Representatives from educational institutions across the world came together at Edinburgh College last week week to share ideas and discuss a programme designed to improve opportunities for young people in Panama – through English language teaching. Continue reading Partnerships strengthened as Edinburgh College welcomes visitors for international conference
People in Scotland are today being given the opportunity to attend a major international summit being held in the Scottish Parliament on the future of the arts and culture. Continue reading Public tickets announced for international culture summit at Holyrood
A major conference taking place in the heart of Scotland’s capital aims to harness future opportunities for development and growth in the country’s world class heritage sector. Continue reading Major conference to ‘harness future opportunities for Scotland’s world class heritage sector’
NAWRA (National Association of Welfare Rights Advisers) is coming to Edinburgh and we are in the process of making our final arrangements for our quarterly meeting on 8th September 2017, which doubles as our annual Scottish conference (writes CRAIG SAMUEL, NAWRA Scotland representative).
Our conference this year is being held at Edinburgh City Chambers and whilst our membership covers many welfare rights services I am reaching out to all community groups to invite them to get in touch as more and more community groups are being asked to deal with queries on income and many occasions state benefits.
In case you are reading this and are unfamiliar with our work at NAWRA our aims and objectives include challenging, influencing and to improve welfare rights policy and legislation and we are involved with various government stakeholder groups whereby we recognize and challenge discriminatory legislation and we promote welfare rights issues and encourage effective partnership working.
I am ever so proud to have been asked to represent NAWRA in Scotland and part of my role is to attend stakeholder’s meetings for the roll out of PIP (Personal Independence Payment) and I also represent NAWRA at our stakeholders meeting with SCoWR (Scottish Campaign on Welfare Reform) whereby we continue to feedback in relation to Social Security.
Whilst I am proud to have been asked to represent NAWRA in Scotland – and I am extremely proud – but what really drives me and my organisation is the help we can provide our communities in fighting inequalities and these communities, don’t forget, also includes our friends, neighbours and families.
At NAWRA we encourage community groups to get involved and I will be happy to discuss with any community group that may be interested in attending or indeed joining NAWRA as throughout United Kingdom we know that representation is becoming more difficult to find due to budget cuts both locally and nationally.
NAWRA can support any community group and assist with issues that may be relevant, for example we know families who were already vulnerable to losing their homes now face further cuts since UK government changed the benefit cap level at the end of 2016 and placing a freeze on many benefits.
Welfare rights is not just about providing a foundation through income but through providing hope and allowing potential to be realized as at the minute opportunity is scarce as we can see with our friends at Sheffield Hallam University producing a recent academic paper looking at the destruction of industrial Britain.
We can see the destruction of traditional industrial areas and these have been decimated over the last 40 years and I am not alone but I personally remember watching in awe of dockers, miners and in my own experience of watching my grandfather’s work with the gas industry or indeed my father in the wire works and Scottish gas.
Having used their bodies to build our country do we see any protection towards these workers. Well what we see is industries lost, jobs lost and people left with disabilities having put their bodies on the line for their community and country.
Is there protection? Well for some yes but due to the design of PIP (personal independence payment) and implementation we can see since the transfer from DLA (disability living allowance) over 1 million PIP claims have been refused and people who need it most are losing out and when in their hour of need and when needing it most they are being dismissed and left with no foundation to move forward.
At our conference, we shall have speakers and workshops throughout the day and our conferences continue to be offered without charge to our members and our memberships, which start as little as £40.00 per year, is per organisation making it accessible and economical to all organisations.
I hope you agree with me in acknowledging how important our conferences are and how important it is to receive the best advice and how every situation is different and intricate so I look forward to seeing you at our meeting on 8th September 2017 or being contacted beforehand at craig@nawra.org.uk – our agenda can be seen at www.nawra.org.uk
CRAIG SAMUEL, NAWRA Scotland representative
Learning event sets out steps for a more inclusive community
More than fifty people representing a wide range of community organisations attended Positively Diverse, a learning event organised and co-hosted by Forth Neighbourhood Partnership and the Living in Harmony group at Spartans Community Football Academy last week.
The event was organised to give local organisations an opportunity to look at how they operate and to encourage them to be more inclusive.
