Liverpool's Black Vote

Black shadow councillors will be unveiled at Liverpool Town Hall at 6.20pm, tomorrow night. The event marks a new initiative to improve BME representation within Liverpool Council Chamber.

A press conference, launching the event takes place at Liverpool Town Hall between 5:30pm and 7:30pm on Thursday 29 May 2008.

The recruits will be made available for interviews and a photocall at 6.20pm.

LIVERPOOL has recruited nine people to shadow councillors in a
groundbreaking new initiative to nurture the Black and minority
ethnic community leaders of the future.

Nine dynamic Liverpool residents - seven women and two men – have
been selected for Operation Black Vote's (OBV's) award winning
programme. Through which, they hope to gain an insight into the roles and responsibilities of a councillor. Each shadow been assigned to an elected member from the Liberal Democrat, Labour and Liberal Party's and will follow them for
the next six months.

Conservative Clls do not seem to be included.

Nevertheless, this new generation of black shadown cllrs are being sworn in at a special event at 5:30pm in the council chamber at Liverpool Town Hall on Thursday 29 May. They will be welcomed by Lord Mayor Steve Rotheram, their mentors and the leaders of the three largest political groups on the council.

RECRUITS Vs COUNSELLORS

Justine Jenkins-Burke - Cllr Alan Dean (Labour)

Shanaz Nawaz - Cllr Steve Munby (Labour)

Caroline Cheghe - Cllr Louise Baldock (Labour)

Jane Hill - Cllr Anna Rothery (Labour)

Jing Liu Deng - Cllr Karen Afford (Lib Dem)

Amina Ismail - Cllr Warren Bradley (Lib Dem)

Kevin James Nagberi Cllr Flo Clucas (Lib Dem)

Akmed Musleh Cllr Peter Millea (Lib Dem)

Nathalie Nicholas Cllr Steve Radford (Liberal)

Background.

Operation Black Vote is a non-party political campaign – see
www.obv.org. uk for more information

The term "Black" is a political term. It refers to African,
Asian, Caribbean and other ethnic minorities.

The Operation Black Vote Shadowing Scheme is the first to specifically target ethnic minorities.

Shadows commit at least eight working days to the project over the next six months. This is a voluntary programme. Participants will not be paid bar basic expenses.

Liverpool City Council is a Liberal Democrat controlled
Local Authority. There are currently 90 councillors in Liverpool , only one of whom is from a BME community (Cllr Anna Rothery).

Cllr Anna Rothery participated in the 2006 OBV MP Shadowing
Scheme a national programme to address

the under-representation of BME communities within Parliament. At
present there are 15 BME MPs, if this figure was representative,
there should be 55-60 MPs.

The Councillor Shadowing Scheme was first implemented in
2005/6 in Bristol and was awarded the Local Government Chronicle
Award in 2006 for `Supporting Local Democracy' and was highly
commended for the `Community Involvement' category.

The LGC Awards are a national award which recognizes and rewards initiatives of
excellence (http://www.lgcaward s.com).

The Councillor Shadowing
Scheme was also cited as a `model of excellence' by both the
Councillors Commission and the Audit Commission.

For enquiries regarding Liverpool City Council - please contact Paul
Johnston, News Officer, on 0151 225 2611 or 07740 918615

Thanks to:

Garth Dallas
Chief Executive
Fortis Marketing Ltd*

t: 0151 707 6550
m: 07793 771275
f: 0151 703 6580
e: gdallas@fortismarke ting.co.uk
w: www.fortismarketing .co.uk

*Publishers of Diverse Liverpool magazine, winner of "Excellence in
Media Award, Black Achievers Awards 2006