I hope you will excuse me for writing about my summer holiday here, but I came across the most inspiring illustration of partnership working whilst I was away and, as partnership working becomes more important to our Sector, it is an example that has something to say to us.
I took the family, including a plane mad son, to the Visitor Centre at Airbus in Toulouse, and I have to say it was an experience from the top drawer, showing how all-age …
I went to a Workshop about Hate Crime a fortnight ago. This is officially defined as to do with incidents perceived as being motivated by by prejudice and hate. It can be perpetrated as a result of race, religion, sexual orientation, transgender lifestyles or disability. This particular workshop dwelt mostly on disability and featured disturbing case studies, including a number many of us are familiar with such as those of Steven Hoskins and Fiona Pilkington.
The latter case was very much …
The Coalition Government’s initiative to get young people to undertake voluntary and community work has finally been revealed to mixed response. It does seem though that early fears have been heeded and an appropriately cautious and measured approach is being taken.
That complete nonsense of an idea, compulsory volunteering, that many feared, is nowhere to be seen and the whole shebang, which is distinctly separate to the existing government funded youth programme ‘V’, is starting with a pilot …
Major changes in legislation about equality and diversity are coming into force from October. Dave Pinwell, SUSTAiN’s Chief Executive Officer, presents the key points.
I went to a briefing last week on the Equality Act 2010. I must admit that this forthcoming legislation had sneaked up on me, three months short of becoming law and I had not caught up with what it was about sufficiently.
We all need to make sure we are up to speed with it by the time October comes to …
Something strange is happening in the borough’s parks, as Dave Pinwell, SUSTAiN’s Chief Executive Officer, reports.
The Stronger Communities Strategic Group (SCSG) meeting this month spent a little time considering an interesting puzzle. On the one hand Solihull’s parks are top of the league, on the other there is a low level of satisfaction with them. How can this be and what is to be done?
Let us start with the background. The Solihull Partnership had two targets for parks when the first round …
As we are all aware, the West Midlands region is facing some incredibly tough years to come; but as Dave Pinwell, SUSTAiN’s Chief Executive Officer explains, the third sector potentially has an important role to play in aiding recovery.
I was at a meeting in Birmingham last week at which a chap from Advantage West Midlands spoke about ‘Recession in Recovery in Birmingham and Solihull’. It was not easy listening:
The Academies Bill: an opportunity for schools to have greater flexibility over their curriculum and facilities, but should the local community be asking questions? Dave Pinwell, SUSTAiN’s Chief Executive Officer, considers the issues.
The inclusion in the Queen’s Speech of the Academies Bill provides an opportunity for high performing schools to have greater independence as early as September this year. Consequently, we might ask ourselves a few questions:
Dave Pinwell, SUSTAiN’s Chief Executive Officer, considers the implications of the change of government, taking a look at early indications of how that will affect policy and its subsequent impact on our work.
Well, what an interesting week it was getting from the election to a new Government. It will be fascinating to see how it works out. Personally, I hope that the coalition might realise their declared goal of running for a full five years. This is not through any particular political allegiance, but rather because the consensus approach it will require should make the whole idea of politics and parliament more palatable to the people. Although some grass roots activists are …
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