In the past thirty years BWA has developed into a community organisation of standing and has been successful in building strong collaborative and partnership working relationships towards serving the totality of community, not just BME residents. The association is particularly proud of its success in bridging the gap between the public sector and the communities– bringing them closer together to create a ‘win win’ solution for those who are most disadvantaged. Through the years BWA has worked with a number of development partners on both programmes and projects. The major activities during the more recent years have been the management of two community centres (TMCC & JPCC); Sandwell Employment Network (SEN) and Advice Information and Guidance (AIG) Programme. The core elements of AIG Programme provides BWA with its uniqueness and have remained central. BWA has adopted a holistic approach to development in the belief that working on only one part of the development context will have limited effectiveness and sustainability. BWA has also created the concept of Programme Development Groups such as the Tipton Development Group, the aim of which is to foster partnership working and developing community involvement in service planning, development, management and evaluation. Each thematic group of BWA listed below has its own staff team which implements the activities. The ultimate goal is for each of BWA’s four themes to become independent, self-sustainable and working on a partnership level with all stakeholders:
1. Health and Sports Development Theme.
3. Children & Young People’s Development Theme. One Stop Shop Management Theme.
