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Birmingham
Partnership Summer 2000. Volume 1, Issue 4 Releasing
Change!
Contents Inside this issue: Special points of interest:
Briefing This issue of the Birmingham Partnership for Change Newsletter spotlights the Millennium Awards Scheme, which will be issuing its last pound at the end of this month. Armenta and Ronelle have shared news about a few of the many projects and young people supported through the Scheme. We hope that many of them will continue to develop their ideas and find new ways of working in the community. Millennium
Awards Scheme This weekend, I shall be learning Swahili and how to make traditional East African Clothes, with the Sudanese Women's group. These inspiring women have been awarded funding to continue the tradition of their "sewing circle," and pass on traditional crafts and skills to other community members. After which, I will be learning how to play the cello with the young strings group. Having a bit of time left, Sunday, I will be visiting the mentors and Live Box Jazz group. All of these interesting projects have been running successfully throughout the community and are turning out exciting results. Further Successful Award Winners and Future Millennium Fellows
Natasha Richards, Jodenia and Rushella Russell,
Rose and Monique Reid /Domestic Violence Group:
Thelma Omojowo, Maxine Chamberlain,
Roy Raymond and Albert Warren/Sports Therapy:
Michael Henry/Black History:
Marcellus Lindsey and Nigel Saunders/ConsultAbility:
Alfred Rogol, Johnson Kineyra, Walter Ochan/Internet Link:
Benita Cunningham/Admin Support: Myrah
Brown/Brown Owl English:
Birmingham Squared:
Cynthia Torto/Students Video:
Mark Robertson/All Drums:
Viv and Trevor Brown and Zeb Allen/Single Parents/ Hope Project:
Lisa Robinson/Deafblind:
Camilla Harrison, Kettie Katawamba, Through the Millennium Awards Scheme, many of our award winners have set up websites. Please visit these websites to see the wonderful work that has emerged from the community:
consultability.co.uk
If you would like to know more about these projects, Congratulations to the MAS Team Congratulations to Armenta Hinton and the Birmingham Partnership for Change Millennium Awards Scheme team for receiving the "Special Achievement Award for Contributions to the Community". Street Cred bestowed this award to the team at the 2nd Annual Showcase Gala and Awards Ceremony on the 24th of June 2000 at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham. Dr (Rev) Clarissa Blackamore is a dynamic woman who has a Doctorate in Divinity and has taught at many Universities, and is currently at Lake Michigan University. She pastors a church in Michigan as well as being the head of the International Women's Movement for her Christian body. She is renowned for her motivational and encouraging seminars and workshops, which focus on Women in Management and Leadership. This is what she will be presenting in Birmingham at Austin Court on the 26th of August 2000 (Saturday). Seminar Information:
This event is sponsored by: The Agenda for the day will include:
Powershop 1
Powershop 2
Powershop 3 Powershop
4 Backpain
For further information please contact:
Smashing the Ceiling A Voice to be heard...
Monday 11th September 2000, 9.45am-3.00pm at Midlands Engineering Centre, Austin Court, Birmingham To be sponsored by the Lord Mayor of Birmingham, Cllr Theresa Stewart Panel Chair: Nina Nannar, Midlands Today, BBC TV
If you are interested in attending, please contact: In response to my survey and summary of the training and employment experiences of unemployed black men, two officials from the DfEE, Mr Chris Dee, Head of the Race Equality Unit and Mr Peter Baxter-Ludlow met with me to discuss the findings. Discussion centred on the recommendations made in the summary, which included reducing the access and eligibility time to training for unemployed people. For example, the rule states that a newly unemployed person has to be unemployed for a minimum of six-months before accessing training. Many of those interviewed stated that this rule was a barrier and led to the loss of their confidence and motivation to find employment and contributed to them becoming long-term unemployed people. With early access to training and other support activities short-term unemployed people would be more likely to be successful in accessing employment opportunities with new skills, training and qualifications that would enhance their employability. Recommendation 13 of the PAT on Jobs goes some way to addressing this issue. The recommendation states that "a small number of pilots be run in New Deal for Communities and/or in Employment Zones to test whether opening access to personal advisers, and to help available within New Deals, to all jobless people regardless benefit claimed or duration of joblessness". If pilots are established, this would ensure that appropriate support was available very early on to unemployed people keen to acquire and develop new skills and qualifications (such as IT, NVQs) during a period when confidence and motivation to obtain employment is high. Earlier this year, the DfEE commissioned a research paper on the feasibility of conducting a longitudinal study (possibly 10 years) on the transition experiences of ethnic minority young people, those aged 14-24. BPCs summary of the training and employment experiences of unemployed African and Caribbean men is one of many surveys, research papers and reports that DfEE researchers and academics have considered when gathering information on the target group. A presentation of the study is planned to take place later this year. The outcome of the feasibility study is eagerly awaited as a decision to proceed with a fully-fledged longitudinal study on ethnic minority people and the recommendations and strategies that come about as a result of it should have a major and positive impact on ethnic minority young people in the future.
