Coverage of event was disappointing

This letter appears in today's Leicester Mercury (though not on its website):

Coverage of event was disappointing

Catching up with back issues of the Mercury after the Easter break, I was looking forward to reading some good coverage of the recent Choice Unlimited event at Leicester Tigers on Thursday 5 April.

Imagine my disappointment, then, to see the short article, “Ex-tigers hero roars approval for fair” (Mercury, April 7). There are several aspects of the piece that are disappointing: it was unclear what it was all about, but mostly credit was not given where it’s due.

It was reported that Choice Unlimited had the support of Leicester City Council, Leicestershire County Council and Voluntary Action LeicesterShire.

That’s true and they all contributed to preparations and to the success on the day itself, helping showcase products, services, information and guidance available to disabled people and their carers. But Choice Unlimited didn’t spring fully-formed out of thin air.

Someone had to come up with the idea, get it off the ground, enlist support, gather momentum and bring it all to a successful conclusion. And that “someone” was the Regional Equality and Diversity Partnership (REDP).

REDP is a collective of Voluntary and Community Sector organisations working together to promote equality and celebrate diversity.

At its core are four Leicester organisations with a track record of collaborating across different equalities for as long as ten years now. Our influence and engagement has extended in the past few years to embrace the whole East Midlands . The four city-based founder members of REDP are Leicester Council of Faiths; Leicester and Leicestershire Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Centre; The Race Equality Centre and Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living (which took the lead role in Choice Unlimited).

The coverage failed to mention the ground-breaking nature of Choice Unlimited (it was the first of its kind anywhere in the East Midlands) nor was there any indication of the tremendous success of the event. More than 160 exhibitors participated and an estimated 2,500-3,000 service users came through the door – every one of them a potential customer in this new era of personal budgets for care services and products.

REDP is already in advanced discussions to present Choice Unlimited in other parts of the East Midlands. We’d still like it to be known that Leicester was the birthplace of this trail-blazing first presentation.

You might wonder why this matters, two weeks after the event and ten days after the Mercury’s coverage. Choice Unlimited signalled the birth of a new way of doing things for disabled people in the city, county and Rutland – kicking off a new era of choice and control. And at REDP our phone lines and inboxes are still red hot with those keen for information and asking when we’ll be doing it again. And they show no sign of cooling down!

George M Ballentyne

Stoneygate

Gay centre has £80,000 refit

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Gay centre has £80,000 refit

More than 200 people were entertained by stilt walkers and drag queens at the re-launch of Leicester's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender centre.

The Leicester LGBT headquarters, in Wellington Street, in the city centre, has had an £80,000 refit, including new foyer, cafe and social room.

Saturday saw the centre's official reopening, which was given a splash of colour and entertainment via drag queens Miss Marty and Miss Penny, who greeted visitors.

Martyn Parker, organiser of the Leicester Pride parade, said: "We want to get the word out that we're here and that we offer services such as health advice and support for a number of issues."

The social room will host the centre's groups, which include 1st Out – a Thursday night club for teenagers.

Tim Peters, youth worker at the centre, said: "We're a very inclusive club. We say we're the LGBTQ youth group – the Q stands for questioning.

"If there's young people who aren't sure of their sexuality they're very welcome and if they turn round one day and say they're straight were not going to kick them out or anything."

Rainbow and Dove owner James Cockerill provided free food and drink. He said: "The centre provides a lot of support for a lot of people."

The centre, which employs four full-time members of staff, is a registered charity. For details call 0116 254 7412.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender centre is relaunched

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender centre is relaunched

A meeting place for Leicester's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community is being relaunched to raise awareness of its services.

The LGBT centre, in Wellington Street, in the city centre, is hosting an event today from 1pm to help raise its profile.

Stilt-walkers and drag queens will be on hand to meet and greet visitors at the newly-refurbished bar and function room at the centre.

Food and drink have been supplied by the Rainbow and Dove pub, in Charles Street.

Martyn Parker, trustee at the centre and chairman of the Leicester Pride festival, said: "Pride has always been well supported, but the centre itself has remained more in the background.

"We're hoping to change that, though, and the event is all about raising the profile.

"We've invited lots of people, including city councillors and city mayor Peter Soulsby, we're expecting a good turnout."

The event runs from 1pm until 6pm.

For more information, visit: www.leicesterlgbtcentre.org

Core Partners meeting

This morning we have the monthly meeting of REDP's Core Partners:

• Leicester Council of Faiths
• Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living
• Leicester Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Centre
• The Race Equality Centre

We meet at Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living, which is the accountable body for this project. Normally we'd have this meeting on the first Tuesday of the month, but that was given over this month to our regional event on Personalisation.

Today we're joined by members of our Working Group, bringing them up to speed with our exit strategy as REDP approaches the end of its initial funding period and on our plans and prospects for sustainability in the medium and long term. This is following up on the meeting of Core Partners last Wednesday morning (see blog entry for 7 December).

