All posts for the month March, 2012

The work starts now!

It was hard we work but we feel the Social Inclusion process summit was a massive success!  Its a challenging agenda but we feel that the event really enabled us to kick the process off in productive way.

For those who didn’t or couldn’t make it the summit was attended by over 150 people from the public, private, voluntary and faith sectors.  The overall purpose of the summit was to inform partners about the process – why we are doing it, what we hope to achieve and how people can get involved.

Other outputs of the session included:

  • Testing out the framing questions for each key line of enquiry
  • Wider contribution to the stakeholder mapping work
  • Gaining support in identifying examples of good practice that could help inform the process
  • Involving individuals, groups and organisations in the process by encouraging tangible offers of help

Now the summit is over the hard work now begins!

As you can see from various pictures and posts on this blog the summit means that we got lots of feedback which we need to quickly digest.  Teams have now been formed around each KLOE and plans are now being formulated to take forward engagement activity over the next couple of months.

We have also had lots and lots of practical offers of help to move things forward. Around 60 people make over 150 different pledges at the summit to help with the process, so the team will be contacting those that pledged to hold you to them!

Will be back very soon with a summary of the some of the main discussions

We still want to hear from you!  Can you help?

We are still looking for practical ways of supporting this work. This could include: hosting a dedicated local event; running a focus group; helping to involve the process in a local community event; or being part of a reference group.

Contact us through this blog  through our twitter @fairbrum and @bebirmingham (remember to use  #fairbrum !!) or Email us bebirmingham@birmingham.gov.uk

We need to make a difference in Birmingham, and we can only build an open and honest process by involving our magnificant residents.

Get in touch!

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by richardbrowne on 29th March 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Diversity of People, Diversity of Place, Fair Brum, Inclusive Growth, Wellbeing, Young People

Posted by richardbrowne on 29th March 2012

http://fairbrum.wordpress.com/2012/03/29/the-work-starts-now/

Birmingham Swap Shop – a different kind of summit?

Some of you may have attended the Fair Brum Summit, It was an event held recently  to kick start the Social Inclusion Process here in Birmingham, looking at ways to improve a lot of things in our city. To summarise, it was a conference where people were invited along to share opinions on our Key Lines of Enquiry (KLOE). People came together to share ideas around the Diversity of People and Places, Inclusive Growth, Wellbeing and Aspiration and Young People  to help shape the direction the whole process will take.

If you weren’t there we talked about it a on on (link) twitter in the day, and you can read the previous posts for an overview of the conversations that took place. A lot of interesting points were made and were all fed back at an internal meeting with the FairBrum team to shape the way forward.

However, while the internal meetings were taking place it was bought to our attention via the  #FairBrum tag  that there may be a really interesting way for us to move forwards so at the next event we don’t just talk about doing things but we make things happen.

A Swap Shop.

You can read more about the idea on the BrumSwapShop website but it is the brain child of Andrew John who likens the concept to the 70′s TV show of the same name. Simply put you bring something to the conference that you can exchange with other delegates. He says;

To give you an example you may have a training course with a spare place you could offer to another organisation or service user, you may be running a trip somewhere with a couple of spare seats on the bus whatever. Big or small is not important but what we can achieve could be both interesting and beneficial.

I am not proposing anything very formal and I am not saying we meet up to sign contracts or agree working arrangements this is merely a simple opportunity to change something for somebody.

Andrew is running a poll to gather response to this idea but we’d be interested to hear your thoughts too. What do you think? Is this an interesting way to get practical? And would you attend a summit where you knew you’d be taking away something more than just ideas?

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by Steph Jennings on 27th March 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by Steph Jennings on 27th March 2012

http://fairbrum.wordpress.com/2012/03/27/birmingham-swap-shop-a-different-kind-of-summit/

Moving forwards with the Social Inclusion process

At the end of the World Cafe Sessions all the notes and pledges are being collected and moving on from here there will be a calendar of events put together to continue the conversations around social inclusion and maybe start looking for answers.

The Bishop has thanked everyone for coming and Jackie from Be Birmingham talks about what next….

In the coming months there will be more posts appearing on this blog from the different steering groups as the process develops. People will be out in neighbourhoods trying to garner as wide ranging an opinion on social inclusion as possible. The findings will be delivered at another summit in July.

This whole process should be “inclusive” and we’d like you to follow the rest of the process here on our blog and join in the conversation in the comments, or on twitter using the #FairBrum tag. You can also follow us on twitter @FairBrum

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by Steph Jennings on 13th March 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by Steph Jennings on 13th March 2012

http://fairbrum.wordpress.com/2012/03/13/moving-forwards-with-the-social-inclusion-process/

Media influence on our places and aspirations

More notes from the Diversity and Place discussions. In this session,  the discussion took an interesting turn away from the consistent topics I’d heard this morning, with one person asking:

“How much influence does the media have on our places and aspirations?

“For example, if you want to be an entrepreneur do you watch Dragon’s Den?

“I’m not saying we should quell the media, nor impose restrictions, but I am aware of the influence of the media on my thinking.”

