Aston residents given allotment boost

By KrisK • September 25th, 2009

Waste-land in Aston is set to be transformed into allotments for women and children from disadvantaged, social-economic backgrounds thanks to 50 employees from Service Birmingham, Birmingham City Council and other local Capita businesses.

Yesterday (September 24) the volunteers got down to work with a digger, shovels and forks at the site off Upper Sutton Street in Aston to help create allotments in support of The Community and Education & Training Academy’s (CETA’s) ‘Out and About’ project.

The project aims to give underprivileged members of the community the opportunity to grow and harvest their own organic fruit and vegetables, as well as learn about nutrition and healthy living.

CETA is a registered charity that works with disadvantaged black and ethnic minority communities in Birmingham inner city areas. Its main client group is women, but it also works with young black men and the long-term unemployed.

Diane Sawyers employment advisor at CETA comments: “CETA run projects like this have helped to improve the lives of hundreds of people in the Newtown, Aston and Handsworth areas of Birmingham.

“This new ‘Out and About’ healthy living programme will help deliver a range of wellbeing activities to women and children to promote awareness about the link between food and healthy lifestyles and also to improve health and wellbeing through exercise and good nutrition.

“The project also acts as a platform for social inclusion and community cohesion with participants meeting and making new friends and of course in these economically challenging times, any way to grow your own food and reduce the weekly shopping bill for families is a huge benefit! We’re very grateful for the support that Birmingham City Council, Service Birmingham and Capita have given us in getting this initiative off the ground.”

Juliet Feeny, senior corporate responsibility executive at Capita adds: “It is great to see the different Capita businesses across Birmingham as well as Service Birmingham and the City Council all working together to help out with this great cause and make a real difference to the local community.”

Councillor Ayoub Khan at Birmingham City Council comments: “This is a great example of how partnerships between local organisations can have a direct impact on the environment and the community. We look forward to hearing about the results of this worthy cause.”

The ‘Out and About’ project aims to create an environment for local, socially isolated women, predominantly from ethnic minority background together with their children aged two to four years to be involved. This is done through encouragement, education, hands-on gardening activities like cultivating and harvesting their own organic fruit and vegetables and by making the women aware of the benefits of healthy living. They will be given training in techniques and ways to cook tasty nutritious meals on a low income budget and to take greater responsibilities to look after their own and their families well being.

Ends

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Note to editors

The Capita Group Plc is the UK’s leading provider of BPO and integrated professional support service solutions. With 36,000 people at more than 300 sites, including 62 business centres across the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands and India, the Group uses its expertise, infrastructure and scale benefits to transform its client’s services, driving down costs and adding value. Capita is quoted on the London Stock Exchange (CPI.L), and is a constituent of the FTSE100 with revenues for 2008 of £2,441 million.

Further information on The Capita Group Plc can be found at: http://www.capita.co.uk

Service Birmingham is a strategic partnership between Birmingham City Council and Capita which will support a transformation in the way the Council works; improving services and contributing to its efficiency agenda. The Council intends to achieve efficiency savings worth around £1.5billion by 2016. This strategic partnership forms part of the Council’s objective to find better and more innovative ways of delivering services for the benefit of employees and citizens. The principle of this joint venture focuses on the provision of cost effective, sector leading, ICT services and in supporting the Council in achieving its business transformation objectives.

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