As 2006 ends & 2007 begins the Grassroots Channel offers up some shorts. Six pithy episodes which simply outline the different passions of people involved with the Birmingham Community Empowerment Network.
Birmingham Passions 2: Dave Tyler, of Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Trust PPI Forum, Dawn Manning of Ladywood Aston Nechels Soho network rep for b:cen, Aisha Mohammed of the Saheli Women’s Group.
As 2006 ends and 2007 begins the Grassroots Channel offers up some shorts. Six pithy episodes which simply outline the different passions of people involved with the Birmingham Community Empowerment Network.
Birmingham Passions 1: Hemp, citizens and headscarves. Contributors are Colin Preece Chestnuts Neighbourhood Forum, Adrian Addis, Birmingham City Council Neighbourhood Involvement Unit. Nowrah Abdul Balsall Heath Forum.
Online it’s harder to judge integrity. You lack those face to face indicators which have evolved over millions of years. Despite that this add on lie-detector for Skype is a worrying development. I know such technology is already used by insurance companies to detect potential fraud. But I think the solution to bridging the online trust-gap is simpler: spend more time getting to know people.
“Play is a every child’s human right”
After a decade or more working with after school clubs and play schemes Laura Watts established a new organisation in Birmingham called Dens of Equality. She wanted to help the families who found their children effectively barred from the pleasure of full blown play because they had some form of disability.
Dens of Equality is a central hub which helps groups of parents create their own autonomous organisations. With these the families can apply for funds and also approach play workers directly, encouraging them to find new ways to include all children in their play schemes. They create tight new relationships which work for professionals, parents and children, all using a system which hands power to the people closest to each child.
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Links – mentioned in this episode:
Written version (pdf) of this story with more information (dead link)
Birmingham Early Years and Childcare (dead link)
Todd Hannula (dead link)
Soweto Kinch Podcast– direct link to mp3
Roger Telphia Podcast – direct link to mp3
Kings Norton Farmers Market Podcast – direct link to mp3