The first Coventry Community Cohesion Awards have been launched and are designed to celebrate the work of local projects and organisations that help to make Coventry a city that works together.
Community Cohesion focusses on a shared future and sense of belonging, a focus on what new and existing communities have in common and building strong and positive relationships between people from different backgrounds.
We are now looking for practical activities which demonstrate how you've achieved cohesion across different communities, groups, faiths, age groups, and people from different backgrounds, ethnicity and disabilities.
You can enter under five categories which are; Voluntary, Community, Public Sector, Private Sector and Young People. The deadline for applications is 5pm on 30 April 2010
Shortlisted projects will be showcased within Coventry Partnership's publications and across the city and the region. You will also be invited to the Lord Mayor's Award ceremony.
Download a copy of the awards flyer to find out all you need to know.
Download a copy of the application form and if you would like to talk to someone about the awards please contact the Coventry Partnership Office on 024 7683 4355.
We are often asked in the Partnership about branding/marketing protocols and the use of the various logos that we oversee, so we thought it might be useful to let you know about the policies we hold on these issues.
The Coventry Partnership has one logo (above) which can be used on documents, posters, leaflets etc. where key partners have been involved e.g. Coventry City Council and West Midlands Police.
The logo also has several strap lines depending on which area/theme group the campaign falls under - for example if the campaign is about the environment the logo with the strap line 'Cleaner, safer, greener' would be used. Please see below for a full list of strap lines for different subjects/theme groups.
Where you have worked with several key partners on a campaign we would recommend that you only use the Coventry Partnership logo if possible, however one other logo from a key partner is acceptable.
There is no specific side for the logo to go on a publication as long as its in a suitable and visually clear place. Bottom right or bottom left usually works.
If you have any queries about branding, logos or campaigns please contact Tim Coleman, Coventry Partnership Communications Officer, on 02476 83 1743, who would be happy to support you in the design stage of any marketing/communications campaign you intend to run with the Coventry Partnership logo featured.
Main Coventry Partnership logo - no strap line
For more information, please see the Coventry Partnership Media and Branding Protocol
Off-Licensees are being sent a new guide to retailing alcohol responsibly. Under-age sales of alcohol are a key issue in relation to reducing anti-social behaviour, let alone the adverse health effects of under-age drinking.
In order to help off-licences and supermarkets ensure that young people do not buy alcohol the Licensing Team at Coventry City Council have worked with the responsible authorities - West Midlands Police, Trading Standards, Safeguarding Children, Health & Safety, Environmental Protection and West Midlands Fire Service - to produce a really useful guide.
The guide not only deals with under age sales but also covers responsible alcohol retailing, counterfeit goods, use of CCTV and a range of other helpful subjects for off-licences. The guide has been published by the Community Safety Partnership and Martin Reeves, the current chair, says "By working together we can make sure that we are doing all we can to minimise irresponsible sales of alcohol, and make Coventry a safer place to live, work and visit".
The guide is being distributed by the Licensing Team and the Responsible Authorities over the next month or so and every off licence will receive a visit to talk through the content of the guide.
You can download a copy of the Off-Licence Guide
Current data indicates that violence has remained stubbornly higher in Coventry than the West Midlands regional average for many years and while progress has been made around public place violence, research is still on-going to identify the relationship between public place and domestic violence. The current Priority Crime Group (PCG) Violent Crime Action Plan identifies the need for a coordinated approach to tackling the issue across the city and this is now a priority for the Community safety Partnership.
At the most recent PCG meeting on 26th November 2009, approval was given for a police officer to be assigned to coordinate actions to tackle violence on the ground within an overarching communications campaign.
The methodology for planning and coordinating the campaign will follow the model of Not in My Neighbourhood Week, which took place in November 2009, (the campaign was designed to tackle Anti-Social Behaviour) with key CCSP agencies and staff deployed. In order to facilitate the campaign the PCG will work with the AIMS (Active Intelligence Mapping System) group to operationalise the campaign, in the lead up and subsequent execution of the plan.
Target audiences reached will aim to tackle public place violence, the Night Time Economy (NTE) and Domestic Violence (in conjunction with alcohol communications campaigns).
The Fire Service will be joining forces with Community Wardens, Environmental Crime Unit, Coventry City Council City Services, West Midlands Police & Registered Social Landlords to offer residents in Upper Stoke Ward free fire safety checks & lots of advice and guidance from other key partners.
The event will take place on 17 and 18 February 2010.
For more information please contact Julie Freemantle, Community Advocate, on 0121 380 6151.
