Description:My name is Sue Rowledge and I am the Community Regeneration Worker in Newtown, I have worked in this area for 7 years. My job is based in the Church Centre, it is a really exciting job and I get to meet lots of people from the local area. I also run projects for the local community, these are really important as we have a very diverse population in Newtown and we try to get everyone to integrate and work towards building a positive Newtown, especially as we also have a lot of negative media. I love Newtown but feel that it has had a ‘raw deal’.
Before I did this I studied to degree level which enabled me to work on a child minder link project. I actually went to Sharman’s Cross High School for girls, which has since been demolished. That is quite a distant from Newtown and culturally different to this area. Even so, I still have a passion for this area that my work has brought me to.
In the future I would like all the children to be occupied and would like the community to feel safer. I also feel that Newtown should be considered in future planning for the Birmingham area. In my role as a Community Regeneration Worker it can be tough as a lot of people have given up on the area; I think we can give Newtown a positive image as it has a lot of good things going on! We are currently establishing a Newtown neighborhood forum, to enable Newtown to have a voice and take us into the future.