Lancashire BME Network, alongside Blackburn with Darwen organisations – Brookhouse Development Group, Blackburn with Darwen Healthy Living, IMO, Lancashire Council of Mosques, One Voice Blackburn and Youth Action – have been working to reduce the ‘R’ rate in the borough and reduce the risk of another lockdown.

This work was supported by Blackburn with Darwen Public Health and Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council.

The partnership used a combination of outreach work, social media presence and targeted workshops to encourage the use of masks, social distancing and sanitising. This included: giving out packs to businesses to help them become COVID-19 safe; providing face masks and sanitisers to members of the public; and encouraging people to follow social distancing rules.

We were also featured in a number of both national and local news reports to discuss our thoughts on the COVID-19 pandemic and the effects on the BAME community. A number of resources have been created by the partnership and these are available down below. Feel free to use them, and distribute amongst your networks.