Celebrating Birmingham Diverse-City

Despite a headline which could be construed critically, Birmingham's white population set to fall despite immigration cut, the Sunday Mercury has reported on the continuing development of Birmingham's ethnic diversity.

Research undertaken by the University of Manchester shows a population shift, likely to be confirmed by this year's census, with the number of children from white families falling with more than half of under 16s now being from black, Asian and other ethnic communities; according to Department for Education figures, just 43 per cent of children at Birmingham’s primary and secondary schools are now white, http://www.sundaymercury.net/news/midlands-news/2011/01/30/birmingham-s-white-population-set-to-fall-despite-immigration-cuts-66331-28079455/2/.

The increasing diversity comes on top of Birmingham's status as the second most diverse British City after London, A Birmingham multicultural welcome to the UK.

This richness of people brings with it opportunities for Birmingham to move from the city of 1001 trades to a city of 1001 opportunities but the city must ensure all it's citizens get opportunities and their voices heard. The development of the city core must extend the benefits of job creation to all residents and particularly the ethnically diverse suburbs which have high levels of unemployment. It is also crucial that our council reflects the diversity of the city and that the promised benefits of city centre regeneration overspilling into the suburbs are true.

Comments

Popular Posts