Kate Stewart - now Mrs Kate Kindlen

Congratulations to our colleague Kate and her new husband Mark after their wedding last week in Heswall.

Employable Communities Fund application deadlines

The next deadlines for submitting claims for the Employable Communities Fund (ECF) have just been confirmed as:

• November 26th, 2010, and

• January 28th, 2011

Lloyds TSB funding for groups working to deliver aspects of the Bradley Report: deadline  3/11/10

"Lloyds TSB are interested in funding registered charities that are working together with statutory services to deliver the recommendations from the Bradley Report, and improve the outcomes and experience of people with mental health problems and learning disabilities who have been in the criminal justice system."

Applications :

• neded to be new or innovative, pushing existing ‘boundaries’, or
• need to extend or replicate an existing and proven model of working, or
• need to  improve joined-up working with statutory agencies to deliver better services.

 ‘Expression of Interest’ detailing the work funding is being requested for, need to be received by the Foundation’s London office at  5 pm on Wednesday 3 November, 2010.

Futher details on the Foundation website

The Prime Minister asks councils to work with voluntary groups, and not to make cuts to the sector a first priority

In response to a question in the House of Commons about cuts to a local voluntary sector group, David Cameron said that

'.. we should say to every single council in the country, "When it comes to looking at and trimming your budgets, don't do the easy thing, which is to cut money to the voluntary bodies and organisations working in our communities. Look at your core costs. Look at how you can do more for less. Look at the value for money you get from working with the voluntary sector." ' (Hansard 15- September, 2010 column 877)

Unfortunately, as commentators have pointed out, one of the other  principles of the Coalition is that decisions - including spending decisions - should be made at a local level where possible, without unnecesary interference from Whitehall. So the PM is asking, not instructing, councils to take this approach.

And the government itself seems to be pe-judging its own spending review of next month. Nick Hurd (Minister for Civil Society)  has already said that he wants to reduce the voluntary sector's dependence on the state, and the Office for Civil Society's direct grants to its Strategic Partners (mostly national infrastucture bodies) have already been cut by 40% from next March.

Equality Act 2010: Consultation on the Public sector Equality Duty

Merseyside LTP3 - consultation until 30/11/10

Between now and the end of November is your chance to comment on what is probably the final draft - it's called the Preferred Strategy - of the Local Transport Plan for the whole of Merseyside, which is promoted as A new mobility culture for Merseyside.

Liverpool Community Resources Unit funding for 2011-2012 - by October 14th

The application process for this funding from the City Council opened on September 1st, after a long period of consultation and some last-minute changes.

Applications are accepted from voluntary groups for projects benefiting Liverpool residents in four specific categories:

• Community Legal Advice services
• Support for victims of domestic violence
• Stronger communities: projects that lead to "strong vibrant, more resilient and cohesive communities that promote equality and challenge discrimination"
• Capacity-building for community and voluntary organisations

Full details, guidelines and other resources are available on the Liverpool CRU website.

Equity and excellence: liberating the NHS

Health White Paper Consultation Event, Tuesday 7^th September 2010, 10.30 am – 3.30 pm, in Manchester Town Hall

"The White Paper on Health has the potential to create one of the biggest changes to the structure and function of the NHS since its creation in 1948. .. .Although the ‘what’ in the White Paper has largely been decided, the ‘how’ is very much still being shaped." One of the 5 regional consultations is in Manchester..

BASIS 2 - MDF in the Region

MDF has long been active in forums and policy representations at the level of the North West Region, and a new programme of work for the NW, financed by the Big Lottery’s BASIS 2 fund starts on 1/10/09.

In the NW region the support available to help voluntary disability groups, and the extent to which they have a route to influence decision-makers, varies between different areas. MDF will manage a new North West Disability Infrastructure Partnership, bringing together "umbrella bodies" from all parts of the NW to strengthen support and to help improve representation.

End of Capacity to Engage project

Our Capacity to Engage project (in partnership with Neurosupport) came to and end in June, 2009.  We held a celebration, at LACE, of the achievements of C2E and the people who worked for it - an event that ended in an energetic Bollywood-style dancing workshop

The C2E project - funded by the Big Lottery - was designed to help bring together people from BRM/BME communities (and other new arrivals to Merseyside from abroad) with existing local groups of and for disabled people. The aim was to help voluntary groups realise the issues and barriers facing BRM communities, and for those communities to fully appreciate the range of support for disabled people that already exists in Merseyside.

At the celebratory event (on 15/6/09) a number of speakers explained what the C2E project had meant to them.

Maureen Kelly from Neurosupport spoke of the background to the project - including Neurosupport’s previous findings: that specialist services available to people with Neurological conditions were not reaching people in BRM communities who would benefit from them. There was logic in working with MDF which wanted voluntary groups to understand how they could reach out to people. In some cases recently-arrived groups had little previous experience of an active voluntary sector and what it could achieve for them. Though the C2E programme was closing, both groups would be looking to carry forward these types of activities in other ways.

Speakers from two voluntary groups (Advocacy Experience and Moving on with Life and Learning) explained the help that C2E had given in extending their services, while volunteers described their personal journeys.

