Archive for November, 2010
Posted by Karen Cheney on 29th November 2010
I went to the Birmingham Young Resident University Presentation Evening at Lakeside Centre, Aston University last Friday evening 26/11/10.
A fantastic event – the presentations from young people were of the highest quality and all thought provoking.
Congratulations to all involved – Syconium, Lift Community Trust, First Class Youth Network, Erdington Constituency Children’s Forum and Learning Curve plus Chamberlain Forum who have co-ordinated the project.
Young Resident University is one of the projects to be initiated and supported from Birmingham’s TSEPI locality funding. For the past 8 months or so young people in Birmingham have been looking into the city’s future as part of the YRU research project.
Please click here for the programme from the event – “What Future for Birmingham” for more information on the groups involved and the research they undertook.
It is also hoped to put the final results of their work including reports and films onto the EVCP website
Posted on 29th November 2010 by Karen Cheney
Posted in Activities, Big Society, Birmingham, Targeted Support Fund, Young people and empowerment | 1 Comment »
Posted by janwright on 22nd November 2010
…. these are the questions that were asked at a recent Personalisation event held in Hednesford, Staffordshire. Attended by over 50 delegates from local voluntary and community groups, attendees heard the latest information on the implementation of the personalisation agenda in Staffordshire. Following this they considered four key questions:
- What are the barriers to smaller organisations being involved in the personalisation agenda and how can they be overcome?
- How can we ensure that we ARE the providers of choice for our clients/members? (How can we ensure that we understand their needs?)
- Why are smaller providers important in delivery of the personalisation agenda?
- What opportunities does joint/partnership working offer in the personalisation agenda?
To see the responses to these question, see the full document (pdf) by clicking here.
The event was very well received with many comments asking for it to be a regular occurrence so that many of the ideas detailed above can be put into action.
Posted on 22nd November 2010 by janwright
Tags: Barriers, big society, community groups, empowerment, Hednesford, joint partnership working, localism, Personalisation, providers, staffordshire
Posted in Big Society, Disability and empowerment, Overcoming Barriers, Sharing Effective Practice, Staffordshire | 2 Comments »
Posted by Simon Harper on 17th November 2010
Saul Hewish from Rideout at the Big Society event in Telford
At the Telford Big Society event we spoke to Saul Hewish, a co-director of Rideout – an organisation which works primarily with prisons and offenders, prioritising arts, education and rehabilitation.
Saul talks about much of the work which Rideout does in the interview which you can hear below.
[podcast]http://rawm.podnosh.com/files/2010/11/Saul-Hewish-interview.mp3[/podcast] (more…)
Posted on 17th November 2010 by Simon Harper
Tags: arts, big society, criminal justice, education, employment, localism, prisons, rehabilitation, Saul Hewish, staffordshire, stoke on trent, telford, telford event, third sector, voluntary sector
Posted in All events, Big Society, Our events, Telford | No Comments »
Posted by Simon Harper on 17th November 2010
George Rook from the British Red Cross spoke to us at the Big Society event in Telford, discussing the Big Society agenda and what kind of position organisations find themselves in. To hear the interview in full, you can listen below.
[podcast]http://rawm.podnosh.com/files/2010/11/George-Rook-interview.mp3[/podcast]
Citing the possibilities for organisations working together, George echoes the views of many of the delegates who attended the event when he mentions partnership working as a real opportunity for many, especially those in the voluntary and community sectors.
Posted on 17th November 2010 by Simon Harper
Tags: big society, british red cross, collaboration, community sector, George Rook, partnerships, telford, telford event, voluntary sector, volunteering
Posted in All events, Big Society, Our events, Telford | No Comments »
Posted by Simon Harper on 17th November 2010
Delegates wrap up discussions at the Telford Big Society event
At the Telford event there were a number of presentations after the discussion groups had wrapped up. The session began, however, with a presentation from Denise Taylor of RAWM which set out to explore the Big Society concept and pose a series of questions for discussion during the event.
Click here to see the version of this presentation which was delivered at a previous event in Stratford.
(more…)
Posted on 17th November 2010 by Simon Harper
Tags: big society, community asset transfer, community-led planning, digital media, digital technologies, open data, planning aid, Social Media, social media surgeries, telford, telford event, town planning
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Posted by Simon Harper on 16th November 2010
Delegates talk about the key points of the Big Society at the Telford event
The discussion groups at the Telford event each identified the key talking points of their conversations, and fed them back to the room. Below is a summary of the main issues which the delegates felt needed to be raised:
- Definition of community needs to be flexible – not hung up on terminology
- Moving away from talking to taking action
- Collaboration can seize the day
- Moving away from the nanny state
- Need for supporting people through transitions in the changing environment, particularly when leaving employment or seeking employment
- How to empower/encourage people who may find themselves out of work or with time on their hands to engage with communities and volunteer?
- Look again at volunteering – the definition has shifted, what is meant by it now?
- We have the building blocks already in place for the Big Society – need support to ensure the hard work work isn’t undone
- Volunteering isn’t free – needs support, training and resources
- There’s a danger of making volunteering compulsory – people should want to volunteer, otherwise it changes the meaning and value
- Longer life expectancy means bigger strain on resources and services – this is cause for concern
- Working collaboratively is going to be the way forward, whether people like it or not – it may become necessary
- Volunteering as the government sees it is very different from what is actually needed
- Caution about lack of guidance and risk of marginalised people not being included
- There should be a more common sense approach in areas which directly affect and may hinder work done by organisations (need for less bureaucracy which has unintended limitations)
- People shouldn’t be forced to volunteer – that reduces the value which may come from it
- There’s likely to be some anarchy – it’s a period of great uncertainty
Posted on 16th November 2010 by Simon Harper
Tags: action, anarchy, big society, collaboration, community, employment, localism, Neighbourhoods, partnerships, telford, telford event, voluntary work, volunteering, volunteers
Posted in Active Citizenship, All events, Big Society, Co-Production, Engaged citizens, Our events, Telford | No Comments »
Posted by Simon Harper on 16th November 2010
Group discussions at the Big Society event in Telford
At the Telford event, the delegates split into discussion groups to talk about the issues which they felt are going to affect communities in the future, and the impact of the Big Society agenda. Below are some of the main points which were raised during the discussions.
One table talked about tackling inequalities in society, and connections between volunteering and employment. They also reflected on the changing definition of volunteering, and how the expectations of the voluntary sector lead to a far from level playing field, when compared with the statutory sector. (more…)
Posted on 16th November 2010 by Simon Harper
Tags: big society, citizens, co-design, co-production, collaboration, commerciality, communication, community, community organisers, employability, employment, empowerment, inclusivity, localism, locality, marginalised communities, Neighbourhoods, networks, offenders, partnerships, private sector, statutory sector, telford, telford event, voluntary sector, voluntary work, volunteering, young people
Posted in Active Citizenship, All events, Big Society, Co-Production, Engaged citizens, Our events, Telford | No Comments »
I went to the Birmingham Young Resident University Presentation Evening at Lakeside Centre, Aston University last Friday evening 26/11/10.