Newsletter
Aston University fair.
Next week Birmingham Settlement will be at Aston University for Student Volunteering Week to talk to students about the voluntary roles available with us, why it’s important to volunteer and how we can assist students with their career plans. If you’re an Aston University student be sure to visit us at the fair on Wednesday 22nd February between noon and 2pm at the Students’ Guild.
Freemasons offer further support to Birmingham Settlement.
One of Birmingham’s oldest charities, The Birmingham Settlement, was thrilled to receive a further regular donation of £400.00 recently from the Warwickshire Freemasons.
As long-standing supporters of the charity, The Freemasons have been involved since 2007, helping the charity achieve their aims of relieving poverty and hardship by helping individuals and communities to overcome social exclusion.
Speaking about the recent donation, Carly Duignan, Head of Fundraising and Communications said, “We’re delighted that The Warwickshire Provincial Grand Lodge has continued to provide funding this year. Without ongoing financial support, The Birmingham Settlement would be unable to continue its work, so we’re hugely grateful as always.”
The charity works by influencing policymakers, and challenging the status quo with the aim of creating a harmonious, cohesive and enhanced environment offering opportunity and choice. Recent and on-going projects at The Settlement include an Ageing well programme, debt advice and counselling, and community regeneration and development projects.
Birmingham’s Affordable Nail Care Service
Our Nail Care Service is going strong with nail carers based at locations across the city. Why not check out our new Nail Care website www.bhamnailcare.co.uk to find out more? It provides lots of information about the services available including a postcode checker to find out where your nearest nail carer is located
We currently have an expanding list of more than 40 nail carers working across Birmingham with another troupe of students getting trained up this term at Birmingham Metropolitan College.
Playing Games with Greenhat Interactive
Yesterday we were getting geared up for working with an innovative social enterprise called Greenhat Interactive. They’re working on lots of exciting projects that help people overcome barriers . We’re currently working with them to look at some unique ways that we can offer financial capability support to some of our most vulnerable clients. The idea is to use serious games to help people build their confidence when dealing with various financial situations from budgeting to supermarket shopping. The project will be going live shortly thanks to a grant from the Money Advice Trust so watch this space for some stories about how service users are getting on with the software!
Make do and Mend with Women & Theatre
We’re joining forces with Women & Theatre on 29th February to perform a unique piece of community theatre full of fantastic stories and tips, all designed to help people make their money go further.
As a charity, debt management is something at the very heart of our work so the 29th is planned as an Open Day, featuring money surgeries and advice, as well as a chance for potential volunteers to visit and find out more about what we do. It will then culminate in the performance, entitled ‘Make, Do & Mend.’
Make, Do & Mend is a project Women & Theatre have been developing across Birmingham over the last 5 months. The company has been researching with a variety of community groups to understand the issues people face, and collect advice and information to resolve any problems. They have had informal sessions and conversations, as well as running a series of intergenerational workshops to develop the project. The performances have been designed so that community members can join the company in the morning to be ‘reheased into’ the performance to share with audiences in the afternoon. This will create an exciting mix of professional and community performers – a participation technique Women & Theatre have delivered successfully a number of times.
Terina Talbot, Women & Theatre’s Associate Director said; “We’ve been working for several months with community members, and it’s looking very exciting. With stories and songs, and contributions from all generations, ultimately, it’s a feel-good piece of theatre that everyone can enjoy. So if anybody wants to get involved, or needs debt advice, or simply a good afternoon out – we’d encourage them to get in touch.”
All activities will be happening from 11am at the Centre for the Aston Family, 359-361Witton Road, B6 6NS. For more information or to book free tickets to the performance (which starts at 1.15pm) call 0121 250 0777 or email info@bsettlement.org.uk
University of Birmingham fair.
Last week Birmingham Settlement had a stall at the Spring Work Experience Fair at the University of Birmingham. We spoke to students about the range of opportunities available at Birmingham Settlement and how these roles could help the students to develop important skills for when they graduate. The students we spoke to were very enthusiastic about finding relevant work experience, and were eager to learn how our flexible roles could enable them to gain the skills they were looking for. We will be following up with those students who enquired over the coming weeks to discuss how we can help them.