This isn't our only topic today, of course. We discuss the remaining three regional conferences that we plan to hold in the first half of 2012, the topics for which are:

• Human Rights (led by The Race Equality Centre)
• Hate Crime (led by Leicester LGBT Centre)
• Localism (led by Leicester Council of Faiths)

These will be spaced about eight weeks apart and each one will be preceded by a short series of seminars in six different parts of the East Midlands.

We also discuss how to set a consistent tone for the public projection of REDP. As well as adhering to a list of inappropriate words and phrases that we hope would never pass the lips of anyone doing anything, anywhere, on behalf of REDP, we'd like to do something that would help define our values. My part in this will be to draft a brief statement regarding the positive dimensions of identifying with one or more of the Protected Characteristics enumerated in the Equality Act 2010. More often than not, identification with a Protected Characteristic is presented as having a negative impact on individual, family and community life - as if being rid of this, that or the other Protected Characteristic would only beneficial. As if (say) a black person's life would be made better if they had been born white; as if a gay person (for instance) would invariably be happier if they were straight; as if giving up one's culture, heritage and identity as a Sikh (for example) would lead to more success in this world. This is ridiculous and patently so. No doubt that belonging to any identifiable group can lead to discrimination, harassment, persecution or victimisation - and we would never deny that that's the unfortunate and unacceptable reality of life for many. However, the solution is not to aspire to some bland, featureless, flavourless "norm" of being British. What on earth would that be like - and who on earth would say that is them, or wish to be like that? This would help differentiate our approach to diversity (after all, it's in our name) as well as affirming our commitment to equality.

Exit strategy and sustainability

This morning REDP's Core Partners are meeting at Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living, to consider our Action Plan for an exit strategy and sustainability when our initial period of funding ends in June 2012. The Core Partners of REDP are:

• Leicester Council of Faiths
• Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living
• Leicester Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Centre
• The Race Equality Centre

We consider our current position, plans and future prospects under the following broad categories:

• Policy and Procedure
• Audit and Performance
• Workforce and Training
• Accountability and Scrutiny
• Health and Safety
• Training and Equality-Proofing
• Website
• Research
• Market Profiling
• Project Delivery
• Seminars and Events

You'll have to make do with that for now. I'm not giving the game away at this stage! You'll just have to keep up with developments.

International Day Against Hate Crime

At Phoenix Square Film and Digital Media Centre this morning, where International Day Against Hate Crime is being marked with an event organised jointly between Leicestershire Police's Stamp It Out campaign and Citizens' Eye Community News Agency.

Here's some information about hate crime, from the Stamp It Out! flyer:

The risk of being attacked or abused on the street, at work or in their own home just because of who they are remains an everyday reality for many people.
Hate Incidents and crimes happen because of hostility, prejudice or hatred of another person because of their actual or perceived disability, gender identity (transgender), race, religion or belief or sexual orientation.

No two hate incidents are the same but may include the following:

• verbal abuse and name calling
• physical attack
• graffiti or other deliberate damage to property
• written or recorded threats

These incidents don't just affect the lives of those involved but affect their friends, their families and every part of the local community.

If hate incidents are not reported, then the bullies, bigots and thugs will feel their behaviour is totally acceptable and they they can continue to abuse people whenever they feel like it.

Stamp It Out! is a community-led partnership bringing together different groups and organisations all committed to challenging, tackling and stamping out hate within Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.

Assistant Mayor Councillor Manjula Sood (Cabinet Lead for Health and Community Inclusion, and Chair of Leicester Council of Faiths), is among a small number of speakers at the plenary session in Screen 1, the largest of Phoenix Square's three projection spaces. Here we also hear from Simon Cole (Chief Constable of Leicestershire Police), Justin Hammond (Stamp It Out), John Coster and Hollie Sturgess (Citizens' Eye Community News Agency) and Dr Loretta Trickett (Nottingham Centre for the Study of Reduction of Hate Crimes, Bias and Prejudice at Nottingham Trent University). We also watch an amazing video: No Arms No Legs No Worries.

Leicester Council of Faiths and Leicester Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trangender Centre (two of the four Core Partners in REDP) are exhibiting in the marketplace in Phoenix Square's reception area and cafe bar. We've done this sort of event here many a time, but this is probably the busiest I've seen it. Many of the displays focus on specific groups who are considered the most common victims of hate crime, whether it's racially or religiously motivated, homophobic, against disabled or older people or women. I'm especially interested to meet one Jonny Basger, representing Community Security Trust (CST) a national organisation involved in protecting the Jewish community from all forms of antisemitic incidents. I pick up a wealth of printed material from the CST display. I'm particularly impressed by their use of QR codes and smartphone apps.

REDP is planning a regional conference on hate crime in the first half of 2012. I collect as much relevant information as I can and speak to a few exhibitors and attendees about their interest and potential involvement in this forthcoming event. We've got a selection of REDP's leaflets about the Protected Characteristics as defined in the Equality Act 2010 on display today.

Spectacular show of pride by city's LGBT community

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Spectacular show of pride by city's LGBT community

The colourful spectacular that is Leicester Pride saw hundreds of people take to the streets in celebration.

