The newly funded Black Country Community Connectors project
has been formed to address the poor cancer experiences and
outcomes that continue to affect people from Black and Minority
Ethnic communities.
The project will bring together an exciting new partnership between
Macmillan and the Bangladesh Islamic Association Smethwick,
the Nishkam Civic Association, West Bromwich African Caribbean
Resource Centre, Yemeni Community Association and the Black
Country Integrated Care Board.
Over the course of the next two and a half years Macmillan will
invest over £670,000 in the project, which will employ a programme
manager and four community connectors to work within their local
communities, and together.
The new project team will aim to better understand people's beliefs
and experiences around cancer, what barriers exist to people
finding and accessing support, and to increase people's knowledge
of cancer symptoms - all to help shape services that better meet
peoples' needs.
Gemma Peters, Macmillan CEO, recently visited the Black Country to
meet lead representatives from each of the communities involved.
The meeting provided an important platform, one on which local
community leaders could give voice to their lived experiences,
and the vital importance of addressing the barriers faced by
the Bangladeshi, South Asian, African, Caribbean, and Yemeni
communities in Sandwell and the Black Country as a whole. It also
provided an opportunity for Gemma to meet with people from the
Sandwell community, to hear first-hand about their experiences.
ADDRESSING INEQUALITY
IN CANCER SUPPORT
10