Job Club at the Centre for the Aston Family.
A new Job Club is starting at the Centre for the Aston Family to assist individuals with gaining and improving job-seeking skills, including:
- Searching for opportunities – in newspapers, by telephone and on the Internet.
- CV writing.
- Application writing.
- Mock interviews.
One-to-one help and support will be available. The Job Club will run on Tuesday afternoons from 1pm to 4pm at the Centre for the Aston Family. If you are interested in attending please contact reception at the Centre on 0121 250 0777.
My Experience at Birmingham Settlement – Sister2Sister project.
The following report was written by Aisha about her experience as a volunteer with Birmingham Settlement as part of the Global Xchange programme with Changemakers.
Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to work with your organisation as a volunteer in the Sister2Sister project. My greatest appreciation goes to Chris who has constantly been in touch since October, Rahiel, Meena and the entire staff at the Centre for the Aston Family who were really supportive. It has been my great pleasure to work with Faeeza too as she is a lady with a vision, she really inspires me in so many ways. I have learnt new skills and other ways of doing things and I know this will help me in the near future.
During my period in the Sister2Sister project I have been involved in the following areas:
- Administration and planning:
- Helped in the preparation for registration (The CIC Form and the Application for Registration Form), the company’s Constitution (Memorandum of Association, Articles of Association) and the Funding Form.
- Assisted in coming up with the company’s Mission Statement, Objectives, Logo, Action Plan, and Calendar of Events.
- Prepared a questionnaire and a membership form.
- Participated during the re-launch dinner of the company, which was attended by 250 local women in Birmingham (I approached the women, introduced the company and also helped filling in of questionnaires and membership forms).
- Helped in the preparation of the company’s policies and procedures.
- A focus group/coffee morning with the women in Aston at the Centre for the Aston Family and wrote a report.
- Prepared a press release for the company.
- Attended an arts and crafts session with the women.
- Came up with a questionnaire database and a membership database and hence wrote an overall report for the questionnaires analysis and the focus group among other things.
It was really interesting to see how the women in Aston community have the passion to learn new things and how they appreciate being involved in activities that aim to empower them. This was very evident through their turn up during the arts and crafts sessions we had and through the questionnaire response and the focus group.
Through Chris’ efforts I have also been able to meet Rachel from Birmingham Citizen Advice Bureau Services (BCABS), who has helped me see how the Human Resources Department operates in BCABS. She has fed me with sufficient information that I really needed to know and am also pleased to have had a chance to work with her though it was such a short time.
The experience that I have had so far has really changed my perception about the way things can be done within a very short period of time. I hope to use this experience to empower my community back in Kenya as soon as the programme ends.
Seeing is Believing – Zurich Insurance Staff shake out their Cobwebs!
Following a successful application to Zurich Community Trust, we have become the insurance company’s local partner for the next three years. We’re receiving £7,500 a year for Ageing Well, our older people’s programme, and they’re going to be helping out in a range of areas from business support to challenges. Some of the manager’s from the Birmingham office came to visit the Centre for the Aston Family to see what we do. Along with Martin Holcombe, our Chief Executive and Ageing Well service users they took part in a cobweb shaker designed to raise the heart rate and get people feeling good. The group of 10 had a tour of the Centre, seeing the Little Settler’s Day Nursery, Stay and Play and the Cyber Suite we offer there. Everyone really enjoyed the day and stayed for spot of lunch before heading back to the office.
Nick Hurd pays us a Visit
Nick Hurd, Minister for Civil Society visited Birmingham Settlement’s Centre for the Aston Family to speak to our Community Organisers. Also present were individuals from local community groups and some of our Community Facilitators who work to prevent tensions from erupting into more serious civil disputes. The Community Organisers are part of a government funded project to train 5,000 individuals to work in local communities and bring people together. Over a cup of tea and a biscuit Nick heard firsthand from the new cohort of Birmingham Organisers why they wanted to be involved with the programme.
For more info download Birmingham Settlement Press release – Community Organisers – 22.09.11