The annual parade began at Orton Square before making its way around the city centre to Victoria Park, where revellers where entertained with a funfair and live entertainment.

The event, which took place last Saturday, also gave various organisations a chance to highlight their services.

For almost 40 years, Leicester Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Centre in Wellington Street, has offered support to and fostered a sense of community among gay people in the city and county.

Centre support officer Dennis Bradley said: "As people come out and discover they are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, there is a new group of people that needs to be taught the centre exists.

"Our purpose in being at Pride was to raise awareness that we do have a centre and that people should come and see what they can get from it."

A dozen groups use the centre, including First Out, for younger people aged 13-19; Spectrum, with users aged 20-35; Grey Pride for people aged 50 and over and transgender groups Leicester Chameleon Group and Mixed Agendas.

"The LGBT community makes up about a third of the overall population," said Mr Bradley. "Pride is a good celebration of life of LGBT people here in Leicester, of our progressiveness towards equality and the diversity that exists within the community.

"Pride is a wonderful event that raises awareness to the wider community that we do exist and that we are a large number."

Pride also gave organisations an opportunity to highlight the importance of safe sex and offer advice on sexual health alongside representatives from the Leicestershire Aids Support Service and the HIV and Aids prevention charity Trade.

For more information on the centre, visit: www.llgbc.com

Core Partners meeting

This morning we have the monthly meeting of REDP's Core Partners:

• Leicester Council of Faiths
• Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living
• Leicester Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Centre
• The Race Equality Centre

We meet at Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living, which is the accountable body for this project.

Core Partners meeting

This morning we have the monthly meeting of REDP's Core Partners:

• Leicester Council of Faiths
• Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living
• Leicester Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Centre
• The Race Equality Centre

We meet at Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living, which is the accountable body for this project.


Apologies received from George Ballentyne, representing Leicester Council of Faiths, who's taking part today in the pre-launch event for Leicester Speaks 2011 in Gallowtree Gate.

REDP (Not very far) Away Day

Last Thursday was an "away day" for the Regional Equality and Diversity Partnership (REDP). Not very far away though. It's a sign of these austerity times that we've only gone as far as upstairs in the third floor training room at Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living (LCIL). this is the second time this week that I've been involved in an "away day" that's gone no further than upstairs (the other one was with the Management Committee at Network for Change on Tuesday).

We're 18 months into our project at REDP, halfway through our period of guaranteed funding. Time to take stock of what we've achieved so far, what's still to be done - and what future we see for the partnership and our places in it beyond the end of funding in June 2012.

The away day is facilitated by Bob Clarke, who drafted the original business plan that helped us win the bid, and who conducted an evaluation of the project at the end of its first year. I like Bob. Bob is cool.

We start off with just the four Core Partners of REDP:

• Leicester Council of Faiths - represented by me;
• Leicester Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Centre - represented by their Director, Ian Robson;
• Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living - represented by their CEO, Dee Martin;
• The Race Equality Centre (TREC) - represented by their CEO, Iris Lightfoote.

We consider the original aim of the project and discuss to what extent this has been achieved:

To establish an effective regional equality and diversity partnership that can provide a voice for voluntary sector organisations on equality issues and ensure that national and regional information relating to equality issues is cascaded through infrastructure organisations to frontline bodies. Our overall aim is to provide a mechanism by which equality is embedded in regional thinking.

We carry out a similar exercise for the objectives originally agreed for the project:

• To ensure the partnership becomes the hub of influence in the region for infrastructure organisations.
• To develop links into the network of strategic government departments and agencies working on equality and diversity issues.
• To help East Midlands organisations which are working on the recognised equality strands tap into the wider networks promoting and challenging equality and diversity policies and practices across the region.

After the Core Partners have gone through these tasks for almost two hours, we're joined by Laura Horton (REDP Project Manager) to discuss some of the practical aspects of our work.

At lunchtime, we're joined by members of the the wider REDP team, bringing in more people from the four Core Partners. We've grown from four (plus Bob) when we started in the morning to ten (plus Bob) now. I'm pleased that Tony Nelson, Vice Chair of Leicester Council of Faiths (and a member of my management group from day one) is able to be here too.

We spend the next few hours largely going over the same issues and questions that we addressed this morning, but this time with a bigger number of participants and differing input.

We've read three papers in particular form central government in preparation for today. Here are the links, so you can follow them up yourself if you feel so inclined, faithful reader:

Decentralisation and the Localism Bill: an essential guide (published 13 Dec 2010 by HM Governement)
http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/localgovernment/pdf/1793908.pdf

The Equality Strategy: Building a Fairer Britain (published Dec 2010 by HM Government)
http://www.equalities.gov.uk/pdf/GEO%20Equality%20Strategy%20tagged%20version.pdf

Building a Big Society (published Mar 2010 by the Conservative Party)
http://www.conservatives.com/News/News_stories/2010/03/~/media/Files/Downloadable%20Files/Building-a-Big-Society.ashx

- George M Ballentyne (REDP Core Partner)