News - Page 22 of 31 - Trust for Developing Communities

One step closer – a Dementia-Friendly workshop for Hangleton & Knoll

The Dementia Action Alliance came to the Hangleton & Knoll project

Dementia Action Alliance at the Hangleton & Knoll Project — Dementia workshop at the Hangleton & Knoll project. Photo credit: Hangleton & Knoll project

Hangleton and Knoll moved one step closer to becoming a Dementia Friendly Neighbourhood last Wednesday 29th November.

Clare Hopkins, Community Development Worker with Older People, and our partners at the Hangleton and Knoll project, organised and hosted a Dementia workshop day at St Richard’s Community centre.

Over 20 people took part in a Dementia Friends awareness session led by Sue Sayers from TDC, followed by a Dementia Experience led by Rachel Mortimer of Engage and Create. Both TDC and Engage and Create are partners with Age UK Brighton and Hove and the Carers Centre, in the Dementia Action Alliance project which seeks to create a dementia friendly city and enable people who have dementia to live well. It is the Dementia Action Alliance which funded the Hangleton and Knoll Project to put on this event.

The participants then pledged to personal actions that will meet these aims. Richard Gravestock, Practice Manager at Hove Medical Centre, recruited Sue Sayer’s support in his idea to ask his Patient participation group to host a Dementia Friends awareness session in the New Year. He also pledged to invite Sue along to a citywide practice manager’s meeting so all GP practices will have access to the opportunity to become a Dementia Friend.

A participant of the day e-mailed to say ‘A huge thanks to you for inviting us to attend today’s workshop – it was so well organised, informative and engaging’.

If you would like to run a Dementia workshop in your neighbourhood or to hold a dementia awareness session in your group or organisation please contact Sue Sayers on 07412 709 310 or [email protected]

Dementia Friends is a social action movement designed by the Alzheimer’s Society. For more details visit https://www.dementiafriends.org.uk/. Many thanks to the Hangleton & Knoll project for letting us use their photos in this post.

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Read more blog posts about Older People and find out about our work with Older People across the city.

Moulsecoomb and Bevendean Community Connections

Moulsecoomb and Bevendean Neighbourhood action plan

On Wednesday 8^th November, TDC hosted a Community Connections event at Moulsecoomb Hall where local people were invited along to talk to various organisations about the future of Moulsecoomb, Bevendean and Bates Estate.

Different zones were set up to encourage local residents to connect with local services as well as getting involved and having their say. TDC’s community development workers and youth team were in attendance, alongside services such as The Bridge, The Brighton & Hove Food Partnership, Mind and Moulsecoomb Library plus various council departments like City Clean, Children’s services & the Parks department. Residents had the chance to explore each of the following four areas and highlight aspects which matter most to them:

Safety & Environment
Health & Well-being
Information & Learning
Community Spaces

Younger visitors were able to get involved too – they were encouraged to draw their ideas of what they like best about where they live and what they would like to see in the future. We were delighted to see that unicorns and superheroes featured heavily in their designs!

This event will contribute to the development of a Neighbourhood Plan, an important part of TDC’s ongoing work with communities and public services in the area. The plan will incorporate key themes such as management of parks and community centres, sustainability of public services like schools, improvement of residents’ health & wellbeing, and working towards appropriate housing for all.

Read more about our community development work in the city and have a look at some pictures of the Community Connections event below.

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Enjoying the open spaces in our city by the sea

Our AGM this year focused on the open spaces around our city. We were very lucky to hear a presentation from Dr. William Bird, voted as one of the UK’s top 30 most influential conservationists and named by The Independent as one of the top 100 people making Britain a happier place. Dr Bird spoke on the theme of “The Natural Health Service” – telling us about the benefit of green spaces to our health and wellbeing and how as humans we were designed to be connected to nature. Staying with this theme, we asked AGM attendees to tell us about the open spaces that mean something to them.

Some of the beautiful open spaces in our city – Madeira Terrace, Brighton seafront and Queen’s Park

We asked people to –

“Name an open space in Brighton & Hove that you particularly value”

and

“What makes it special to you?”