Heloise Shervington Education This year George Dixon Secondary School organised Saturday classes for its Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 pupils. Birmingham Partnership for Change provided funding to set up these classes. A key aim was to help pupils catch up and undertake revision for their SATs and GCSE examinations. The idea of these classes came up during a discussion on school improvement between the Education Officer of Birmingham Partnership for Change and Mr. Robert Dowling, the Headteacher. It was agreed to implement this initiative for the benefit of the pupils. Year 9 and Year 11 pupils were asked to pinpoint areas where they needed additional help. Following consultation with pupils, classes were organised in the core subjects, ICT, technology, history, geography and business studies. Attendance at these classes was voluntary. The Education Officer visited these classes on a Saturday and talked to a number of pupils. Pupils were enthusiastic and some of them said: "We have learnt more things in English, mathematics and science and completed our technology work as well. Teachers have been very helpful and supportive. By not coming to these classes, we would have missed a lot of knowledge." The atmosphere was relaxed and pupils were working well. A pupil talked about good relationships with teachers. She said: "Teachers are able to give us personal attention. Groups are of small size. You don't have to wait long for the teacher to come round. If we need more time to absorb things, we are able to do so. Teachers do their best to help us." George Dixon Secondary School is an improving school. It responds to the needs of African Caribbean pupils in a variety of ways. There is good ICT provision. This enables pupils to word process their work, improve their spelling, punctuation and presentation. ICT is used across the curriculum to support learning. Mentoring is offered to pupils to raise their self-esteem and to support and encourage them. A 'No exclusions' policy is operational at the school. The school climate is changing. Pupils who were previously excluded are now taking more interest in their work. The additional classes set up with the support of Birmingham Partnership for Change have added a new dimension to the work of the school. They have enabled pupils to complete their course work, enhance their understanding, and revise for examinations under the supervision of their teachers.
Suraj Masson
3rd Annual Ethnic Minority Date:
Organisers:
Opening address:
Conference director:
Venue: For further information please write to Liz Myers, De Montfort University, Faculty of Business & Law, Graduate Business School, Bede Island, Leicester LE1 9BH. In our last edition we mentioned that profiles on each board members will appear over the next issues of the Newsletter. In this issue we would like to introduce Doreen Bailey who has been on our board of directors since January 2000. Doreen Bailey was born in Jamaica and educated in Birmingham up to A Level standard. She is married with four children. Doreen was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1983 and has been practicing as a barrister/lawyer since. She is a Senior Crown Prosecutor with seven years experience at the crown prosecution service. As a defense lawyer she practiced in Magistrates courts, County courts, Crown Courts, High Court and the Court of Appeal. She has also lectured in Law. In her spare time she works with people in the community, informally advising, mainly on matters of education and mentoring. She has been chosen by the BBC to take part in one of their continuing productions. She is a partner in two successful companies. She has attended numerous functions to address groups of young adults and associations and is used as a role model in the African Caribbean community. New Team Member Jackie McLeary joined our organisation in January 2000 as a volunteer. Jackie usually works as a volunteer classroom assistant, giving background support to visitors, students and promoting education. Since Iain's departure she has taken up the role of the Receptionist/Admin Support. She has been a great asset to the organisation during this time and has contributed to the companys database by setting up a cataloguing system. I would like to take this opportunity of thanking Jackie on behalf of everyone at BPC for her contributions.
Farideh Sajjadian |