Aspects of the media change aspirations. Hello Magazine is full of women who are young, slim and beautiful.

The media portrays aspirant images telling you what you should be – rather than suggesting what you can be. Does this shape – and limit – our aspirations because they are so narrow and prescriptive? Or, if the aspirant images projected at us are so outlandish and out of our reach, does it in fact discourage us from aspiring at all?

Another perspective was from someone who is blind. As a blind person, walking into an area that’s stereotypically associated with danger and a higher risk of being mugged, hasn’t been an issue in reality. More affluent areas are those where people are less likely to say “how can I help?”

“The areas we may think of as ‘tougher’ or ‘more troubled do not trouble me. People there have helped me.”

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by Gavin Wray on 13th March 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Diversity of Place, Wellbeing
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Posted by Gavin Wray on 13th March 2012

http://fairbrum.wordpress.com/2012/03/13/media-influence-on-our-places-and-aspirations/

The final think-tank team

The table is full as we make room to fit everyone in

Carole reiterates the framing question yet again. Posits are share around wrappers are pulled and bitten. Carole and take a deep breath in the short lull that follows.

Some plunge right into the task while others bite their pen in pensive mood while studying the question.

We are losing resources, Connections, Business Link, how to we engage people now they have gone.

There are skill deficits in those coming out of prison they are not ready to go into work. They are not work ready.

There is a gap. How do we get people work ready?

Jericho cited as organization suffering from deficit. The previously had £1m from Gov to get people into work now they only have a few thousand.

10000 opportunites arises again.

Need clearly strategy around cared for children, mentoring, job skills, need to create a clear strategy.

Troubled families initiatives need to be taken into account.

Real Deal initiative people with mental health issues, actively seeking employers to take these people on. Seeking companies with positive discrimination in this area.

Self-employment helping people learn how to engage in this way.

The hierarchy of jobs, rather be unemployed that work for MacDonalds. Some jobs are valued much more than others by our society. Vocational education is valuable as much of value as a University degree.

Culture acceptance of failure we need to create this mind-set.Most entrepreneurs fail several times before they succeed.

Old boy networks still have an impact on recruitment policy.

People want to recruit people they know and trust.

People get lost in the system as programmes come and go. (Connections cited again.)

A lot of our models tend to be short term rather than long term.

We need to create positive vision for young people.

There is a lot of negativity about young people and it has a impact

Many young people would rather spend a week doing nothing in the school library rather than work in MacDonlads.

The tradition of fathers handing skills down to sons – does this still happen?

Back to the postit notes.

‘Corporate Social Responsibilty for the Undeserving’ a paper by Carole.

The final whistle blows. The morning’s World Cafe session has come to an end.

Groups form and people stand and talk. Discussion erupts on passionate topics. Hands gesture wildly to emphasize key themes in the arguments.

In dribs-and-drabs they drain out of the room, onward to the final plenary session.

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by johnbbrum on 13th March 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Inclusive Growth, Wellbeing, Young People
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Posted by johnbbrum on 13th March 2012

http://fairbrum.wordpress.com/2012/03/13/the-final-think-tank-team/

Mike Royal’s table in Cafe Session 4

There are huge questions being asked today and it’s really difficult to get at simple answers. The benefit of running the event as a World Cafe is that the answers are emerging throughout the day through conversation – it’s not just what ends up on the flipcharts, it’s the thinking and learning that everyone is doing by listening and contributing at each table.

I’ve been sitting with Mike Royal for most of the morning and he’s scribbled over flipchart after flipchart. I hope he can make some sense of it.

My summary view of what’s been important and coming up repeatedly (beware this will be partial and subject to my listening biases) is:

* there should be better ways of involving young people in these sorts of consultations
* it’s difficult to know what to tell young people because adults are uncertain of the future themselves
* it’s tempting to keep going back, intervening earlier and earlier, but where do you start? with parents to be – who might well be young people themselves
* dealing with young people is seen as difficult, adults can’t win, kids can’t win
* for some people encouraging entrepreneurship and particularly social entrepreneurship is the key, not waiting for someone to give you a job
* people need support in being parents and there’s little support in helping people to learn how to make decisions for their children, like which school to go to
* many people think that young people are most motivated by celebrity and X-factor
* there’s confusion among some people here about what young people use social media for and how adults can engage with them there.

Phew!

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by Lloyd Davis on 13th March 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by Lloyd Davis on 13th March 2012

http://fairbrum.wordpress.com/2012/03/13/mike-royals-table-in-cafe-session-4/

Diversity of People

Some key questions from earlier sessions

How can we as city be inclusive and successfully diverse?
How should we look at including all sectors of society?
Is there a gap between top down and bottom up knowledge?

The Conversation

Should the change in the ethnic make up of the city make a difference to services? Should we move on from segregated services to a one size fits all to bring people together.

Can discrimination be a positive thing when extra processes are put in place to support “minorities”  - or is that marking them out as being different because they are treated different to the “majority” – and do these processes segregate people in society?