Coventry locals have attended the More Than Two Tones exhibition in their thousands to celebrate and learn more about Coventry's music history.
The exhibition has captured the imagination of visitors from around the region and has been credited as being instrumental in attracting over 40,000 people to the Herbert during November, an unprecedented amount of visitors in just one month.
Martin Roberts, Senior Curator at the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum said "Even before we opened the exhibition we had enormous interest from people in and around Coventry. More Than Two Tones has really captured the essence of Coventry's music history and has brought back a lot of fond memories for people."
Included in the exhibition is an amazing array of music artefacts and items from some of the most prolific and well-respected Coventry musicians. Other items on show are memorabilia from The Enemy, stage clothing worn by King, the Ivor Novello award for Lieutenant Pigeon's Mouldy Old Dough, Hazel O'Connor's BAFTA Nomination certificates and Gold and Silver Discs.
The exhibition was first suggested by Coventry Music historian Pete Chambers who was also the driving force behind the 2-Tone Trail.
More Than Two Tones has proven to be popular with visitors and has helped to attract over 300,000 visitors to the Museum since October 2008, roughly the population of Coventry. More Than Two Tones will now run until
7 February 2010. Admission is FREE.
The Olympic Lottery Distributor has prioritised Coventry as one of the final two Live Sites they wish to support with funding. Coventry will now be part of the Live Site network which has screens in over 20 major cities across the UK.
The 2012 Live Sites concept is built upon a five-year experimental project to develop the UK’s Public Space Broadcasting infrastructure, a network of all-year-round permanent screens. The screens will be used for a variety of events and activities spanning across the themes of sport, culture and education to provide a hi-tec showcase for educational and community activities and outlets for visual arts, digital innovation and local film-making.
Final planning, technical and installation approvals are in progress to ensure that the Live Site is installed by May 2011.
The Environment Theme Group, in conjunction with the Energy Saving Trust, has recently kicked off an exciting pilot programme with ten key city organisations aiming to understand and drive down the city’s carbon emissions.
The programme is the first of its kind and demonstrates Coventry’s commitment to tackling climate change.
Over the past two years Coventry’s carbon emissions have been assessed at around £2million tonnes a year with 40% coming from industry, 35% from housing and 25% from transport sources. The Government measures how the city fares in reducing these emissions and many organisations around the city have begun to take steps to make reductions.
It’s clear, however, that organisations are all at different stages in this process – what’s missing is bringing these separate activities together into one joined-up approach. This three-month pilot programme brings together ten key partners in the city to agree and trial a common approach to tackle carbon emissions, helped by the Energy Saving Trust and the West Midlands Improvement and Efficiency Partnership.
Based on the lessons learned, the programme will be rolled out for a wider group of partners, so that we account for an increasing proportion of Coventry’s carbon footprint.
Have you ever needed money to help set up a group or fund activities that you feel would benefit your area or your community? Well the funding fair could be for you!
On the 5th March 2010 Coventry City Council and Voluntary Action Coventry invite you to a City-wide funding fair at the Welcome Centre from 10.00am – 3.00pm. They will be providing an opportunity for anyone in Coventry to access information on funding for their groups and community activities.
Many of the major funders such as the Big Lottery, Heritage Lottery Fund, and Youth Opportunities Fund will be there, along with some of our more local funders such as the Heart of England Community Foundation, and Coventry Sports.
Not only will there be funders to talk to whilst you browse the many stalls, but they will pass on hints and tips in a series of workshops throughout the day.
So if you're running a group in Coventry and are interested in expanding your activities you should attend. It doesn't have to be for the whole day, but you will need to book to attend the workshops.
Don't miss this great FREE opportunity to find out what funding you could get. Book your place at the workshops by the 24th February 2010 by calling 024 7678 8500.
.JPG)
The new contact number for public use, 024 7683 3800, makes it simpler and more straightforward for the public to report Safeguarding concerns in Coventry.
The one public number was launched alongside a new leaflet and updated website hosting key information, useful contacts and advice. Making it easier to report abuse or neglect is a key part of Coventry's prevention strategy.
Brian Walsh, Director of Community Services, at the City Council said, "The launch has highlighted how working together, sharing information and understanding the complexity involved, is more vitally important than ever"
The city launched its new Safeguarding Adults initiative at the Coventry Techno Centre last November. The launch, attended by 117 delegates from key organisations across the city, showed the progress being made in Coventry, highlighted key priority areas for the future and launched a new single contact telephone number for the public to report concerns.
