Community Engagement Network Event Wednesday 27 June 2012 9.30am for 10.00am start – 1.00pm INSIGHT House, Pearson Street Brierley Hill, DY5 3BL Pre-event information pack 1. Purpose and objectives 2. What to expect 3. Event outline 4. Facilitators 5. Participant guidelines 6. A map to the venue
£... can you spare a little? Small donations towards the cost of drinks and room hire are welcomed on the day, and will enable future networking events.
1. Purpose and objectives of the event Purpose of Community Engagement Networking Events: To encourage relationship building, working and learning together, reflective practice, and identification of issues in relation to empowering approaches to community engagement. Objectives: • Meet and find out about the work and approaches of others working with communities • Share issues and identify some areas to discuss and reflect on • Identify steps to take to move on • Consider how networking can develop and support you
2. What to expect • • • • • •
A warm welcome and refreshments (from 9.30pm) A relaxed and informal event A genuine opportunity to build relationships with people from other organisations and localities Group discussions on issues and ideas which are important to you Useful information to take away Updates on FREE support and training in relation to engaging communities and community development 1
3. Event outline (timings are approximate - we’re flexible and respond to you) 9.30am 10.00am 10.05am 10.20am 10.50am
Arrivals, refreshments and networking Welcome from Lorna Prescott, convener of Dudley’s Community Engagement Delivery Group Making networking simple - a starfish approach short introduction from Nick Beddow, Cheif Executive Officer of CDX (Community Development Exchange) Group discussions identifying issues and concerns Group discussions around themes emerging from initial discussions
Drinks available, we will schedule a break and may have two rounds of discussions on themes
12.30pm
Feedback and thinking about networking after today
4. Event facilitators Nick Beddow, Chief Executive Officer, CDX Nick joined CDX in April 2010 having been involved in community development for over 30 years as a community activist and as a worker in voluntary sector projects. For the past 22 years Nick worked as a Community Development Worker in a local authority, and from 2002 was Team Leader of Stockport Council community development team. He is committed to building a strong movement for community development which brings together everyone who wants to put communities at the heart of social change. Tel: 0114 235 8642
Email: nick@cdx.org.uk
Twitter: @CDXNick
Lorna Prescott, Senior Development Officer, Dudley CVS Lorna currently leads multi-agency community engagement work in Dudley, carries out engagement for the East Coseley Big Local area and is co-lead on a community-led asset based health improvement project with Public Health Dudley. Lorna led Dosti (Dudley's Community Empowerment Network) for 11 years, supporting a range of identity, interest and geographically based networks across Dudley borough. Lorna was chair of CDX from Nov 2009-Nov2011 and is working with Nick and others to build networking around community development. Tel: 01384 573381
Email: lorna@dudleycvs.org.uk
Twitter: @dosticen
Lorna works with Jody Pritchard and Helen Ashford (Dudley NHS), Donna Roberts (Dudley MBC) and Nicki Burrows (Dudley CVS) to plan and deliver engaging together training and networking. See www.engagingtogether.org.uk 2
5. Participant Guidelines Supporting everyone to participate We ask everyone to respect the rights of others and to participate in the event as equals. This means not interrupting others when they are speaking and not using your status to make others feel less important. Everyone is equally important and our differences need to be valued. Hopefully we can all co-operate with and support each other. We want everyone to feel comfortable about participating in whatever way they feel able. Language Sometimes people use words or phrases which have special meanings and which are not understood by all people. This jargon is almost unavoidable because we all use it but we may forget that others may not understand. If you do not understand it is not your fault and you should not feel stupid if you need someone to explain what is meant. Remember, there is no such thing as a stupid question! If you do not understand something please say so. Please avoid using language which could be construed as racist, sexist, or discriminates or is offensive to people with disabilities. If you feel that language is offensive you have the right to say so. We would expect that person to change their behaviour. If you are nervous about saying something in public, you could approach the person privately, or ask for help from a facilitator. Respect and behaviour This session will bring together people who have a variety of roles from community, voluntary, and faith groups and colleagues from the council, NHS and other public sector agencies . Whilst we encourage constructive criticism please respect people in different roles and from different organisations to your own. Participants must not behave in ways which are unreasonable, unwelcome, and offensive to others or which exclude other participants. Any behaviour which creates an intimidating, hostile or humiliating environment at the event is unacceptable. If you are treated in any way that you find offensive and wish to discuss this with a facilitator and we will make every effort to resolve the issue with you. Confidentiality Sometimes when working in smaller groups and workshops people feel they want to draw on their own experience, but may not want people outside the group to know the details they are sharing. We can’t guarantee that people you are working with will keep what you say confidential, so you must take responsibility for what you choose to disclose. Social media There may be a few people taking pictures, tweeting, and perhaps even blogging 3
about the event. We’ll ask you when you arrive about whether you are happy for photographs to be taken of you and respect your feelings around that. If you do fancy starring on YouTube or a podcast, please tell Lorna - she’ll be most happy! Respecting the purpose of the event and other participants This session will bring together people who have a variety of roles from across the public sector, community, voluntary, and faith groups and increasingly private sector organisations and social enterprises. We welcome all, but wish to be clear that this is not an opportunity to build business, anyone found to be doing this or suspected of doing so will no longer be welcome. Please do not let self-promotion or advertising interfere with the value of the network to participants. We encourage participants to feedback if they are concerned about other participants promoting their business.
6. A map to the venue INSIGHT House, Pearson Street, Brierley Hill, DY5 3BL There are frequent buses to Brierley Hill, running between Dudley and Stourbridge, and from the nearby Merry Hill bus station. To plan your journey by public transport see www.networkwestmidlands.com There is ample parking at the INSIGHT House, approach from Brierley Hill High Street, up Pearson Street and the venue is on your right. See the map below of Brierley Hill
The website for the INSIGHT House is here: http://insightforcarers.org - please do have a look at what the Insight for Carers Service (@i4cs) in Dudley are doing, and feel free to ask to speak to any of the team while you are there, and check out their coffee shop. 4