Vale of White Horse District Council
Abbey House, Abbey Close,
Abingdon, OX14 3JE
Email: comments@whitehorsedc.gov.uk
Telephone: 01235 520202

Vale of White Horse District Council

The Embrace Partnership

The Embrace Partnership was formed to promote good relations between different cultures and communities and to stop racial harassment. To do this, the partners work together to listen and respond to the needs of communities in  Southern Oxfordshire, particularly people from ethnic minority groups.

Who is involved in Embrace?

Partners on the Embrace Partnership include:

• Vale of White Horse District Council
• South Oxfordshire District Council
• Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust (PCT)
• Oxfordshire County Council
• Oxfordshire Racial Equality Council
• Thames Valley Police
• Citizens Advice Bureaux (CAB)

Embrace logo

What initiatives has Embrace been working on? 

- Door step research

In summer 2006, members of Embrace went to find out what black and minority ethnic staff running restaurants and take-aways in Abingdon and Didcot thought about their local services and local community.

We have been using the results of this research to inform Embrace’s work, helping to ensure that our services are meeting the needs of these businesses.

- Embrace newsletters

People working in ethnic minority restaurants and take-aways in Abingdon and Didcot told Embrace that they want more information about how local services can help them.

In response to this, Embrace produced three newsletters in 2007/08 for these business in Abingdon and Didcot.

The newsletters aim to provide useful and practical information for these businesses about local services and opportunities.

From this year, we will be sending the newsletters to similar businesses in other towns in Southern Oxfordshire.

Past editions of the newsletter can be downloaded from the right of the page.

- Identifying support networks for people from ethnic minority communities living in Southern Oxfordshire

During 2007/08, the Oxfordshire Racial Equality Council mapped networks, groups and organisations supporting people from ethnic minority communities living in rural Oxfordshire. Embrace is now looking to use these findings to identify relevant support groups which they can work with to engage with wider ethnic minority communities in Southern Oxfordshire.

- Telling residents from ethnic minorities about services in Southern Oxfordshire

In June 2008, Embrace had a stand at Oxford Mela (a public event to celebrate cultural diversity) to inform residents from Southern Oxfordshire about their local services.

For more information about Embrace, please download the partnership’s leaflet from the right hand side of this page.