To report safeguarding concerns the new number for the public to use is
024 7683 3800 or visit www.coventry.gov.uk/safeguarding
Coventry Partnership members and voluntary and community groups are invited to nominate good practice in joint working for Coventry’s first ever Compact awards.
Compact is a way of working based upon mutual respect, so that by understanding each other’s issues and constraints, the voluntary, community and statutory sectors can work together better and achieve greater outcomes for Coventry people.
Now the Awards are seeking actual examples of Compact working and nominations are invited for:
- Joint working between a statutory organisation and a voluntary or community organisation / group to achieve more together than each could have achieved alone;
- Actual working practices which reflect the good practice set out in Coventry’s Compact codes;
- Initiatives or ways of working that enable voluntary and community organisations to thrive
- Initiatives to embed the Compact codes within internal working practices
The deadline for nominations is 10am, Monday 22 February 2010. To download a nomination form or the new leaflet please visit www.vacoventry.org.uk/compact
Coventry Law Centre and Coventry Cyrenians are joining forces to improve the services that they offer to their clients.
From 26th January, Coventry Law Centre will be operating from new premises at Oakwood House in St Patrick’s Road. Coventry Cyrenians will set up new services for homeless people at the other end of the building some time later this year.
Sue Bent, Director of Coventry Law Centre, said “We will be able to offer much improved facilities for disabled clients as we will have a ground floor reception and a suite of interview rooms. Our new premises are next door to Job Centre Plus and very close to the police station and the courts. Coventry Citizens Advice Bureau’s new office is opposite the Courts, so we are also very close to them.
“We are sharing our new premises with Coventry Cyrenians. This will strengthen our existing partnership work on housing issues and allow the opportunity for us to jointly develop enhanced services for homeless people or those threatened with homelessness.”
Mike Fowler, Chief Executive of Coventry Cyrenians said “We are planning new services to start later this year that will operate via a separate entrance at the other end of the building from Coventry Law Centre - but sharing premises will make it easy for us to work together and will allow economies of scale. We hope to build on existing partnerships with other voluntary and statutory sector agencies to further strengthen our joint work.
“Collaboration will allow both of our organisations to expand and strengthen what we can offer to our clients, and it will offer opportunities over time to share services and gain more value for money.”
A new course for expectant mothers starts on on Monday 25 January, 12.30-2:30pm at Foleshill Women's Training (FWT), 70-72 Elmsdale Avenue, CV6 6ES.
The course titled 'Preparing for Motherhood' consists of five weekly sessions with a different topic each week. Women can opt for one session that appeals to them or can do all five.
Manjet Kenht, Department of Health Project Officer, said, "All sessions aim to be informal and enjoyable with the first session kicking off with healthy eating and keeping active, with advice on exercise. The guest speaker will be a health nutritionist from Coventry City Council. Refreshments/snacks will also be available and participants will receive a course completion certificate"
The four consecutive sessions are: 1 February, dangers of smoking/how to get support; 8 February, dangers of alcohol (guest speaker from the Swanswell Trust); 15 February, women’s sexual health and 22 February, mother/baby healthcare (cot death, breastfeeding, immunisations).
To book your place please call FWT on 024 7663 7693, numbers are limited but there will be a repeat courses in the future.
Broadcaster, journalist and writer James Naughtie is to join NHS Medical Director Professor Sir Bruce Keogh and poet and doctor Dannie Abse to judge a new pair of national and international medical poetry awards.
The Hippocrates Prize is being organised by a joint team from the University of Warwick’s Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies and the University’s Medical School.
There is a £15,000 award fund for the prizes, which will be given in an ‘open’ category which anyone can enter and in an ‘NHS’ category open to National Health Service employees and health students. The first prize for the winning poem in each category is £5,000.
Professor Donald Singer, Professor in Clinical Pharmacology at Warwick Medical School and President of the Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine, said the term ‘medical’ could be interpreted in the widest sense i.e. the nature of the body and anatomy; the history, evolution, current and future state of medical science etc.
Poems entered must be anonymous and no more than 50 lines. Contact details should be provided separately from the title and text of a submitted poem. Deadline for entries is 5pm on 15th February 2010, and must be accompanied by a £6 entry fee (per poem).
For more details please visit the website www.hippocrates-poetry.org
A free fun for all the family Health Awareness Day - 'Can I health you?' organised for local residents in Stoke Aldermoor will take place at the Aldermoor Life Centre, Roundhouse Road on Friday 19th February, from 10am - 2pm.
