All posts in category Wellbeing

Superdiversity – keeping up with the pace of change

by Funchye

For public and private sector organisations a like it has been at a snail’s pace to make the policy and service changes needed to provide new communities with valuable  support.

Over the last decade there has been an unprecedented change in the UK population and the speed, scale, spread and diversity has exceeded anything previously experienced.

Birmingham is already set to be one of Britain’s largest minority-majority city, has seen change in the nature, complexity and distribution of its population as it enters a new age of superdiversity.

But adding to the city’s accolade of being a leader, Birmingham will be host to the first UK institute devoted to research focusing on superdiversity.

Following Birmingham Social Inclusion Process, Giving Hope Changing Lives, it has become clear that the opportunities and challenges associated with Birmingham’s rapidly changing and diverse population have not yet been fully realised.

The Institute for Research into Superdiversity (IRiS) a University of Birmingham and Birmingham City Council partnership will be making its official launch in June 2013 at an invitation only event.

by Diamond Glacier Adventures

IRiS will bring researchers, policymakers and practitioners  together to make organisations more agile and responsive to the challenges and opportunities associated Birmingham’s transformation.

Both Birmingham City Council and IRiS will ensure that research in the city and across the world can answer important questions in relation to the connection of migration, faith, language, ethnicity and culture helping to shape the future of  Birmingham and other superdiverse locations while placing IRiS and Birmingham at the forefront of research into superdiversity.

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by sandviper1 on 8th May 2013  •  Permalink
Posted in Diversity of People, Diversity of Place, Fair Brum, Inclusive Growth, Wellbeing, Young People
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Posted by sandviper1 on 8th May 2013

http://fairbrum.wordpress.com/2013/05/08/superdiversity-keeping-up-with-the-pace-of-change/

Hands-on Birmingham prepares for the impact of the welfare reform

Birmingham Mapping

Birmingham has not been sitting on its laurels when it comes to protecting those who will be most affected by the new welfare reform act.

As part of Birmingham’s Social Inclusion Process, “Giving Hope, Changing Lives”, a seminar was held in July 2012 for practitioners from a range of agencies to discuss and develop solutions to the welfare reform changes.

Following this, a Welfare Reform Multi-Agency Committee was established, to make is possible for agencies across the city to work together to prepare for the welfare reforms and ensure a co-ordinated approach to support services.

From this an action plan has been developed by the city council and key partners, covering eight workstream:

i) Communications and Multi-Agency Advice
ii) The Impact of the Welfare Reform on Individuals (data)
iii) Case studies
iv) Financial Inclusion
v) Digital Inclusion
vi) Discretionary Social Fund (Local Welfare Provision Policy)
vii) Employment
viii) Co-ordination of Crisis Support

To make sure that a cohesive and targeted response is provided, Birmingham has drawn-up a map drawn-up a map identifying crisis support for people affected across the city, as well has identifying areas that will experience multiple impacts of the welfare reform changes.

Chair of the Welfare Reform Multi-Agency Committee, Birmingham City Council Cabinet Member for Social Cohesion and Equalities, Cllr John Cotton said: “The city council is working closely with partners from across Birmingham – voluntary organisations, charities, community groups and others at the front line of supporting vulnerable people – to ensure that we have a properly coordinated response to these enormous changes.

“Many families and individuals will be hard hit by these changes. We want to make sure they get the help and support they need.”

The crisis support mapping is one of a number of initiatives carried out by Birmingham’s multi-agency welfare reform committee and identifies a number of organisations offering:

  • Clothing
  • emergency accommodation
  • financial advice
  • financial support
  • food banks
  • housing advice
  • legal advice

Birmingham Voluntary Service Council (BVSC) is one of a number of organisations working closely with the city council and its Vice-Chair and Founder, Mohammed Al-Rahim, feels the co-ordinated approach will prove vital in the coming months.

Al-Rahim, who is also the President and CEO of Selly Oak charity Freshwinds, added: “This is an important opportunity for the voluntary sector to work cooperatively, together with the City Council and the local business community, to provide vital practical support to citizens of Birmingham in these challenging times, proactively sharing knowledge and resources to coordinate a truly effective response for all those experiencing crisis and hardship.