A volunteer from the Somali community explained how volunteering with C2E had helped her to re-gain her confidence, and another volunteer - one of the first to join - told the audience how she was now about to complete qualifications in British Sign Language and NVQs in child care.

Karen Bellion (the final Volunteer Co-ordinator for the project) pointed out that many of the BRM volunteers were trained people (doctors, teachers and other graduates), whose skills were brought into use by C2E as part of their activities with Merseyside groups.

The end of the day - and the end of the programme - was marked by a dance workshop in Bollywood-style. This started in a deceptively-calm manner but by the end had most of the attendees in a whirl (or at least in a slow spin)

September 2009 - MDF0679

Acorn Farm wins Tourism 2009 award

Congratulations to Acorn Farm who won the "Small Visitor Attraction of the Year" category at The Mersey Partnership’s 2009 Tourism Awards. The access audit they had a few years ago from our 08 for All programme shows the sort of attitude to customer service that makes them worthy winners. Unfortunately many much bigger tourism businesses still have some way to go. But voluntary groups can get advice about making buildings more accessible: MDF still has some subsidised professional access advice available.

Keep on Moving

"Keep on Moving" is a new Social Enterprise - helped through the Employable Communities Fund - that repairs motorised scooters, powered chairs and wheel chairs for anyone on the Wirral. Punctures, battery problems, minor faults, bodywork damage, tyres and brakes - all can be diagnosed and repaired, and chairs can be collected and delivered as needed.

They already have over 70 satisfied clients - but another vital part of project is the training provided. This training has given five disabled people, including people with learning difficulties, an opportunity to gain confidence, and to get new skills (for example in basic repairs and in workplace practices) so that they can move towards employment.

As well as help from the European Social Fund’s Employable Communities Fund, this project has been supported by:

• Wirral Local Strategic Partnership
• Your Wirral
• Community Foundation for Merseyside
• Merseyside Expanding Horizons, and 
• Wirral Biz.
   

For information about Keep on Moving

T: 0845 459 5337
Contact: Eileen Wiggins
T: 0151 6537111
W: www.inclusiveaccess.co.uk

For information about the Employable Communities Fund and advice on projects that support disabled people

Contact: Maureen Woodman at MDF

E: maureen@merseydisability.org.uk

September, 2009 - MDF0666

Bank held to account

One of MDF’s main roles is providing the right level of support for voluntary groups in Merseyside of and for disabled people. There are many hundreds of such groups in Merseyside, and there is a wide range in their size and their experience. Established groups might want information about pending European legislation. New and inexperienced groups can need more basic help. One recent case in Merseyside involved a user-led group of visually-impaired people who found opening a bank account a problem.

We were helping the group to establish itself, but, to be able to get grants and other support, they needed to open a bank account. Opening a bank account - even in these days of checks to prevent terrorism and money-laundering - shouldn’t be a problem. But for this group it took about six months to get the service they needed.

The first thing we did was to help them chose a bank that seemed to be keen to offer a good standard of accessibility - though, of course, that’s no more than any bank is obliged to offer under the DDA. Unfortunately reality did not measure up to the website promise that the Bank would provide alternative formats (including Braille) for the relevant documents - and for key things such as PIN numbers. The group came back to us for more help.

We took them through the relevant parts of the DDA, and their rights under the law, and we encouraged them - armed with that knowledge - to contact the bank’s Head Office. Eventually after a six-week delay they got their alternative format material which they needed to open the account. But when they got their welcome letters and cheque book it was back to the beginning again. These came in the standard format - unusable to the members of this group.

Again we worked with the group. They were firm that they didn’t want to change to another Bank because those branches were not so convenient, and also because they wanted to see the changes made that would help other visually-impaired people in the future.

They continued the struggle. We led them to specific DDA documents about financial organisations that they could use and send to the bank, (documents that set out the options open to carry on their attempts) and we drafted a letter of support that they could send.

Now everything seems to be operating well. They have their accessible bank account (though - like all voluntary groups - there’s not always enough money in it).

Voluntary groups know that encouraging and supporting their disabled members can be just as helpful and important as giving them the right information. For MDF, also, helping smaller Merseyside groups to become confident in their knowledge and in their rights can be vital in helping them make the changes they need.

At least one Bank branch in Merseyside should know what to do next time a visually-impaired customer wants to open an account. But other Branches have been affected too. A number of the visually-impaired members of this group have been encouraged to make sure that they also get the large-print versions of bank documents for their personal accounts, to help them maintain their own independence.

Places are still available (for Liverpool-based groups) on the capacity-building programmes funded by Liverpool Community Resource Unit. Contact Chris Wardle at MDF.

T: (0151) 236-6674
F: (0151) 227-4898 (and textphone)
E: chris@merseydisability.org.uk

September, 2009 MDF0672

Congratulations to Richard McLindenon his appointment as chair of the Liverpool City Council's Corporate Access Group. Cllr McLinden brings his experience of many years working for Liverpool Association for Disabled People (LAD) to this crucial role in keeping the "public realm" in Liverpool accessible, both for Merseysiders and for visitors to the city.