There will be information and health checks provided from the Health Development Service and its partner agencies to help increase awareness of health issues, improve access to healthcare and empower local people to improve their health.
There will be opportunities to try and find out about physical activity, nutrition and complementary therapies. There will also be a chance to have a full MOT on your bicycle, pick up lifestyle skills and a 'free' healthy fruit and veg pack as well as fun art and craft activities to entertain the kids.
Residents will have the opportunity to have their say about what provision and support they feel is missing from the area by participating in a health needs consultation.
For more information please contact Dawn Swan on 024 76786165 or email dawn.swan@coventry.gov.uk
Residents have been viewing their future on the big screen following the unveiling of a computer-generated drive-through tour of the first phase of the £360m redevelopment project in north east Coventry.
The virtual tour of the first 622 homes took place at a special consultation event and showed how new homes and open spaces in the regeneration area of Wood End, Henley Green, Manor Farm and Deedmore will look.
More than 150 residents attended the event, held at Moat House Leisure and Neighbourhood Centre. Also on display were details of house types, road layouts, play areas and landscape and green space improvements, as well as the new environmentally-friendly district heating proposals, for the first 154 homes.
The drop-in style consultation was hosted by architects Broadway Malyan and engineers White Young Green.
The massive regeneration of the NDC area will see more than 3,000 new homes built over 15 years.
Chair of the Regeneration Action Team and resident Martin Smith, said: “I was really excited to see the walk-through programme. The regeneration project has been on the go for a long while, and recently things have stepped up a gear. Things are becoming more real, and we are getting to the point now when we can actually imagine living in our new homes and can picture what we’d see as we open our front doors.”
The Mossdale estate in Radford recently scooped first prize in the Whitefriars Community Pride Awards, with an award of £35,000 to be used for community projects and estate improvements. Coventry City Council's Neighbourhood Management Team submitted a bid on behalf of the residents and partners to try and carry on the good work which has been started on the estate.
Three residents bravely stood up to the Dragon's Den style panel and told it as it is. They talked about the young people and children getting together to tend the flowers in the new planters, having their fencing replaced and painted, new boards put on the derelict garages and a massive reduction in anti-social behaviour on the estate. The main message though was so much has been done, but the improvements must be continued.
Coventry City Council's Neighbourhood Management North East team in partnership with Whitefriars Housing Group is committed to continuing to improve the Mossdale Close estate. Plans are underway for a Home- Zone environment to be created at the entrance to the estate. New planters and landscaping are being designed. Resident's schemes for gating, replacing fencing, raising wall heights and running young people's activities are all being designed and planned for the next 12 months.
For more information please call Sarah Crawley, Neighbourhood Management North East, on 024 7678 5910 or Email sarah.crawley@coventry.gov.uk
As part of the Respect Action Plan, launched in January 2006 to tackle Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB), the Government committed to establishing a national network of Family Intervention Projects (FIPs). Coventry is one of those areas.
The aim of these projects is to address the behaviour of the most anti-social families and reduce their negative impact on the local community.
FIPs use an ‘assertive’ and ‘persistent’ style of working to challenge and support problem families in order to address the root causes of their anti-social behaviour.
There are different ways in which the service is delivered:
1 - outreach support to families in their own home
2 - support in a non-secure tenancy located in the community – the dispersed option and
3 - 24 hour support in a residential core unit where the family live with project staff
The Coventry Consortium of Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) in partnership with the Community Safety Team and Youth Offending Service have developed Family Intervention Tenancies and a Dispersed Accommodation Policy and Procedures to support the work of the FIP. This was made possible with the introduction of the Family Intervention Tenancies (FITs) which were introduced in the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 to enable local housing authorities and RSL's to offer tenancies which are not secure or assured tenancies to certain tenants who have lost or are potentially at risk of losing their secure or assured tenancy. The first FIT was signed on 26 January.
FIT's will be offered as part of a behavioural support package (FIP) for tenants against whom a possession order for anti-social behaviour has been made or those tenants who could face possession proceedings on the grounds of anti-social behaviour.
For more information please contact Kam Sidhu Consortium Development Officer on 024 7623 8366.
The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) have launched the small business awards for Coventry and Warwickshire businesses. The prestigious awards, in association with Burgis & Bullock, will celebrate top notch small business big achievers in the Coventry and Warwickshire area.
From innovation to environmental excellence, the awards will bring together the best three local businesses for each category at a prestigious awards ceremony in May.
At a time when small businesses have been affected by the recession, swine flu and more recently snowfall, we believe it’s time to celebrate adaptability in being able to survive these tough conditions.
