Newly elected Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) will take up office on 22nd November 2012 and will be expected to deliver on a range of responsibilities. PCCs will be accountable for tackling crime in their police force area and will be responsible for community safety budgets.

Together with BTEG, Greater Manchester BME Network and GMCVO, we are hosting a regional event that will look at:

• The role and powers of the Police and Crime Commissioner
• How the commissioning landscape will change
• What this means for the BME voluntary and community sector
• How to influence your PCC

The event is on 30th October at GMCVO (St Thomas Centre) between 1pm and 5pm

Places are free, but limited. To book a place, please email: daniel.silver@vsnw.org.uk 

The influential Work and Pensions Select Committee has called on the government to assess how effective its youth unemployment programme has been in getting ethnic minority young people into work

The call was made in the committee’s new report on youth unemployment, which cites evidence submitted by Runnymede.

Runnymede director Rob Berkeley presented oral evidence to the committee as part of its inquiry earlier this year.

The committee also called on the government to introduce targeted policies to reduce ethnic minority youth unemployment if it was found to be necessary.  

The full report is available here.

"I worry collaboration with BME groups can be tokenistic. There is no strategy whenever this is brought up at meetings. Collaboration has to be meaningful.”Mainstream organisation

V4CE has conducted a piece of research scoping out the "Barriers to Collaboration and Partnerships between BME and Mainstream Organisations in London”. We have compiled our findings and recommendations into a report.

This report has given us an opportunity to generate a dialogue and lead a debate on the barriers of collaborative working between mainstream and BME organisations. It has enabled organisations working in partnership to share their experiences with us. We hope these findings will be disseminated to the sector to highlight some of the challenges faced by organisations that have undertaken or attempted to undertake collaboration across BME and mainstream lines.

The report will also encourage organisations to consider their role in improving the nature of collaboration between the sectors and reflect on their ability to engage better with different organisations in order to improve the quality of services to the diverse communities they serve. This will also go on to inform the "Fairer and More Equitable Collaborations” programme that will seek to engage the sector to deliver on this by providing a variety of resources and support services.

Download the reporthere.

As part of this year’s Black History Month, Liverpool John Moores University is hosting a free public lecture presented by Diane Abbott, MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington and Shadow Minister for Public Health.

Diane’s Lecture is titled: "Using the past as a platform for the future: Do British universities cater for black and other minority communities?"

Alison Wild, University Secretary and Deputy Chief Executive, will officially open the event at 1pm, followed by dance and drama performances by LJMU students.

Diane Abbott will deliver her talk at 2pm. Her talk will be followed by a Q & A session.

Although this is a free lecture, LJMU would like people to reserve seats by visiting:

www.ljmu.ac.uk/conferences/celebratingblackhistory/

BIG Assist is a programme funded by the Big Lottery Fund and delivered by NCVO. The program will offer a targeted support program to help voluntary sector infrastructure organisations be more efficient, effective and sustainable - it's all about building the future for infrastructure. The £6 million programme, BIG assist, aims to provide the support programme the sector needs in these challenging times.

 Customers of the Assist programme will be able to use the website (www.bigassist.org.uk) to apply for vouchers in exchange for dedicated support services as well as get involved with a peer to peer community offering sponsored visits, mentoring and discussion forums.

 Big Assist will launch for customers on 5th November 2012.

 Changes in the voluntary sector environment has meant that more infrastructure organisations than ever are seeking extra support and advice to help become more efficient, effective and sustainable.

BIG Assist will offer support in the following categories:

• Strategy, planning and managing change

• Financial sustainability

• Innovation, new products and ways of working

• Marketing and building relationships

• Supporting and developing people & organisational culture

That support may be financial help towards support services but a large element of BIG Assist will be the Peer to Peer support community, allowing infrastructure organisations to share and learn from one another. For this reason, even those who are not awarded vouchers will still be able to benefit from the programme by learning from the experience of other organisations.

For more information contact: assist@ncvo-vol.org.uk

Website: www.bigassist.org.uk

Support providers application

BIG Assist are currently inviting suitable organisations to apply to become one of their suppliers. For further information visit: http://www.bigassist.org.uk/supplier-requirements

Friday 16th November is THE date for your diaries - but only if you book quickly! Tickets sell out in just weeks.

It's back the "One World All Different" pt II youth-led conference.

Are you working with children and young people in schools, housing, youth work, care homes, probation, youth offending, health and social care?

Would you like to hear and explore issues affecting young people?

Workshops this year include:

·Housing "A home to go home too"

Exploring the difficulties young people face when trying to access housing services.

·Lack of Guidance " Guide my mind, not my hands"

The importance of a role model, to support them to achieve their full potential.

-Youth in Business & Money "Our enterprise, your choice"

The possibilities for young people to succeed in their own business.

·Drugs & Alcohol " I'm young....let me be care free"

Raising awareness for young people who have to support their parents addictions.

This event is part of Youth Elements, a not for profit organisation. Youth Elements has been established due to the high increase of youth unemployment. We have established this organisation to create opportunities for young people to enhance their employability skills and to further themselves.

We've managed to hold the cost of tickets to just £75 which includes all day refreshments a fabulous lunch and entrance.

Email: info@youthelements.org.uk website: www.youthelements.org.uk

Participation Works is a partnership of seven national children and young people’s agencies that enables organisations to effectively involve children and young people in the development, delivery and evaluation of services that affect their lives.

We offer training and consultancy; a national network of participation workers (the Participation Works Network for England); and an online Gateway that offers a wide selection of information, the latest news and supporting resources on participation.

Our upcoming training courses include:

How to improve local services through youth inspection – 7^th November 2012, Newcastle

This practical one day course supports practitioners in developing and running inspection schemes. It covers the purpose and impact of youth inspection, and focuses on the five stages of running an effective youth inspection scheme.

How to use creative methods for participation – 10^th October 2012, Liverpool

This new, innovative one-day course is based on the popular How To Guide on the same topic. At the end of the training day participants will have developed knowledge in this specific area of participation, ideas and exercises to use with children and young people and the confidence to incorporate the training in their work.

Building a culture of participation – 26^th September 2012, Manchester

This course explores how an organisation’s culture can be established to support children and young people’s active and meaningful participation. The course is based on developing participants’ skills and knowledge in participation, involving self and organisational analysis as well as action planning.

For further information on any of our resources or training please visit www.participationworks.org.uk or email us at enquiries@participationworks.org.uk