I was invited to speak at the inaugural meeting of Camden's new Committe for Muslim Organisations which took place last Friday. I addressed the meeting along with our local MP, Frank Dobson. It was a good opportunity to make contact with a full range of organisations from different Bangladeshi community groups to Somali groups too, and useful to get a good understanding of the issues that are a concern to them.
I spoke about worklessness levels especially for women which is one of the major problems in the large Bangladeshi community. The audience recognised this as an issue as well as male unemployment. They were very responsive and clear about what they saw as solutions. They key solution for them was ensuring a skills match amongst the local BME community and the jobs that were available in the area - especially the construction sector. They did not know that a construction training centre had been set up in Kings X for just this purpose. Unbelievably this did not seem to have been communicated to these local organisations.
Other issues for the community included after school or supplementary education for their children to raise their educational levels, provision of halal meat in schools, a burial ground for muslims and a mosque and cultural centre. There has to date been cross-party support for the mosque but it looks as if the other parties are dragging their feet on finding some land. I offered to play a part in pushing the Council to find some land possibly through a s.106 planning agreement in relation to the new Euston development.
All in all it was a great evening for me - it was good to spend some time with fellow immigrants from the sub-continent and explore the issues that affect immigrants in London and try and work together to improve their situation.
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