|
|
Lancashire BME Pact News
Lancashire Officer wins Asian Achievers
Award
Navratri at the GHS
Big Lottery Funding Bid
New Board Member
New Members
OBE for Prof. Romesh Gupta
Volunteer Mentors Wanted
Opening of Awaz Pendle Community Radio, ICT and Media
Centre
Issue 6 of the BME Pact Newsletter Now Available
Publicly Funded Support Projects
Train-the-Trainer Awards Presentation
Training Available for Women Leaders
Public Recruitment Event Targets BME Communities
News Archive
Lancashire Officer wins Asian Achievers Award
PC
Mebs Ahmed is celebrating today after being honoured at the Asian Achievers
Awards ceremony in London on Wednesday 3rd December.
Mebs, who is Chair of Lancashire Constabulary’s
Black Police Association and a key worker within the force’s Diversity
and Community Cohesion Department, was given the award in the uniform
and civil service category for his outstanding contribution to public
services.
Mebs was nominated for his commitment to the recruitment, retention and
progression of black and ethnic minority staff in Lancashire.
Hosted by Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar and supported by the Prime
Minister, the 8th annual Asian Achievers Awards (AAA) attracted several
hundred nominations from across the country, all acknowledging the success
of British Asians.
Mebs’ award was presented by chief guest Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools And Families.
Supt. Bob Eastwood, Head of Diversity and Community Cohesion said: “I am personally very proud of Mebs and he is a credit to both the Constabulary and police service as whole. The award is richly deserved; he has done some fantastic work to benefit the local community. It is tremendously satisfying to see all his efforts being recognised, both as an officer and through his tireless commitment to the Black Police Association.
Mebs, 52, who lives with his wife in Hutton, Preston
has worked for Lancashire Constabulary for 19 years. He spent the first
ten years of his career as a uniformed officer in Fulwood before moving
to headquarters where he spearheaded the recruitment of black, minority
ethnic staff over nine years. He has been chair of the Black Police Association
for five years, a role he now performs full-time.
Mebs said: “I am delighted with this unexpected reward. I joined
the police to try and make a difference and I am pleased that my work
is being recognised in this way.”
Vice Chair of the Black Police Association, Detective Chief Inspector Justin Srivastava added: “On behalf of Lancashire Black Police Association I would like to say that this is a well earned and highly deserved award for Mebs and I hope it will encourage other officers and staff as well as community members to see him as a role model and to follow his lead in making a difference.”
Mebs Ahmed is a Board Member for the Lancashire BME Pact, representing member organisation the Lancashire Black Police Association.
The
Gujarat Hindu Society celebrated Navratri between the 30th September and
8th October 2008 prior to the Diwali celebrations on 9th November at Preston
Mandir.
Navratri is a Hindu festival of worship and dance. The word Navratri literally means "nine nights" in Sanskrit; Nava - Nine and Ratri - nights. It falls during the first nine days of the month Asoo (Ashvij) (September-October). Each night marks different manifestations of the Mother Goddess: Uma, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Kali, Chamunda, Amba, Durga, Bhuvaneshwari and Khodiar.
During Navratri, the devotees fast and pay homage to Goddess Shakti – the manifestation of energy in her nine forms. At the GHS Centre, there was worship, dance and music all the nine days. Garba dance is performed to worship the goddess. Men, women and children, young and old join to enjoy the dance in which everyone is traditionally dressed in vibrant coloured outfits. Associated with Garba is a Dandiya Ras - a dance with two sticks which has unique steps and body movements. Everyone joins and enjoys this graceful dance.
For further details about events and festivals at the GHS Centre, please contact Ms. Abhinandana. M.K, Centre Manager, Gujarat Hindu Society on 01772-253912 or email ghsenterprise@hotmail.com.
The Lancashire BME Pact has applied for funding through the Big Lottery Fund's BASIS programme, which aims to ensure that voluntary and community organisations throughout England have access to high quality support that will help them be more effective. In round one BLF awarded £101 million to 206 voluntary and community sector infrastructure organisations across England. BLF expect to award up to £151 million in round two.
The Lancashire VCFS Consortium has formed a co-ordination group to ensure that Lancashire pulls in funding for the 4 Lancashire priorities identified. Meetings are taking place with all the prospective bid leaders and partners to ensure a strategic delivery of the priorities and establish partnerships to submit the bid.
Successful Foundations is a capacity building project supporting the development of the Lancashire BME Pact (LBME) Pact and providing support to LBME Pact members and the BME voluntary community and faith sector across Lancashire, including the Unitary Authorities of Blackburn and Blackpool.
The overall aim of the project is to support and develop the structures, partnerships and LBME Pact members to maximise communication and share good practice across Lancashire, improving representation of the views of BME VCS organisations, and through them the wider BME community.
BASIS will support the expansion of the LBME Pact staff team allowing a broader range of capacity building support to be offered to the sector and LBME Pact members. This will include:
- Providing greater representation for LBME Pact members across the region and sub-region through a dedicated communications function.
