Community volunteering
The 100 Hours Community Challenge has attracted a broad cross-section of Mixenden residents. Volunteers help with practical projects, such as redecorating communal facilities, and receive rewards to mark every 100 hours of completed voluntary work. More than 100 people have given their time so far, and rewards have included a visit to a football match, the filming of a TV programme and a visit to the Houses of Parliament
A volunteer takes on a redecorating task
Mixenden Community Link has also established a strong programme of social activities. A summer 2007 project involved devising and performing a non-verbal play with the help of Faceless, a professional theatre company. Around 30 children and adults, representing eight nationalities, took part in the week-long project. Faceless was so impressed with the performance that it took the Mixenden play to MintFest, an international street arts festival held in Kendal in the Lake District.
Val Morris of Pennine Housing 2000 comments: “We’ve found that so many people are keen to get involved and do their bit to dispel the negative perception of Mixenden. There’s a growing sense of community pride here, with people taking real strides towards becoming good neighbours and helping one another out in times of need”.
Tailored services
The language courses provided by the local college aren’t suitable for complete beginners and the college is difficult for Mixenden residents to get to by public transport. As a result, an important element of Mixenden Community Link’s work has been to provide a tailored English language course for asylum seekers and EU migrants who have no knowledge of English. Local residents are involved in teaching the course, which helps to build relationships between the two groups.
Just one year after Mixenden Community Link was established, there had been a perceptible shift in attitudes towards asylum seekers and economic migrants living in the area. Furthermore, a number of individuals who had received a positive decision on their asylum case were keen to remain in Mixenden, which was previously unheard of.
Topics associated with this project
Cohesion, Community-led, Housing, Neighbourhood, Yorkshire and Humber