Should we just supply standardised services for all  - i.e. We separate Marriage and “Gay” Marriage” when it should just be marriage – it doesn’t matter what it’s called the outcome is the same, but then are segregated services needed to cater for the diversity in our neighbourhoods?

Should policy and provisions focus on making things accessible inclusive with the common theme that we’re all from “Birmingham”.

Is language a barrier to true inclusion? this can be a social and practical barrier.

Do we have an opportunity as a city to be pioneering in our approach to social inclusion with this not just focusing on public spaces to bring people together but fundamentally on community integration in neighbourhoods

Are cultural practices a sticking point to true social integration? – either through ignorance or a misunderstanding of the aims of the “practise” OR because cultural practise of some groups is illegal in our society?

In practise do we know enough about each other? If your kids brought multi cultural friends home for tea would you know what to cook them based on their cultural needs? - Are young people way more accepting of cultural differences because they don’t have the “fear” older generations may have?

Is there still a class issue when we look at diversity and social inclusion?

Who’s benchmark are we working towards when we look at provided services – do people we see as vulnerable  see themselves in the same way? And how do we them convince them that these services ARE for them?

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by Steph Jennings on 13th March 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Diversity of People
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Posted by Steph Jennings on 13th March 2012

http://fairbrum.wordpress.com/2012/03/13/diversity-of-people/

Pledge cards

Everyone here at the Be Birmingham summit can fill out one of these pledge cards. Practical step to start the social inclusion inquiry where you live.

20120313-122430.jpg

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by Gavin Wray on 13th March 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Diversity of Place
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Posted by Gavin Wray on 13th March 2012

http://fairbrum.wordpress.com/2012/03/13/pledge-cards/

Redevelopment approaches: Castle Vale, Attwood Green and Balsall Heath

I’m in a discussion looking at the Diversity of Place line of enquiry in room 4.

The framing question to attendees:

What are the underlying reasons why some neighbourhoods are more successful, connected and socially included than others, and what do we need to do to achieve positive change for the areas that need it?

Take three different neighbourhoods in Birmingham that have taken three different approaches to improving the area: Castle Vale, Attwood Green, Balsall Heath.

Castle Vale

Castle Vale had a stigma attached to it; a white, working class social housing estate. £100m invested. Look at the way the redevelopment has been managed. They completely transformed the social housing stock and codesigned the area with employers, residents and businesses. It’s now an attractive place to live.

One view on what made Castle Vale work – Castle Vale made their own housing action trust (HAT) [added 17/03/2012: succeeded by the community housing association] and Sainsbury’s were involved too.

Attwood Green

Very different approach, which was effectively gentrification. Moving the poor people out, reinventing it and selling the area to new people arriving.

Balsall Heath

Balsall Heath has continually reinvented itself. The area has not had the money invested that Castle Vale has but is thriving, successful and an interesting, vibrant neighbourhood.

Other notes…

When we do come into an area to redevelop it, we make promises about changing the residents’ life and values. We don’t always do the right thing to encourage those people back into the area after the area is redeveloped.

Problems mentioned specific to areas with poverty: how do you get people to use the services offered when there is investment in poorer areas? Discussion about an example in Kingstanding – the geography of the place affected whether young people would cross one side of Kingstanding where they live to the other side where the service is offered.

Prized modern developments in the city can be irrelevant to people living in neighbourhoods with high poverty, such as the architectural wonder of the new central library or High Speed 2.

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by Gavin Wray on 13th March 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by Gavin Wray on 13th March 2012

http://fairbrum.wordpress.com/2012/03/13/redevelopment-approaches-castle-vale-attwood-green-and-balsall-heath/

The forth batch

New faces look up eagerly as Carole outlines the questions. We are joined by the Bishop.

Have and have-nots: when services go the have-nots loose out and perpetuates the perceptions of the have nots.

Critical thinking should be part of all education programmes.

Germany have well respected apprenticeship route in their society.

Need to start Blue Sky thinking in primary school.

People need to learn basic skills on how to work, how to get there on time get up early etc. use a phone, need to learn ‘work skill’.

Young folk wont take work in McDonalds because their mates will laugh at them so need to take account of peer pressure.

Being unemployed is the norm. There is no stigma attached to being unemployed.

There is class system in regard to  the type of job you get.

We need to take a long term view and put plans in place for the longer term. We need to take a long term perspective on social life not changing it every four years.

We have families where generations have never worked so basic work skills have never been transmitted.

Most jobs in UK are in SME 99% and 50% of population work in SMEs.

We need to encourage young people to be more entrepreneurial. (10000 opportunities mentioned again.).

One billion taken out of funding to charity organizations.

Provide skills sets which enable people to fund-raise.

Older people are also excluded from employment too.

We need to encourage people to be able to thing for themselves.

Postit time arriives and the flurry of pens flash in the bright sunlight now gracing the sky as the earlier mist has burned away.

The whistle e has gone and heels rise moving off down the room …

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by johnbbrum on 13th March 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Inclusive Growth, Wellbeing
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Posted by johnbbrum on 13th March 2012

http://fairbrum.wordpress.com/2012/03/13/the-forth-batch/

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