Keynote speaker Dr Giovanna Fassetta is a leading member of Glasgow Refugee, Asylum and Migation Network (GRAMNET).
http://www.gla.ac.uk/research/az/gramnet/
Rather than bamboozling the conference with high-brow academic research, she started by asking delegates how they make a cup of tea, and where they store their jam and their eggs!
The responses showed that there is no one ‘right’ answer – that different people prefer to do things differently and that we often just do things the way we’ve always done them. There are a number of ways of doing things that can be equally successful – and that is also true for working well across different cultures.
Dr. Fassetta (above) has a wealth of experience, both as an academic and as a volunteer (including sessions at Dungavel detention centre), and she used a string of anecdotes to get her key points across:
Dr Fassetta concluded: “So you don’t need to be an expert to be able to respect different cultures and understand diversity. What you have to do is relax, be curious, be open – and ask. Ask questions. Yes, you may feel uncomfortable at first but these feelings can be overcome – and that can make you grow as a person.”
North Edinburgh has a proud history of welcoming people into the community, and conference delegates saw a short documentary on the successful Muirhouse Against Racism (MARC) campaign.
Back in the 1990s MARC was a grassroots reaction to the emergence of racism in the area. Local people came together to support a black family who had been subject to abuse from racists and campaigned to change thinking and letting practices within the city council’s housing department.
It was as a result of this campaign that the Black Community Development Project (BCDP) was formed in North Edinburgh. BCDP later became CORE (Community Organisation for Racial Equality) but that community organisation was forced to close due to a lack of funding in 2012.
The closure left a void – the need for an organisation to work to support the BME community and encourage community integration remained as great as ever, and Pilton Community Health Project established the Living in Harmony group to meet this need.
The Positively Diverse event, while recognising achievements of the past, concentrated very much on the present – and, in particular, what individuals and organisations can do to create a welcoming community.
Local residents (above) shared their sometimes painful stories of life in their new communities – of barriers, of lack of opportunities and of the frustration of being unable to find employment suitable to their skills and abilities.
But although challenges undoubtedly remain, many organisations across North Edinburgh have been successful in adapting their programmes and services to become more inclusive and welcoming.
Speakers from Muirhouse Medical Centre, Create at North Edinburgh Arts, North Edinburgh Libraries (below) and Spartans Community Football Academy (their promotional film was particularly well received) all told participants about the range of things they have done and are doing to create a more inclusive community: it’s clear that good things are happening – sometimes small, simple things – and that the will is there to become even better.
Conference delegates were asked to make pledges, and in the spirit of taking practical steps towards a more inclusive community, Forth councillor Vicki Redpath made three pledges on behalf of the local council office.
She told the conference: “We’ve heard so much today to make us think. We don’t know everything and we must all constantly reflect on what we’re doing and think of ways we can do things better.”
She went on: “Things have changed, things are changing but we must not become complacent – there are still challenges out there. And that’s why I am so encouraged by what I’ve heard from the organisations represented here today.”
And on the pledge theme, Cllr Redpath (above) concluded: “As we’ve all been asked to make pledges, here are some I will make on behalf of the council.
“We provide a lot of housing, and our tenants pack contains pretty basic information at the moment. We could be adding information about medical practices, dentists, libraries, schools, youth clubs and sports facilities to the tenants pack – and update it regularly.
“Employment problems have been raised today: one simple thing we can improve is the notice board system at the local office. We can make it simpler with a nice big headline – JOBS – and underneath it a bulletin of vacancies. Let’s put job vacancy notices outside, too, let’s get information out there – and not just council jobs.”
“And finally, speakers today have talked about difficulties in accessing services and getting information. We do equalities and diversities training at the council, but I want to make sure this training is effective and up to scratch. Our people are brilliant and they want to provide the best service they can and I will be working with colleagues to ensure that we improve our service.
“If we all do a little, we can all go a long way to improving the lives of the people who come to live here in the great North Edinburgh community.”
Commenting after the event, PCHP’s Anita Aggarwal (above) said: “A big thank you to everyone who contribute and helped it be such a successful day.
“We will be producing a report of the day which we will send out as soon as possible. If people are looking for further information about the barriers that BME residents face there are two reports on our website: ‘Living in Harmony’ 2012 http://pchp.org.uk/resources/living-harmony-report and ‘Talking about our Health’ 2009 http://pchp.org.uk/resources/talking-about-our-health-participatory-research-project-health-needs-bme-community-greater
“The next Living in Harmony forum will take place on Wednesday 28 October from 5 – 7pm at PCHP – all welcome and crèche available if booked in advance.