“The network has already achieved some important successes and this will increase as our membership grows in the coming weeks and months and beyond.”

With a can do attitude the Birmingham network has already achieved some important successes, but this can only be truly measured by the number of families that are supported through this difficult time.

Watch this space for updates on our progress …

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by sandviper1 on 18th April 2013  •  Permalink
Posted in Diversity of People, Diversity of Place, Fair Brum, Inclusive Growth, Wellbeing, Young People
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Posted by sandviper1 on 18th April 2013

http://fairbrum.wordpress.com/2013/04/18/hands-on-birmingham-prepares-for-the-impact-of-the-welfare-reform/

White Paper Published!

The  White Paper, Making Birmingham an Inclusive City, containing the final recommendations from the Birmingham Social Inclusion Process, Giving Hope Changing Lives has now been published.

These recommendations have now been approved by the city council’s Cabinet and the Bishop of Birmingham is writing to key leaders in the city to invite them to help turn the recommendations into action.

Thanks to everyone who has commentated, given evidence and contributed to the process!

We would welcome hearing from you about how you or your organisation can influence or deliver any of the recommendations in the White Paper.

Please contact us by email to fairbrum@birmingham.gov.uk, visit our blog at www.fairbrum.wordpress.com or join the conversation on Twitter @fairbrum #fairbrum.
DOWNLOAD IT HERE

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by fairbrum on 25th March 2013  •  Permalink
Posted in Diversity of People, Diversity of Place, Fair Brum, Inclusive Growth, Wellbeing, Young People
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Posted by fairbrum on 25th March 2013

http://fairbrum.wordpress.com/2013/03/25/white-paper-published/

Fairbrum – 2012 in review

See below for WordPress’s annual report into our blog!

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 10,000 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 17 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

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by fairbrum on 31st December 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Diversity of People, Diversity of Place, Fair Brum, Inclusive Growth, Wellbeing, Young People
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Posted by fairbrum on 31st December 2012

http://fairbrum.wordpress.com/2012/12/31/fairbrum-2012-in-review/

Connecting communities one shared meal at a time

Casserole poster

A scheme to support people to share food with neighbours in their community who can’t cook for themselves is one of the innovative projects in the New Local Government Network’s “pick of the year” featured in today’s Guardian.

The basic premise of the Casserole Club is that there are a lot of people cooking food and many others who would greatly appreciate a good, home cooked meal. Its goal is to connect the two, using a mix of online platform and offline engagement.

Like a local, community-led takeaway, Casserole members serve up home-cooked food to their neighbours, getting more people eating and cooking fresh meals while strengthening local neighbourhood relationships.

Casserole is a project by FutureGov, a social innovation and technology company that works with local government to develop better services for councils and their communities.

Casserole began in 2011 as a “serendipitous convergence of ideas” between its project lead, Murtz, who had been working on an MSc on community led social care and FutureGov, which was looking for concepts for a new type of Meals on Wheels.

It’s currently being developed with the support of Reigate & Banstead Council and Surrey County Council but is looking for new areas to expand into.

As it says in the Guardian article, it seems like a “beautifully simple and brilliant idea”, although no doubt there are various health and safety issues that need to be considered.

Could we develop a project here in Birmingham to help local communities tackle social isolation through shared food? I’d like to think so.

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by siouxsiesmith on 19th December 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Fair Brum, Wellbeing
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Posted by siouxsiesmith on 19th December 2012

http://fairbrum.wordpress.com/2012/12/19/connecting-communities-one-shared-meal-at-a-time/

New Eastside City Park due to open 5th Dec – will it fit the bill?

eastside-city-park-next-to-millennium-point-in-birmingham-735931900

The new Eastside City Park (Photo Birmingham Post)

One outcome from the Social Inclusion Process research was the fact that many residents pointed to the lack of open and green spaces in many areas of the city. They suggested that  we need to develop new approaches to regeneration and development to ensure that neighbourhoods are designed so that more parks and open spaces are included in plans.