- A concentration on a broadening and deepening of the LBME Pact membership; not merely a concentration on “numbers” (although we expect to see membership rise to 70) with a focus on the quality of members, with emphasis on networks of networks and facilitating and supporting the members properly and ensuring a geographical and cultural coverage of Lancashire amongst the members.
- Improved outreach services with specialist staff working to improve the governance and internal control structures of the LBME Pact members.
- Additional support to focus on sustainability and long-term viability.
- Through linking with other existing services and BASIS projects training and capacity building support will be able to be targeted on harder to reach BME communities. Where necessary the LBME Pact will fund additional activity that cannot be provided from elsewhere.
We propose an expanded team – from 2 half-time to 4.5 full-time staff with a LBME Pact Manager taking overall responsibility for LBME Pact and leading on representation, communication and good practice; 2 Outreach/Development Workers; 1 with responsibility for member marketing and development – assisting with fundraising, development plans etc; the other responsible for governance and systems development – making sure groups are “fit for funding”; supported by an additional full-time Administrator to co-ordinate and support the project.
An intrinsic part of all activity, representation and communication will be the sharing of good practice and information internally and externally with LBME Pact membership and other stakeholders and partners.
A baseline assessment has been produced which supports the application. A copy can be downloaded here as a PDF (file size: 276k).
Notifications of awards will be issued on 9th January 2009.
The BME Pact is pleased to announce the appointment of Mohammad Rafique Malik from the Jinnah group as its newest board member. You can find the complete list of board members here.
The membership of the Lancashire BME Pact expanded further this summer, with the arrival of the following organisations.
Parasol - an organisation that helps incoming families from Poland and Eastern Europe - and Building Bridges Burnley, which promotes diversity and mutual understanding between people of different faiths. Both organisations are very welcome as the latest members of the Lancashire BME Pact, and more information about them can be found on our Members page.
The Lancashire BME Pact is pleased to announce that Professor Romesh Gupta has been awarded an OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List. Professor Gupta works on the steering committee for the Lancashire Gujarat Health Users' Forum and is a consultant physician and hospital lead for Stroke Services at Lancashire Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. Heartiest congratulations to Prof. Gupta and his family. The OBE was presented "for services to medicine and the community in Lancashire."
Southfield Community Action Forum (SCAF) is currently
in the process of setting up a mentoring project throughout Pendle aimed
at young adults between the ages of 14-21 from all backgrounds. It is
currently looking for volunteer mentors. So:
* Do you want to make a difference to YOUR community?
* Are you a good listener?
* Wanting to expand your own skills?
* Gain valuable experience?
* Achieve job satisfaction?
If you can answer yes to any of the above, please contact either Zafar
Iqbal or Paul McGladdery from the Mentoring project at SCAF. Telephone
01282 618686 or e-mail scaf.pendle@yahoo.co.uk.
Opening of Awaz Pendle Community Radio, ICT and Media Centre
On 22nd October, His Eminence Shaykh ul Islam Dr Muhammad Tahir ul Qadri presided over the official opening of Awaz Pendle Community Radio and its new ICT and Media Centre.
In the short time that Pendle Community Radio has been on air, it has already involved itself in many important local projects including more than £400,000 of charity fund-raising activities and an environmental clean-up in the Marsden, Walverden and Cloverhill areas of Pendle. Its audience numbers are growing steadily and the BME Pact would like to wish the station every continuing success.
Nominated by the American Biographical Institute as one of the World's leading intellectuals, Dr Tahir Ul Qadri conducted the opening at Carr Road in Nelson.
Issue 6 of the BME Pact Newsletter Now Available
Issue 6 of the Lancashire BME Pact newsletter is now available. It contains details of recent developments, information about staff changes and our expanding membership. It also provides details from the Lancashire Mental Health and Social Care Partnership Board and lists timetables for BME pact events, training sessions and the dates of Pact meetings over the coming months.
You can download the newsletter here. (PDF format - file size 835K.) If you have a slow internet connection or would prefer a printed copy, please contact us and we will be happy to send you one.
Publicly Funded Support Projects
On 4th September, members of the BME Pact attended a short seminar at the GHS Centre in Preston to hear about three publicly funded programmes that can offer eligible members free support with a range of cost saving activities and advice.
All
funded by the EU's European Regional Development Fund, the projects can
help registered charities, social enterprises and small / medium sized
businesses in areas of Lancashire that are eligible for Objective 2 funding.
In practice, this means certain parts of Preston, Lancaster, Wyre, Skelmersdale
and East Lancashire. (Members that are unsure of their eligibility can
test it by entering their postcode into a free on-line checker, which
can be found here.)
The event began with an overview of the University of Central Lancashire's (UCLan) PIKE project, which enables organisations to develop sustainable solutions to issues of crime and disorder.The project can provide free information and support; analyse the impact of crime and disorder on local communities; develop and advise on suitable, sustainable responses to crime and disorder issues; and organise workshops, seminars and networking opportunities for organisations of all kinds to explore the issues of crime and to disseminate examples of good practice. More information can be found on the project website - www.pikenorthwest.co.uk or by e-mailing the PIKE office: PIKEproject@uclan.ac.uk.