“We will be running Equalities and Diversity training three times before the end of March – 20th Nov, 22nd Jan, 25 March all from 9.30am – 1pm at PCHP – further information will be available on our website.”
So, to recap: what we can do next
Make A Pledge
If you couldn’t attend Positively Diverse or didn’t get a chance to fill in a pledge postcard but would still like to, please fill in the postcard below and send it back to lih@pchp.org.uk
And if you filled in a postcard but might have forgotten to put your name and address on it (yes, there were a few of you..!) please let us know and we will try to match you up with your card!
Join the Living in Harmony Forum
All are welcome to come along and it would be a great place to follow up conversations that were started at the event. The next Forum meeting is on Wednesday 28th October 5-7pm at PCHP (73 Boswall Parkway).
Equality and Diversity Training
Delivered by ELREC – if you didn’t get a chance to sign up for one of these FREE sessions there are still spaces, so please do email lih@pchp.org.uk to book a place for yourself or a colleague.
The dates for the training sessions are 20 November, 22 January and 25 March – all 9.30am -1pm at PCHP (you only need to attend one session!)
More pictures will appear on our Facebook page later
Is your group or organisation fully engaged with the BME community? Would you like to think about ways to do this more effectively?
Forth Neighbourhood Partnership and Pilton Community Health Project’s Living in Harmony Group are staging a Positively Diverse, a free one-day learning event for local workers to encourage and support them to think about how to include a more diverse section of the community in their activities.
The event takes place at
Spartans Community Football Academy at Ainslie Park
on Thursday 1 October from 10am – 3.30pm.
To book your place call PCHP on 551 1671 or email admin@pchp.org.uk
Taking the next steps forward to tackle food poverty
Pilton Community Health Project recently produced a report on December’s ‘Good Food for All’ conference which focused on food poverty in North Edinburgh.
http://pchp.org.uk/sites/default/files/resource/files/Good%20food%20for%20all%20final%20report.pdf
The report identifies a number of issues that we, as people living and working in the community, cannot solve ourselves. We need action on policy issues
Particularly:
– Living wages
– Job creation and security
– Social security and the punitive sanctions regime
– Better recognition of the contribution that this local community makes towards improving its own food culture and access to affordable, fresh, healthy food and further support for this
– The role of business in the provision of food.
You are invited to a meeting on Tuesday 28 April from 10 – 12 at Pilton Community Health Project to discuss how we might go about having our voices heard on these issues.
Please let me know if you are able to attend.
Anita Aggarwal (Community Development Manager)
Pilton Community Health Project
73 Boswall Parkway, Edinburgh, EH5 2PW
Telephone 0131 551 1671
Do we have the ingredients for a well-fed North Edinburgh?
That was the question posed at a conference organised by Pilton Community Health Project at West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre last week – and more than forty delegates replied: yes we have!
The event examined food poverty in Scotland – what it is and it’s impact on poorer communities – and what is being done to tackle the problem. The conference was also an opportunity to celebrate successes and to showcase good work, share ideas and discuss and develop a plan to bring to bring more resources to North Edinburgh to tackle food poverty in the area.
A broad spectrum of speakers helped fashion the discussion over the course of the day. Bill Gray of Community Food & Health (Scotland) set the food poverty context, Broomhouse Health Strategy Group’s Lucy Aitchison talked specifically about their health project and explained why it works well and Mary Anne Macleod of the Poverty Alliance gave a presentation on national best practice.
There was also an opportunity to ‘tour’ information stalls to find out what’s happening locally – the Granton Gardeners, Fresh Start and Edinburgh North West Foodbank were all on hand to offer advice and information, while Granton Improvement Society also had an information stall.
The event was all about information, ideas and discussions and all of these ingredients were present in abundance – look on the conference as an appetising starter … a taste of things to come, maybe?
A conference report is currently being produced and it’s hoped the Good Food for ALL conference will result in an agreed community manifesto to tackle food poverty in North Edinburgh.
Pilton Community Health Project’s Good Food For ALL event is tomorrow at West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre from 9.30 – 2.30. Don’t miss it!
