Information and Resources

Facilitated Conversation Masterclass: Having Difficult Conversations

Thursday 15 Feb, 12 noon – 1.30pm

Facilitation is an essential skill in community activism - the process of supporting a group to imagine and then produce the outcomes they collectively want to see. This webinar will covers elements of good facilitation, tips and tools, and thinks about a range of issues, from how mere 'conversations' can become productive group sessions, to managing difficult discussions.

This webinar is for anyone looking to improve their skills in group facilitation - whether to aid with planning a community project, healing historical divisions, or for any other purpose.

Led by Liz Carnelley: Liz has over thirty years of experience in facilitation, and currently works for Near Neighbours as Director of Partnerships and Ali Amla: Ali is Youth and Partnerships Director at Solution Not Sides. He leads on youth empowerment, strategic partnership development and community collaborations. His specialisations are in creating safe spaces for difficult dialogue, leadership development, think spaces, strategic development, knowledge exchange and delivering inclusion and diversity training.

WRITING FOR GRANTS: MAKING GRANTS APPLICATIONS FOR COMMUNITY ACTIVITY

Thursday 11 Jan, 11am – 12:30pm

How to Build Financial Resilience in Your Community

Monday 11th December, 10am start (via Zoom)

Are you spending time with people in your community and seeing the issues people are facing due to the cost of living crisis, but aren't sure how to help?

Together we take a look at Just Finance Foundation’s Money Help Hub: a reimagined community finance resourcewhich explores financial pressures and issues. We look at the issues we’re seeing in our own communities currently and take a look at how to use the toolkit for community and faith leaders, which you can use to build your own course to best serve your community, your way.

MONEY HELP HUB

Monday 15th May, 2pm start (via Zoom)

Are you spending time with people in your community and seeing the issues people are facing due to the cost of living crisis, but aren't sure how to help?

This webinar will take a look at Just Finance Foundation's new Money Help Hub: a reimagined community finance programme, that aims to be an accessible resource to explore financial pressures and issues people have. We'll look at how to use the resources including a toolkit for community and faith leaders, which you can use to build your own course to best serve your community, your way.

The Black Experience

Thursday 6th April, 10:30am start (via Zoom)

Led by Peter Lumsden of the Near Neighbours hub in East Lancashire and his colleague Adrian Murrell, of Windrush Initiatives. In this webinar Adrian brings his experience of growing up in the UK as the son of Windrush generation parents who came to the UK from the Caribbean in the 1950s. Growing up he himself experienced racism, but from a young age has been heavily involved working to challenge such attitudes and behaviours, having been a youth worker with a number of organisations, and running his own social enterprise, the Black Experience.

As a result of taking part in this webinar, participants were able able to:

• Describe the experience of black heritage citizens living in the UK

• Recognise and challenge their own perceptions and prejudices, and those of others

• Confidently use language which is culturally appropriate

• Use the materials and approaches from this session in their own localities to challenge and change attitudes

Covering topics such as; how to define the project’s vision, conduct a needs assessment, engage stakeholders and create an action plan. We also discussed and explored a number of simple and easy to use tools that will help you develop, explore, revisit and evaluate your project’s vision to achieve your project’s goals. These Include: the W’s, the Impact and Evaluation Toolkit, Project Reflection Workshop etc.

This webinar was delivered by: Liz Carnelley: Liz has over thirty years of experience in project management, and currently works for Near Neighbours as Director of Partnerships. Ala Elghajiji: Ala holds an MRes degree in International Development from the University of Bath, and worked for Near Neighbours as Network Co-ordinator.

Menopause and Me

Wednesday 25th January, 11 am start (via Zoom)

Struggling with any aspect of your menopause journey? Or would like to learn more about menopause? During ‘Menopause and Me’ - an introductory workshop we shared experiences and learning about menopause and covered the following areas:

• Signs & Symptoms

• Tackling the Stigma

• Mental Health

• Seeking advice & guidance

• Supporting one another

The workshop took a conversational approach and was delivered by Fatema Hickson at Birmingham Mind.

Facilitator introduction: Fatema Hickson is a Community Development Worker within Birmingham Mind, leading on the women’s project. She has worked in health and social care for almost twenty years. She is passionate about supporting women on all issues that impact mental health and well-being. It is her own lived experience, the will to improve the lives of others and the desire to tackle inequalities that drives her work. Birmingham Mind was established in 1962 is a registered charity and Company Limited by Guarantee affiliated to Mind. Birmingham Mind delivers a range of services. These services aim to provide high quality support for those experiencing mental health problems by supporting mental health and wellbeing, promoting mental health, challenging stigma and working with individuals towards their recovery.

