Community Groups Speak with Public

Here's how the Leicester Speaks pre-launch event was covered online by Citizens' Eye Community News Agency:

Community Groups Speak with Public

By James Black

Community groups across Leicester had the chance to spread the word about their organisations at the Leicester Speaks pre-launch event on Gallowtree Gate. The event which took place on Wednesday [sic] was also an opportunity to raise the profile of Leicester Speaks, an initiative to get members of the public to voice their opinions about the issues that matter to them.

Stall holders included the NHS, mental health group LAMP, The Curve theatre, Voluntary Action Leicestershire, The Leicester Council of Faiths and asylum and refugee support service City of Sanctuary.

Simon Parker from Leicester Libraries said “we were involved with Leicester Speaks when it started last year in 2010. The library service offers our locations for groups to host their Leicester Speaks events. I recall last year we hosted an event by The LeicestHERday Trust. Leicester Speaks also allows us to engage with the community and other organisations.”

Mike Burden, Chair of the Leicester Secular Society said “We took part in Leicester Speaks last year by organising five lectures during the week and we will be doing that again this year. Leicester Speaks is a wonderful opportunity for all of the different communities in Leicester to come together and share ideas, exchange thoughts, debate and discuss. The most important thing in a secular state is that we share a common space and respect each other.”

The project co-ordinator of Leicester Speaks Parmjit Basra said “This event is all about building the momentum for this year’s Leicester Speaks. We have the platform in place, what we need is content. Without the participation of the citizens of Leicester the event won’t be successful. If you don’t get involved, then your voice will not be heard. In the meantime we are asking people to get involved by going to the Leicester Speaks website to create an event or to voice their opinion.” This year Leicester Speaks takes place from October 12th – 19th.

In the photo above (from left): Leicester Speaks Project Co-ordinator Parmjit Basra, Leicester Adult Education College Head of Service Chris Minter, Leicester Council of Faiths Equality and Diversity Officer George Ballentyne and Adrian Wills Head of Leicester Libraries. Photo by touchRainbow

WELCOME ABOARD, RAHAT!

Today is the first day in post for our summer intern, Rahat Ahmed. She'll be with us for six weeks (till the end of July) helping to co-ordinate our 25th anniversary celebrations. Hence her title: "Silver Jubilee Promotions Assistant".

Rahat has come to us through an internship scheme promoted by De Montfort University, where she graduated in Psychology. Among other experience, Rahat has worked with Leicester City Council as Communications and Research Officer in the Corporate Equalities Team; with LeicestHERday Trust as an interviewer on the Alice Hawkins Project; and as a Student Sexual Health Advisor at De Montfort University.

I'm looking forward to working with Rahat during this short period. I'm confident that she'll help us make the most of the opportunities that present themselves to Leicester Council of Faiths in our Silver Jubilee year.

host organisations meeting

At The Race Equality Centre (TREC) this afternoon, for a meeting of the Host Organisations for Leicester Partnership. These are the groups which liaise between the strategic partnership and the so-called "communities of interest", which identify around the protected characteristics: age (Age Concern for older people, Young People First for younger people), disability (Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living), gender (LeicestHER Day Trust), race (The Race Equality Centre), religion or belief (Leicester Council of Faiths) and sexual orientation (Leicester Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Centre). We also have with us a representative from Voluntary Action Leicester, which is responsible for training and support of the Host Organisations, so that we can help train and support the reps.

We consider representation for the communities of interest on Leicester Partnership at different levels (its Board, its various thematic groups). We're interested in identifying potential reps for the future, refining their roles and on contributing to a handbook which would describe best practice for representing the interests of the Voluntary and Community Sector (no one I know is using that new term, "Civil Society Organisations" - yet).

BACK TO EARTH

To Leicester City Council, Block B, New Walk (photo by Tim Hallam), where I'm presenting a paper to a meeting of the Stronger Communities Partnership. The paper is an Equality and Diversity Strategy for the Leicester Strategic Partnership, written on behalf of the Equality and Diversity Partnership (EDP). I've knocked it into its present form, but it's been a joint effort written along with Irene Kszyk, Head of Equalities at Leicester City Council, and Liz Carney, a specialist in equalities and employment law who has been working with LeicestHERday Trust. This is one aspect of EDP's "Embedding Equalities" agenda that we've been furthering for well over a year now with the Leicester Partnership.