Community engagement and social exclusion: the BME experience

Purpose – The endless and recurrent nature of community regeneration is of massive concern to any government due to the financial and human resources requested. Past research has suggested that by involving members of the community in the process of these regeneration activities, past mistakes can be alleviated and so people will feel better appreciated. However, members of the BME groups which make up to 12 per cent of the UK population are not participating optimally. This paper aims to look into the reasons for this lack of participation and make suggestions accordingly. Design/methodology/approach – This research adopted the triangulation method of research where interviews, literature review and questionnaires sources of data were all used. However, this paper presents only the results of the quantitative method. A total of 250 questionnaires were distributed with 203 completed and returned using snowball method of distribution. Findings – What emerged from the analysis was that local councils and other regeneration service providers are better channelling more resources at the use of community representatives in areas where there is a dominance of ethnic minority groups. Social implications – This paper explores community regeneration and identifies the need for partnerships in the process of the delivery of regeneration to a community. It investigates the various levels of community engagement and participation, the cultural diversity of England and discusses the social exclusion situation of BMEs. The paper also discusses the results of a descriptive quantitative analysis of a questionnaire survey which studied BMEs and their experience of community regeneration, both in terms of their housing needs and also the challenges preventing them from effective community engagement. Originality/value – Practical suggestions are made to assist policy and decision makers in engaging members of the BME community more in regeneration.