1. Our Research Background
Research and analysis has always been an integral and important aspect of the our works, development and growth, helping us to better understand the underlying causes of poverty, racism, unemployment, substance abuse, domestic violence etc. which, whether individually or combined, serves to impede our clients and service users from realising or working towards their aspirations.
To that end, our programmes and projects, whether they be educational, recreational or geared towards specific training, are planned, developed and launched based on the evident constraints, needs and demands highlighted to us by our clients, by secondary research, or by ideas and feedback brought to us by partnering organisations ans staff memners. Both our Advice and our Training and Development (T&D) undertake different forms of research – both primary and secondary – before and during the delivery of a specific programme. By ensuring the needs and structures of our programmes are constantly informed by the people we aim to serve, all our research works help us to:
- fully understand the contexts within which we operate;
- make the right decisions to ensure successful outcomes of all our works;
- have a significant and sustainable impact on poverty eradication; and
- use our knowledge acquisition as an empowerment process for not only the thousands of members of minority communities with whom we deal,
but for our staff and team members too.
2. Our Latest Research Projects
(i) The (BAME) Lone Mother Equation (NEP, LCF, 2011)
The likely effects of cuts to England's national welfare system upon disadvantaged members of our societies has been of great concern to our teams over the past two years. However, cuts relating to child tax credit, housing benefits and Pregnancy grants amongst other capped allowances, are likely to have the most forecful impact upon lone mothers - and lone mothers of minority ethnic backgrounds in particular - as they attempt to raise families with less financial or other support systems made available to them.
In order to understand, investigate and answer some of the questions which arise from the coalition government's decision to make cuts to basic support structures, the Limehouse Project conducted a pan-London investigation into how both lone mothers from minority backgrounds and the organisations which strive to help them, felt about what was taking place.
Funded by the London Civic Forum (LCF) and the National Empowerment Partnership (NEP), the resulting report "The (BAME) Lone Mother Equation" was constructed following a pan-London survey of 150 BAME lone mothers, 10 in-depth interviews with representatives of 10 BAME women / lone parenting organisations, and three Action Learning sets with 18 BAME lone mothers. Our findings include the following:
• Majority of BAME women are angry at being ignored: 99% of all women surveyed did not feel themselves to be considered, or consulted, by either local or national government in the decision-making processes that affect them.
• Majority of BAME lone mothers feel cuts and long-term changes to education policies will stop them and their families from finding realistic routes out of poverty – “ these cuts to benefits and things like the EMA, and then hikes to tuition fees feel like a deliberate attempt to make sure we stay below the poverty line.” (Participant quote.)
• Policy makers and employers underestimate the ambitions, aspirations and skills possessed by BAME lone mothers, push them into stereotypical positions thus stop them from reaching their full potential.
To download a copy of this report, please click here.
