 2012.
About BARAC
BARAC is a new coalition of black public and voluntary sector workers, trade unionists, community organisations, service users and concerned individuals whose aim is to create a critical mass of opposition to the Government plans to cut vital services and sack thousands of public sector workers including many black workers across the country.