There are seven categories to choose from and you can enter up to three. And because small can be big, the FSB are holding the awards evening at Warwick Castle. This will be a night to remember, showcasing Coventry and Warwickshire Knights in Shining Armour in the business world on 14th May 2010.
Each finalist will be invited to the awards ceremony, along with two of their guests, where the overall winner of receiving £500.
For more information about the awards and the rules visit Small Business Awards and to download an application form for each individual award visit Award Categories and Application Forms.
Make Your Mark with a Tenner is an innovative idea which loans young people £10 for one month (March 2010) and challenges them to make a profit and a difference in that month.
The big name backers who have put up their own cash to demonstrate their belief in young people in the UK are the serial entrepreneur and star of Dragons’ Den Peter Jones - who himself ran his first business before he was 18 - and Michael and Xochi Birch, founders of social networking site Bebo.
You can register online until 11 February 2010 at www.enterpriseuk.org.uk/tenner. The competition is open to anyone under the age of 19 and there are two categories under 11s and 11-19s year olds. Tenners can be loaned to schools, colleges and youth organisations providing they have their own bank account.
To register all we need from an organisation is their address, contact details, the name and email address of the signatory on the organisations' account and the number of youngsters taking part.
Young people then have the month of March to take part in the competition, entries must be submitted between 29 March and 9 April 2010 and the tenner loan repaid by the end of April 2010.
All young people who take part receive a certificate outlining the skills they have developed and the winning team will win a share of £1,000 start up capital and support from a business mentor to help them develop their entrepreneurial ideas.
For more information please contact Caroline Maggs, Make Your Mark, on 07703 317740 or email carolinemaggs@enterpriseuk.org
A new organisation has launched the first of what will become an innovative range of staff training for public sector organisations across Coventry, Warwickshire, and Solihull.
The Academy is a partnership between the major local government, universities, police and NHS organisations in the area. With a combined workforce of around 70,000 workers, the organisations aim to work closely to transform public services of the future by offering exciting new ‘joined up’ learning opportunities to their employees.
The first 60 courses offered by The Academy were launched at a special event in January 2010, and are described in a 16-page brochure available now. The courses are available for employees of all grades in the stakeholder organisations that make up The Academy.
Training opportunities range from IT and customer service skills classroom sessions through to mentoring and shadowing opportunities that comprise a commitment that lasts several months and will help forge new connections between organisations.
Dave Clarke, Academy programme board members and strategic director of resources at Warwickshire County Council said: “There is nothing like this, on this scale, anywhere else in the UK. We are leading the way in joining up public services.”
For more information, or to book on an Academy course, visit www.learningdevelopmentacademy.org.uk or email contactus@learningdevelopmentacademy.org.uk.
A new specialist careers support centre has opened its doors in Coventry. Advisors from private training provider Numidia and careers service nextstep West Midlands have joined forces to offer a wide range of support at the Learndirect centre on Park Road.
The facility is one of a number of venues across the city that the nextstep West Midlands’ team is now operating from and it has already been well received by those taking advantage of the range of services available.
Teresa Carroll from nextstep West Midlands said: “This is a new partnership with Numidia and it is working really well. We now have advisors available to offer specialist careers support at venues across Coventry, like the Learndirect centre on Park Road, as well as in Solihull and Warwickshire, where anyone is able to turn up and speak to an advisor or alternatively book an appointment.”
Numidia specialises in delivering training and development courses and has relocated to Park Road having been based at Torrington Avenue.
Lorraine Innes, Numidia centre manager, added: “This a great link-up as the services offered by Numidia and nextstep really compliment each other well."
For further details about nextstep West Midlands or to book an appointment with a careers advisor call
08000 217 244 or log on to www.nextstepwestmidlands.org.uk
The Coventry Partnership Transport Theme group has researched the eligibility criteria and availability of a range of Transport services in the Coventry for people who have difficulty using Public Transport. Services available allow people to travel to appointments, hospitals, shopping, faith or leisure activities.
The range of services include Volunteer Car schemes, Patient Transport Services, Ring and Ride and Routeforward. Each scheme has different eligibility and booking criteria and can be used to travel to a different range of destinations.
A spreadsheet has now been produced which summarises the information customers need to know to allow them to see if they are eligible to use the service and how the service can be booked.
To view and download the spreadsheet visit Transport Services spreadsheet.
If you have any comments about the spreadsheet which might make it easier for you or your clients , then please email nigel.wain@coventrypartnership.com
Access
Keys
Privacy Policy