Working from a Place of Rest

Tuesday 17th January, 4pm start (via Zoom)

Are you exhausted and overwhelmed? Need to give yourself a well-earned break and some self-care? Tom and Darshak will give tips, advice and wisdom about how to work from a place of rest using the wisdom of Rest: Why You Get More Done when you work less by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang. The aim of this online seminar is to provide space for reflection on your working patterns, tips on how to work smarter rather than harder, as well as suggestions for how to develop your skills at resting and recovering in the midst of a pressured and busy life. The seminar will take a conversational approach, and you’ll leave with a plan for a next step in working from a place of rest. Tom is the Director of the St Philip’s Centre in Leicester. The Centre's aim is to enable people to learn to live well together, which it does by facilitating encounters that lead to greater mutual understanding, the development of trust and the possibility of co-operation on issues of common concern. Tom is an experienced trainer and facilitator, and does his best to work from a place of rest. He enjoys helping people understand “what is” and how best to respond, finding the simple core within the complex and living out who they were created to be. Darshak works in Mindera, a tech software consultancy company based in Leicester, he has explored a number of roles and currently works as a Business Analyst. He is a trained mental health first aider. He plays a key role in developing learning and development journeys for minders within Mindera. A passionate individual with a keen interest in IT within business, how it shapes and forms the world within industry and everyday use. He is self-motivated, organised and has excellent time management while working to multiple deadlines as well as working under pressure. Darshak is an ORSC qualified Coach and helps transform teams, leaders and business relationships.

You will hear directly from grassroots leaders their experience of setting up and running frontline services, attracting donations, recruiting volunteers and engaging with statutory services. There will be short presentations from different projects supported by Near Neighbours in East London followed with a Q&A session for participants. Our session will include:

• Saira Mir from PL84U will talk about how she set up her food bank with Near Neighbours seed funding and she's grown her organisation and impact it makes in East London.

• Christian Kitchen volunteers will share with us the importance of building local partnerships and how the relationship with other homelessness organisation and the local authority enabled them to grow their support during the pandemic.

• Bernie Harris from Redbridge will share with us how working with local Clinical Commissioning Group and listening to the concerns of people on the street led to the opening of free GP practice at homelessness shelter for all people regardless of their immigration status.

• Open Table team from Shadwell will talk about their experience of building relationships with people who have had experience of homelessness and bringing them into the community and developing their agency in helping others.

introduction to the immigration and asylum system - 8th december 2021

Many faith groups and community organisations are keen to support refugees and asylum seekers in their congregations and neighbourhoods, but the legal processes migrants are engaged in can seem confusing as well as distressing. This webinar will help you to understand some of the key legal concepts you might come across when befriending and supporting refugees and asylum seekers.

David Neale is the Legal Researcher at Garden Court Chambers. He was called to the Bar in 2013 and practised as an immigration barrister from 2014-2017. He is a graduate of Hertford College, Oxford and Harvard Law School. He is an editor of Macdonald’s Immigration Law and Practice, the leading textbook on UK immigration and asylum law.

Download the ‘Introduction to Immigration Law’ here

Resource: Introduction to Immigration Law Toolkit

Resource: Faiths Working Together Toolkit

Working with People of Other Faiths, Cultures and Backgrounds - 25th november 2021

Working in our communities to make positive change means working constructively with people of other faiths, cultural and ethnic backgrounds, social classes and identities. But what might that look like?

In this webinar, Kaneez Khan (Near Neighbours Coordinator for West Yorkshire) and guest speakers will share their experiences of working on projects with diverse stakeholders. They will explore ways different communities can collaborate and communicate, and the strengths and challenges that can arise from these ways of working.

The guest speakers will be:

Ulrike Hunt - The FEAST

Geeta Lota - CEO, Circle of Life, Women Together & Circle of Life Voice for Men

Shamim Akhtar - Outreach Worker, Touchstone Bradford

Simon Philips - Leeds Faith Forum

Download the ‘Faiths Working Together’ Toolkit

Writing grant applications - 26th october 2021

In this first Zoom webinar for the Near Neighbours Network, our coordinators Femi Olasoko (Peterborough) and Beth Henwood (Leicester) share their experience and expertise at applying for grants. They will help you explore the whole process of making a funding bid, from conception to execution. You will come away with a much better understanding of how grant funders think and how best to meet their needs with the projects you develop.

Download the Grants Writing Advice Here

Resource: Grants Writing Advice