Ambition for Ageing is excited to share its new briefing. Through this work, they evidence that some members of small, tight-knit ethnic minority groups are at a particularly high risk of social isolation due to intersecting barriers, and that models such as a Community Navigators model (one-to-one work) is not always the most appropriate way to tackle social isolation.
As an organisation working with a number of different ethnic minority groups and communities who experience racial inequalities, Ambition for Ageing hope this briefing will be useful evidence when you are advocating for the needs of specific ethnic minority communities when it comes to engaging with such models.
Key learning:
- It is important to work in a culturally sensitive way with a community’s values to ensure you reach those at higher risk of social isolation within that community.
- Intersecting barriers and characteristics can increase the risk of social isolation for some people, and this needs to be accounted for when planning projects.
- Group work can be incredibly valuable when working within some communities to tackle social isolation, including the Community Navigator model. A ‘one size fits all’ approaches to building social connection will not work with all communities and may disadvantage some of the most marginalised people who stand to benefit the most from increased connection.
- It is important to support project workers to be creative and adaptable when working in a culturally sensitive way.
- Co-design with community members is essential to ensure projects are culturally aware, appropriate, and effective.
Printed copies of the documents will be available to order, free of charge, from Ambition for Ageing.
If you would like a representative from Ambition for Ageing to present the findings of this research at an event you are holding, or you would like to have further discussion about the work. Click here to contact Ambition for Ageing.
Click here to download the briefing.