Tag: Voluntary Sector

Hear by Right – new website

Tim Davies tells us he’s off to the pub having just finished a substantial revamp of the Hear by Right website. Hear by Right sets out standards and principals designed to help organisations involve young people in what they do and how they do it.

The mapping tool looks promising as a means to encourage collaboration between organisations, although there seems be a bit of a gap where brum sits. It’s great to see Tim so closely involved because he is working methodically and intelligently to explore how social media will improve participation. With the site they aim to:

Create a space to share learning from the many 100s of authorities and organisations using Hear by Right to map and plan for change.
Curate and share some of the best resources to support the participation of young people in decision making Encourage organisations to be more open about the challenges and successes in engaging young people in decision making.
 Make clear the neccessary link between participation in decision making and real change for the lives of young people.

Our experience with podcasting as a tool to encourage conversations (and using the microphone as a tool which a lot of people find gives them a bit of extra power and confidence) is that we can relatively easily share skills and engendered huge amount of enthusiasm. However maintaining the momentum is the challenge – it needs to be planned for from the start.
Loads to learn and this site is a great place to start learning.
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Kingstanding Neighbourhood Forum on Youtube

A short film introducing the work being done in Kingstanding by residents trying to tackle the connection between crime and grime. It was shot for a residents conference in The Hague at the end of this week. No intended to be comprehensive, more a way of allowing groups from The Hague, Birmingham and Glasgow to get a sense of each other’s neighbourhood, aims and problems. Obviously short films can raise far more questions that they answer, which is good because that encourages conversation.
Kingstanding Neighbourhood Forum has been taking part in Bimringham’s Community Safety Partnerships Neighbourhood Performance Reward Grant. The pilot, with four residents groups, has been run by the Digbeth Trust. Each group gets a £10,000 grant to meet some agreed targets – often to do with rubbish and grafiti. If they hit their targets the group is arewarded with a £15,000 bonus.
More films coming, plus 4 podcasts from Birmingham which give much more detail of the reward grant.

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Glasgow Crime and Grime

I’ve been scootling around the place recently making a series of short films as means of introductory pieces for a neighbourhood safety conference in the Hague this coming week. I’ve met four groups from Birmingham and two from The Hague, all working experimenting with ways to give residents more power in reducing grime and the associated crime.

Just before Christmas I also spent an incredibly wet day in Glasgow where I met some very fine people from the city’s shiny new Community and Safety Service. It’s pulling together funding, ideas, equipment and people from all of the different pots of public money aimed at tackling crime and grime.

Of especial interest is the structure. The GCSS is a non-profit company owned by the council, police, fire service and the city’s housing company. I sensed a really positive attitude among the staff I met. They seemed to have more energy and optimism than you might find among council teams in other large cities. Am I doing others a disservice or does the autonomy that can come with creating a social enterprise give the work force a greater confidence in their ability to change things?

Today Demos has also popped up a podcast about last years rather controversial report on dreams for Glasgow’s future. When the row bubbled up I thought that most of our cities need some sort of institutional hacks. One is doing anything in your power to remove the grey hand of bureaucracy from people’s working days – let ’em do what they love to do rather than what the risk averse tell you they must do.

Alastair – who appears in the film – was very much a man after my own heart. He’s passionate about how social media can be used to connect neighbourhoods, including maintaining this blog for his home patch in Leith. Other films (which you can find here) and some Grassroots Channel podcasts from Birmingham still to come.

Youtube.


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£50 million for the Black Country or let the cyclists freewheel to a win?

We’re in the final days before voting closes for the People’s £50 Million. I’m backing the Black Country Urban Park. First because they’re our neighbours and also because it is a remarkable part of the country – with huge potential for being home to a better way of living.

But, if the blogosphere is anything to go by, perhaps the national Sustrans cycling and walking network is in the lead. (Update – thanks to Nunovo for some work suggesting this may be the case – see comments on this post.) Of course it matters less to more places, whereas the Black Country bid matters much more to fewer places.

With this in mind Jon Bounds and I are using upyerbrum to help promote the cause and encourage you lot to vote for the Black Country Urban Park over three other competitors (ops did I forget to link to them!) for this £50 million slab of the Big Lottery Fund.

We’ve already created a Facebook application (add it please and message your mates – they can use it to link to the vote). Now we bring you this stylish yet simple animated badge (look right) which you can add to your blog or website. Find the code here.

I imagined the campaign would all hinge of the phone vote at the end of this week. But the programmes on ITV 1 have been shown late – after the local news. As a result of the low audience and low energy of the TV side of the competition I think the winners will be those who get their networks voting. So who’s out there Standing UP for the Black Country?

First thank you Duncan Borrowman for changing your vote – and all on the basis of a reasoned argument from Colin Ross in Wolverhampton. Thank you also to Granny’s Buttons who cogently argues that any and all canal towpath users should Stand Up for the Black Country.

Next on the list is the irrepressible Donato at Bostin, who’s been using his Facebook group and his Myspace friends to yell his support. Spaghetti Gazetti is also firmly onside, along with the Halesowen Innuendo Society (and yes do look away if you’re squeamish). Bridgette McKenzie isn’t sure which way to go – (vote Black Country Bridget) while Toyah is shouting for us online. Passionate Media are (is?) not only voting the right way they’re also sporting our blog badge (thanks).

Dave Radcliffe (a Lib Dem) takes a pop at the Minister (Labour) for the West Midlands for supporting the Black Country when the Sustrans project will bring minor benefit to Brum. Nonsense Dave, £50 million iin the Black Country will have far more benefit to Brum. Telford seems to share that vision whilst Birmingham is fudging it’s support in a very positive way.

Pete at Created in Birmingham has already voted for Sustrans (update/correction is most supportive of this project – see clarification below) – but (like Birmingham Council) also wanted to point to the Black Country campaign. Local politicians should be linking like mad – just as Steven Frear and Bob Piper are (very polite Bob) and of course the bid has p-p-p-picked up support from Political Penguin with a fab sideshow of images.

So please use the badge, vote, email your friends, Facebook your chums Myspace your mums. Please just do it.

Others I’ve missed supporting the Black Country Urban Park

West Brom Blogger.

Neil Dixon.

Russ L at Oh.

BCT.

BiNS goes all Black Country it’s Not S**t, despite this earlier post railing at regen lotteries.