Watch out Parliament, the BRATSS are coming!
This morning, I took a group of forty mums and kids from the Beaumont Estate, the majority of whom are active in the Beaumont Residents And Tenants Summer Scheme (BRATSS), to Parliament.
Apart from giving them the opportunity to have a nice day out, I also wanted to help them build their political confidence and go home feeling that Parliament really does belong to them. These families have a right to be heard re their summer scheme and all other important matters affecting them.
Through no fault of their own, (I blame our politicians) too many people still think that Parliament is a place far away that has no relevance to their every day lives. Regular visitors to this site will know that I obviously do not agree. Since involving local MP Harry Cohen and the council in the families’ campaign, BRATSS has been granted office space for the next three months, enabling it to make applications for funding – now that the Families Service Unit, which has co-ordinated all previous summer schemes, has left the estate.
Indeed, if the the council had not got involved, the housing association that manages properties on the Beaumont would not have given BRATSS any office space on the estate – the arbitary decision of one particularly obstructive junior official who works as the Beaumont’s so called “community development officer”. The council stepping in to overrule this jumped up official was a small and practical example of the power of politics.
Harry’s involvement has also raised the profile of the Beaumont estate families’ general plight regarding how little facilites there are there, for children, all year round.
I am helping BRATSS organise a big public meeting to ask local decision makers, what concrete action they plan to take to reassure Beaumont residents that, this year, the summer scheme – which serves over 300 financially deprived families over the six week summer holiday – will go ahead.
Please get in touch with me if you would like to help the BRATSS campaign.
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Kobra and family enjoy the tube journey to parliament
The BRATSS storm parliament!
The kids tuck into a well deserved ice cream and try to remember the names of all those feudal kings and queens the tour guide told them about………
quiero que me den resultados sobre las bratz osi no me enojo
Very happy to. With the help of the local Sure Start, BRATSS were able to go on a coach trip to Margate. Many of the families that participated had not left their tower blocks all summer. BRATSS still exists and in the autumn I will be helping them to strengthen their structure and governance so they are punching their weight for next year. Por favor, no necessitas enojarte!