Next,
Alasdair Dalzel-Job of UCLan's North West Centre for Waste Management
project explained the various services that are freely available through
the programme and invited eligible members to contact the centre to request
a free site survey. Through such visits, university advisors can help
members to identify opportunities to make substantial savings on waste,
water and energy costs - often by adopting measures that cost little or
nothing to implement.
The original Centre for Waste Management project ran between 2004 and 2006 and saved Lancashire based organisations in excess of £3 million in the first two years alone. The new project builds on its success; the service includes the provision of a free report and action plan, detailing cost effective ways of making savings. More information can be found on the project website - www.cwm-nw.org.uk or by e-mailing the Centre: wasteinfo@uclan.ac.uk.
Finally,
Ian Buckle, an environmental advisor working for the not-for-profit support
organisation Nimtech, described the work and objectives of Blackpool Council's
Resource Efficiency Centre, which can provide free advice,
surveys and recommendations about energy efficiency and other forms of
resource use. The project operates in North and Western Lancashire and
provides participating organisations with individually tailored recommendations
for reducing costs and improving environmental sustainability. It can
also provide a free survey to identify the scope for making savings by
introducing additional forms of draught-proofing and insulation in lofts
and cavity walls. More information can be found on the project website
- www.efficiency-centre.org.uk
or by calling Nimtech on 01925 273270.
Both the Resource Efficiency Centre and the North West Centre for Waste Management programme are supported by an environmental award certificate that demonstrates to visitors, customers and funding bodies that the holder has made significant efforts to operate in an environmentally responsible manner. Members that succefully implement an environmental action plan will receive a certificate and are entitled to free PR support to obtain valuable publicity in local newspapers and other media.
BME Pact members looking to reduce their running costs are encouraged to check their eligibility for support and, where appropriate, to contact the relevant project staff with a request to organise a free site visit and action plan.
The NW-CWM presentation can be viewed / downloaded here. (PowerPoint file - 1.28MB.)
The Resource Efficiency Centre presentation can be viewed / downloaded here. (PowerPoint file - 245KB.)
Train the Trainer Awards Presentation
Congratulations
to all the learners who successfully completed the Train the Trainer Training.
A selection of these learners attended an awards presentation at Springhill
Community Centre on Tuesday 7th August, when they received their certificates.
The Train the Trainer course was offered and delivered across Lancashire.
A number of learners have since started delivering training within their own voluntary organisations and have benefited from the training that was delivered, using their new skills to good effect. Thanks are due to our member organisations who have supported us throughout the project. The BME Pact would like to give a special thank you to:
- Lancashire Learning Consortium for funding the project and supporting us throughout the project.
- East Lancashire Adult Learning for providing the Information, Advice & Guidance sessions.
- Voise Northwest & Bootstrap Enterprises for delivering the training.
The awards presentation event was supported by: Anita Holt and Roy Hopwood - Lancashire Learning Consortium; Anne Sturzaker - Assistant Principal East Lancashire Adult Learning; Claire Tindall - Training Consultant Bootstrap, Management Board Lancashire Wide Network and Lancashire BME Pact and of course, the learners themselves. These included:Khalid Naseem (currently working for Blackburn with Darwen CVS Volunteer Centre as an Inclusive Volunteer Officer); Debbie Creasey (Lancashire Wide Network for Minority Ethnic Women volunteer); Shazia Rafique (community group volunteer); Nargis Ghafur (now planning to complete the City & Guilds Level 3 7318 and level 2 Numeracy & Literacy); and Asma Hussain (volunteer for the Lancashire Wide Network and Lancashire BME Pact).
Training Available for Women Leaders
(Building Capacity & Leadership Skills of Women 2007 -08)
In recognising the important role that women have in community development, Lancashire County Council is piloting a training package to provide the opportunity for Muslim Women to strengthen their leadership skills in building cohesion in their community. 12 applicants have been recruited from new or emerging women’s groups in East Lancashire and Preston districts. The training will run between October 2007 and February 2008 with a presentation event at the end of the course at County Hall, Preston for participants and their families to celebrate their success.
Public Sector Recruitment Event - 27th June, Burnley
On 27th June 2007, the BME Pact and various public sector partners hosted a recruitment event designed to inform people from BME communities about the career opportunities and current vacancies within the region's local authorities.
Taking part were Lancashire County Council, Burnley Borough Council and Job Centre Plus, all of whom are keen to see better representation of minority ethnic groups within the public sector workforce.
The event took place at the the Stoneyholme and Daneshouse Youth & Community Centre in Burnley.
A PDF poster (file size 351k) can be downloaded here.
| All contents copyright 2009 Lancashire
BME Pact, a company limited by guarantee. Co. reg. no. 4865661. |
 |