eSSAy

eSSAy is a local community activist living in a bustling south Asian neighbourhood of a major city in the Midlands, where there are a multitude of languages spoken and faiths practised.

The population of around 10,000 people experiences significant social and economic disadvantage and falls into the lowest 10% of neighbourhoods on the UK measure of deprivation. 

The mainly South Asian population has been badly affected by COVID-19, including a high proportion of deaths locally, huge increases in prices locally and further unemployment in an area which already had very low employment rates. eSSAy is supporting the community to identify local priorities and to seek to influence decision-makers around them. 

The focus of eSSAy’s reporting will be on jobs and income, which remains a very large and increasing worry for local people, made worse by COVID-19. The stories will also talk about extortionate price rises for essential food items within the neighbourhood during COVID-19 and on how the pandemic has affected both local young people and the local British Bangladeshi community.