 BECON AGM 2007 North East Equality Awards Big Lottery Fund New Funds Release REACHING OUT (A project by REACH) 500 Million for the "Third Sector" Muslim women advising the Communities and Local Government, interested?Jobs, Education, Training FREE COURSE, HurryMedia and Web Design Training Refugee Regional Forum North East, helping Refugees to ACHIEVE.
BECON organised its Annual General Meeting (AGM) late last year at Sunderland Bangladeshi Centre. Like other BECON events, it was a fun filled day with a variety of food, song and dance and diverse participation. The event attracted over 70 participants, both from the voluntary and community sector and the public sector. This time, a large section of the audience came from the Chinese community in Newcastle. Their trip was facilitated by Amanda Chan and Healthy Living Group, a Chinese group based in Newcastle. This year, after changes to BECON constitution, only seven positions were available on BECON Trustee board. BECON’s Trustee board now consists of trustees who were elected in the 2006 AGM and trustees elected in 2007 AGM. This provides both continuity and change for BECON management. Current BECON trustees are:
Juliana Nnaji (Chair)
Sacha Bedding (Vice Chair)
Shamshad Iqbal (Treasurer)
Noella Kamanga (Secretary)
Amanda Main
Dr. Lalith Welamedage
Louise Evan-Wong
Muan’a K Mabikayi
Saqib Arshad
Tony Hanson
Verron Munda
Gurvider Kaur Chokar
Mohinder Singh Dulay
 BECON this year invited Arjumand Kazmi, Head of Policy for Voice4Change England, which is a new partnership between 18 regional and national BME VCS organisations and networks. Further information on Voice4Change England is available on the Policy Section of the BECON website. Arjumand made a presentation on current debate nationally on community cohesion, central government policy, evidence for action and some recent proposals on engagement between the voluntary and community sector and public agencies.
 BECON is leading on the agenda of community cohesion and integration from a Black perspective in the region and is representing the region nationally. In the North East, BECON is member of the Regional Community Cohesion network and is closely working with the North East Equality and Diversity Network mindful of the fact that community cohesion without equality and valuing diversity in contemporary North East will not lead to good community relations. BECON will regularly provide updates on regional and national policy and BECON's response on BECON website.
.jpg)   The Raffle Winners     |
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The Annual North East Equality Awards recognise and reward those employers, training providers and individuals who strive to ensure that good equality and diversity practices are implemented in the work place thereby Improving recruitment and retention for people from diverse groups. There were a record breaking number of applications for the 2007 awards. The standard was extremely high. We would like to congratulate BECON Network members for making that achievement and winning the Employers Award.
SIFC is a multi-racial resource centre in the Tees Valley delivering a portfolio of services to local residents. In delivering their service SIFC says ‘Our simple ethos of whoever you are, wherever you are from we are here to support you’ seems to do the trick. The Judges thought that this ethos was also strongly evident within their internal policies and practices. The Millin Centre provides Training, Educational and recreational activities for BME communities in the West end of Newcastle. The Judges thought that this was: “A professional organisation with an informal work style and effective management procedures which are shared and communicated.” |
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 REACHING OUT (A project by REACH)
Reaching Out is a new England-wide project providing advice and skilled volunteers to black and minority ethnic, refugee and migrant, faith, and isolated rural groups.
The frontline groups and organisations that provide services or run projects for the communities above often find it particularly hard to get advice, support and skilled volunteers. Signing up to this project can benefit benefits these groups from advice and hand picked REACH volunteers.
The Benefits
There are hundreds of groups that provide valuable services to their local communities. With input from the project and skilled volunteers, groups/organisations can:
• strengthen their know-how
• gain new skills
• progress their aims more effectively.
REACH Volunteers
REACH volunteers have Volunteers have a variety of managerial, technical, business and professional backgrounds; with specialisms in areas such as IT, HR and marketing, strategic planning and senior finance.
REACH volunteers are of all ages and backgrounds and may be retired, working full or part-time, or taking a career break, but they are all willing to give their high-level skills freely to a worthwhile cause.
To register your group/organisation
Fill in an electronic registration form that gives details about the organisation and the voluntary role, available on REACH’s website: www.reach-online.org.uk
Alternatively contact the Information Officer for Reaching Out on 020 7840 5663, to be sent a paper version of the registration form.
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.gif) 500 Million for the "Third Sector" On 24 July, the Prime Minister Gordon Brown unveiled that the Third sector will receive more than £500m of government money over the next three years as part of the wide-ranging third sector review. The Third sector is placed “at the heart of society” over the next 10 years. It reveals that the Government proposes to achieve that aim by focusing on four key areas: boosting charities’ ability to campaign, strengthening communities, transforming public services and encouraging social enterprise.e review indicates that there are to be “better mechanisms” for funding the sector, including additional pressure on public bodies to make three-year funding settlements standard practice. In an attempt to allow greater sustainability in grant arrangements, a new £50m fund will be created to enable local independent foundations to set up ‘community endowments’. At least £10m of additional cash will be used to support the transfer of public-owned buildings through the existing £30m Community Assets Fund. Community Assits is about encouraging effective partnership working between the sector and local authorities. The deadline for application was 15th November. |
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The Government has recently introduced a range of initiatives specifically focusing on Muslim communities. Late last year, the Secretary of State (Hazel Blears) set up a Muslim Women’s Advisory Group (MWAG). This is an independent informal group which will advise Communities and Local Government (CLG), on issues to empower Muslim women and increase their participation in civic, economic and social life. The specific purposes of the group are to: Act as ambassador for Muslim women at grass roots and represent their views and concerns to Government;
Provide leadership to communities and act as positive role models for Muslim women in society; Empower Muslim women to engage more with the media on a wide range of issues, this will enable more positive media coverage and help dispel myths around the role of Muslim women in society; Advise on the case studies to be included in a good practice guide to ensure it has maximum readership and is received positively by Muslim women; Meet as necessary in the form of a round table to discuss issues and concerns that are affecting Muslim women. If you are interested in getting involved please contact Shahda Khan on Tel: 01642 729219 • Mobile: 07824693973 • Email shahda_khan@middlesbrough.gov.uk
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 JET is starting new courses: of short employer workshops Work Catering, if you have any West End clients who are interested, please contact Alex on 226 3600. 
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Media and Web Design Training for Voluntary Organisations
If your organisation works with the following priority groups:
The training aims to help organisations improve their new media communications needs. It is pitched at an introductory level to give participants a foundation in how to set up and choose online presence for their organisations. The training programme has an in-built time for delegate participation and for opportunities to ask pertinent questions as well as to learn from one another. Training events provided are:
Media Trust will deliver these training events throughout England in 2008. To book or for more information please visit www.mediatrust.org , email improvingreach@mediatrust.org or contact the Improving Reach team on 020 7874 7657/ 020 7874 7653. “The benefits of the web training are great. The skills gained have already helped me to further develop and market our work.” Abdi Mohamed, AMANA Education Trust “This training helped me to become more confident in my approach. I believe I can now represent my organisation and get the message across.” Mark Green, Beacon Project
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Do you want to ...
 Develop a new project ?Set up new activities ? Provide a quality service ? Plan a new campaign ? Celebrate through music, dance, drama, visual arts ? Obtain funding to support your work ? Write reports and publicise your activities ? Link up with others to learn more ? For further information please contact the Regional Refugee Forum North East can help you
15, Design Works, William Street, Felling, Gateshead NE10 OJP Tel: 0191 423 6255
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.gif "Please click here to download the AGM Booklet")