This is captured in the Green Paper Commitment four: Connect People and Places, under recommendation 4.3 Develop more open spaces and community assets

So it is therefore a happy coincidence that on Wednesday night  (5th Dec) Sir Albert Bore will formally declare the new £11.75 million Eastside park  open on behalf of Birmingham City Council. Interestingly this is the city’s first new park in 130 years!

final-touches-are-made-to-eastside-city-park-159889887

The new park takes shape (photo Birmingham Post)

The new park stretches from the city centre into Eastside, past Curzon Street Station and on to Millennium Point.

The park provides some 14,300 square metres of landscaped green space, and also includes some 310 trees, formal lawns, public squares and a 188-metre canal feature which incorporates 21 jet fountains.

Splendid though it sounds, how effective will it be in addressing the above Social Inclusion recommendations? Our research revealed that many residents were looking for more local green spaces. We know that many people don’t come into the city centre very often as travel costs, especially bus fares, are an obstacle. So, will this new park fill the stated need for more community space? What do you think?

Have your say:-

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by johnbbrum on 3rd December 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Diversity of Place, Fair Brum, Wellbeing, Young People
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Posted by johnbbrum on 3rd December 2012

http://fairbrum.wordpress.com/2012/12/03/new-eastside-city-park-due-to-open-5th-dec-will-it-fit-the-bill/

The Parable of the Good Brummie!

The Good Samaritan

At the recent Social Inclusion Summit there was a clear sense of eagerness, one could almost say enthusiasm, to put the commitments and recommendations of the Green Paper into action, along with a strong mandate from those present to proceed on to the creation of the White Paper and the Action Plan.

However, despite the enthusiasm there was also at times a frisson of uncertainty, and an underlying sense of bewilderment as to how we could make the recommendations a reality.

There is no doubt that it is a challenge, a real challenge. The task from now on is to come up with solutions to the problems that have been so clearly articulated.

Now, one response to this could be to become despondent and overawed by

One approach to the challenge

the clear enormity of the task, and ostrich-like bury one’s head in the sand.

Another would be to try and run head-long at it and, like some super-hero, set out to save the world.

Another is to keep working hard to find solutions, setting up the conditions to bring about the necessary change, and working through each obstacle as it arises.

It is this last method that seems most likely to succeed and I have a quiet confidence that the people of Birmingham can bring this about.

Let me tell you a story…

Amid the storms that lashed the country on Thursday night (22.11.12), leaning at a very steep angle to the universe, I made my way to my bus-stop against a fierce, relentless wind. Rain was bouncing of my clothing and the cold was lacerating my face as if I was being flayed by a razor-sharp icicle.

I could see the bus I was after in the distance but, as I drew closer, it uped its platform and drove off. I was now first in the queue; soaked, cold and miserable. Time passed. Eventually a bus from a rival company arrived. Sadly, my pass was not valid and I was reluctant to pay the top up fee which would enable me to use this service.

Suddenly an inspector approached informing the now swelling crowd that the bus was now loading further down the stop. I informed him that I could not travel on that bus as my pass was not valid. He said, “Come on. It’s cold and wet. Just get on. I’ll sort it.”  Flustered, I repeated my rather limp excuse about the wrong pass but he was insistent. “It’s freezing cold, just get on the bus and go.”

He escorted me down to the waiting bus, where three or four other passengers with the wrong passes were hanging around. Extending his beneficence he ushered all of us onto the bus, repeating his desire to get us out of the cold.

He then spoke to the driver and using some discretionary fund he had access to, waived the additional fees. We climbed on board and a few moments later, sitting in the warm, soothing comfort of the dry bus, we set off.

Here we have a clear example of the Brummie spirit! We know Birmingham is a welcoming city,  and I am sure there are many of you who, like me, have had a strong, vital, direct experience of how caring, compassionate and generous a city it is too.

It is because it is full of people like this bus-inspector, who is willing to use his discretionary power for good, that gives me the confidence to believe that we can make the commitments and recommendations of the Green Paper, and the emerging Action Plan and White Paper, work!

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by johnbbrum on 26th November 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Diversity of People, Diversity of Place, Fair Brum, Inclusive Growth, Wellbeing, Young People
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Posted by johnbbrum on 26th November 2012

http://fairbrum.wordpress.com/2012/11/26/the-parable-of-the-good-brummie/

Operation Black Vote – West Midlands Civic Leadership Programme

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by johnbbrum on 23rd November 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Diversity of People, Fair Brum, Wellbeing
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Posted by johnbbrum on 23rd November 2012

http://fairbrum.wordpress.com/2012/11/23/operation-black-vote-west-midlands-civic-leadership-programme-2/

Let’s not waste open spaces and community assets!

by johngarghan

The Social Inclusion Process Green Paper also focuses on the development of more open spaces and community assets, which are part of commitment 4.3 – connect people and places.

In Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s report ‘The social value of public spaces’ identified that there are six key features to successful social spaces, based on a study in 2005. These are:

  • access and availability – good physical access, welcoming spaces and extended opening hours;
  • invitations by peers and others – embedded in social networks to encourage use;
  • exchange-based relationships – moving beyond consumerism to participation in the exchange of goods and services;
  • choreography of spaces by discreet good management while also leaving room for self organisation;
  • moving beyond mono-cultures – encouraging diverse groups and activities to share common spaces; and
  • avoiding over-regulation of design and space, as security and well-being are more likely to grow out of active use.

Other examples include:

  • Urban communities in Scotland could be given powers that would allow them to take over unused land and grow crops, flowers or plant trees. The “community right to grow” is among ideas contained in the Scottish governments proposed Community Empowerment and Renewal Bill. Communities could also take ownership of underused public sector buildings breathing new life into them.
  • On the over side of the globe, Texan Urban Harvest’s programs thrives due committed staff and many talented volunteers; and not to mention a better climate. However, volunteering is an excellent way to support community gardening, our farmers markets and educational programs. Opportunities include individual projects, team work on volunteer committees, short term and long term positions with varying levels of responsibility and training.
  • Not too far away is London’s own City Harvest, which is another initiative showing the benefits associated with urban agriculture with hopes of sweeping across the UK. The website focuses specifically on the benefits in five categories of current political and social interest:

Addressing antisocial behaviour and decreasing isolation.

Improving urban environment, increasing biodiversity, and reducing the environmental impact of food production and food miles.

Providing training, skills development and job opportunities.

Improving mental and physical health.

Addressing poverty, strengthening green infrastructure, and helping communities to trade amongst each other.

Why not share what’s happening here in Birmingham ‘We’re doing it’ also tell us whether the recommendation is right, while you’ve  still got time!

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by sandviper1 on 1st November 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Diversity of People, Diversity of Place, Fair Brum, Inclusive Growth, Wellbeing, Young People

Posted by sandviper1 on 1st November 2012

http://fairbrum.wordpress.com/2012/11/01/lets-not-waste-open-spaces-and-community-assets/

Two sides of digital sword; divide and inequality

Many at the forefront of technology recognise that the last decade has seen the fastest rate of technological advancement ever. The digital divide and digital inequality are significant obstacles that must overcome, through allocation of resources and further research.
Advances in technology

The digital divide focuses primarily on the statistical data regarding how many people have access to Internet technology. Collins dictionary, 2011 defines the digital divide as, “the gap between those people who have Internet access and those who do not.”

At present there is no formal or widely accepted definition for digital inequality, however both issues are completely separate, but they have a push-pull relationship with each other.

With a wider internet take up in society the digital divide reduces, but not eliminating inequality; instead a new kind of inequality will be created (DiMaggio & Hargittai, 2001: From Unequal Access to Differentiated Use: A Literature Review and Agenda for Research on DigitalInequality).

Giving poorer members of society access to the Internet is not just enough.

Training Centre – where ever it’s needed. By one.economy

They will also need the equipment, autonomy, skill, support, and scope of use that is already inherent in developed nations and wealthy communities (DiMaggio et al, 2004: Digital inequality: From unequal access to differentiated use). Without these additional support mechanisms the digital divide will replaced with something much more difficult to combat.

Is your organisation tackling this head on? If so, share your finding on Connecting People and Places, 4.2 of the Social Inclusion Process.

Here’s your chance to contribute before Monday 5th November 2012.

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by sandviper1 on 1st November 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Diversity of People, Diversity of Place, Fair Brum, Inclusive Growth, Wellbeing, Young People
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Posted by sandviper1 on 1st November 2012

http://fairbrum.wordpress.com/2012/11/01/two-sides-of-digital-sword-divide-and-inequality/

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