Centre of Excellence in Community Cohesion (3)

At St Philip's Centre this afternoon, for the latest in a series of meetings intending to present Leicester as a "centre of excellence" in community cohesion. The full meeting begins at 1530, but first we have a meeting of the smaller working group which is charged with carrying the ideas and proposals further - and closer to being a practical reality. That smaller group is made up of Jasbir Mann, head of Leicester City Council Learning Services (who is coordinating this group), Dilwar Hussain, from the Policy Research Centre, John Hall, Director of the St Philip's Centre (deputising for Riaz Ravat) and me. We have a short position paper that Jasbir has put together, based on discussion at the first meeting of this smaller group (see blog entry for Thursday 2 Sep). We divvy up this paper among us, for presentation to the wider group. I'll be speaking on the topic of having a "virtual" centre, as opposed to somewhere based on bricks and mortar.

Advantages of doing this virtually: it can be run without the need for meetings of everyone round the same table, it should be easier to involve other relevant groups and/or individuals on ad hoc projects; it should be less expensive (though not cost-free); easier to tap into the experience and knowledge of relevant groups, individuals or projects with their own virtual presence.  When interested parties come to Leicester, they'll want to meet people of course, but a virtual Centre of Excellence should be the thing that wins their positive interst and encourages them to come here.

When the larger group gathers, we're joined by Mike Burden (Chair of City of Leicester Governors Association), Nick Carter (Chair of Prospect Leicestershire and of the Multicultural Advisory Group, which was responsible for the Community Cohesion Charter that's been going the rounds in the city and county), Councillor Mohammed Dawood (Leicester City Council's lead on community cohesion), Iris Lightfoote (from the Race Equality Centre and Chair of the Regional Equality and Diversity Partnership). We're chaired by Sheila Lock (Chief Executive, Leicester City Council) who brought the original group together several weeks ago to discuss this project. Inevitably, some of our time is given over to debriefing about the recent demonstration in Leicester by the English Defence League (EDL) - a process that seems to be ongoing continuously in one form or another across the city at the moment.

By the end of this afternoon's meeting, our position paper has been presented, discussed and amended. Our working group is charged with turning it into a set of propositions that can be used to bring on board more likely partner organisations and that can be used also to attract funding.