South Asian Heritage Month – Birmingham City Key Facts, VCFSE Services & Funding

BVSC wants to support the Birmingham Voluntary, Community, Faith and Social Enterprise (VCFSE) sector to celebrate and raise awareness of South Asian Heritage Month (SAHM) which runs from 18 July to 17 August.

The 2024 theme is ‘Free to Be Me’.

To share your community’s event or story please contact: [email protected]

Did you know that:

  • 31% of Birmingham’s population is of Asian, or Asian British ethnicity
  • That includes: Pakistani or British Pakistani (17.0%);  Indian or British Indian (5.8%); Bangladeshi or British Bangladeshi (4.2%) as well as other ethnic groups
  • 77,242 people in Birmingham speak aSouth Asian Language
  • Nationally, there is a wide range of evidence on inequalities affecting South Asian groups e.g.
  • People from South Asian backgrounds are more likely to experience ‘very deep poverty’ than those of a White background: Bangladeshi (24%), ‘Other Asian’ (23%); Pakistani (18%); ‘All Asian/ Asian British’ (17%), Indian (11%); White (10%)
  • Children from South Asian families are less likely than children from White families to be physically active
  • South Asian groups are more likely to develop heart disease at an earlier age than the British population
  • People of Bangladeshi ethnicity had twice the risk of dying of Covid-19 compared to people of White British ethnicity
  • Details of health inequalities in South Asian groups in Birmingham are available from Public Health Birmingham’s Community Health Profiles

(Sources: Birmingham City Observatory, Birmingham Ethnicity – Census 2021; JRF, 2022: Ethnicity and the heightened risk of very deep poverty; Birmingham City Council: Ethnic Communities - Evidence of inequalities Birmingham City Council: Community health profiles)

  • It is estimated that at least 127 registered charities across Birmingham City provide specific services for people of South Asian ethnicity with many more providing wider support to all communities (Charity Commission Register of Charities– keyword search– ‘South Asia’ 29/07/24)
  • You can find out about various services and activities Voluntary, Community, Faith and Social Enterprise (VCFSE) sector organisations provide for people of South Asian ethnicity through our BVSC directories pages. For example ‘Route 2 Wellbeing’ enables a search for services by ethnicity. Where other directories don’t provide this, they do provide keyword searches.
  • Want to get information on funding opportunities to support people of South Asian ethnicity? You can search for these on our Engage for Funding portal. This has a category search including ‘Equal Opportunities’ and ‘Global Development and International Aid’. It also has a keyword search. Register here.

Find out more

Manage Cookie Preferences