It was wonderful to read the varied responses, detailing the joys to be found in the many open spaces in our city by the sea.

Here are some of our favourite comments:

Ann’s Well Gardens – “It is the perfect size and packs so much in. All you could want in a park and now a fantastic café”

Craven Woods/Whitehawk Hill – “Good views, used to walk our dog there and it is on my doorstep”

Downs Cemetery and Craven Woods – “Very peaceful and restful”

The copse behind Woodland Drive – “I used to live in a house that backed onto it, a valuable open space”

The beach and sea – “I can swim, sunbathe, beachcomb, look for shells, find mussels to eat, look at the horizon and meditate, listen to the waves and relax”

Queens Park – “It’s the most dog-friendly park in the city”

Madeira Terraces and Seafront – “It’s a quiet part of the beach and for its historical characteristics”

Regency Square – “500,000 people look down on it each year from the i360”

Preston Park – “My own children loved going there and being allowed to play “explorers”, plus the thrill of the “risky” stepping stones”

Brighton & Hove Seafront – “Happy or sad, I always feel connected & priviledged to be surrounded by the expanse of space and nature. The seafront is the place where I meet friends & family, spend time together – connecting, socialising & sharing.”

Hove Lawns – “So big, very green. Room to do anything! Can run there, sit in the sun. Is good to be able to see so much green”

What happened on the TDC Tech Trail

By Caroline Vitta – TDC Community Worker with Young People.

Twelve young people who regularly attend our youth club sessions on Thursday evenings at the 67 Centre in Moulsecoomb, were excited to take part in this year’s Tech Trail as part of the Brighton Digital Festival.

The aim of the event was to help young people learn more about tech careers. It was organised by Ruth Chapman, our TDC business development manager. Ruth worked with lots of amazing tech companies in Brighton and Hove who opened their doors on different evenings and invited young people in to talk to other young people that work there. The participants also had the chance to try interactive activities that helped them to understand what that company creates, to learn more about what kind of education is needed for tech jobs and also to find out about what career opportunities there might be in Brighton.

The group went along firstly to Brandwatch, a major Brighton digital agency that monitors the conversations that people are having online. They listened to several really interesting presentations from the staff at Brandwatch who enthusiastically talked about working there and also usefully gave an insight into the education and work path that led up to their employment at Brandwatch. We were surprised that there were so many roles and that not everyone had been an IT specialist in their previous roles. And we got cool bags to take away.

It was really fun, it gave us a review of what working in that organisation is like. It also showed us how you can start with nothing and with a little bit of team work and a lot of hard work you can build this well-developed business and within the business have people with all different skills and ways of doing things. (Madi, aged 15)

We then moved on to Platf9rm, a shared working space that is full of tech companies. The group met the founders of 3plusVR who had lots of futuristic technology including a camera that can take a 360 degree photograph and turn it into a virtual reality digital model that you can navigate. A few days before the organisation had visited the 67 centre and so already had a scan of the youth centre that we could look around. Gill from 3plusVR is planning to visit us during a youth club session in November so that the group can add their own touches to this.

It was fun 🙂 I loved having the experience of learning what it is like to own and work for a corporation that helps people with social media, it was amazing how they work out things and the different little things that no one would notice if you weren’t told about it. I’m glad we got the experience (Char, aged 14)

This was a brilliant event and a real eye opener to get inside the Tech industry and see how diverse it is. I was really proud of how the group behaved, engaged with the company’s staff, asked questions and left with lots of thoughts about their own prospects.

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Read more about the TDC Tech Trail.

Opening doors to a career in tech

TDC community development Brighton Digital Festival

TDC were thrilled to be a part of the Brighton Digital Festival this year, offering a number of events for young people, aiming to inspire them to take up a career in tech.

We worked with some of Brighton’s most exciting digital businesses and educators to create a Tech Trail around the city, then teamed up with Propellernet, Block Builders and the British Airways i360 to offer an interactive Virtual Reality experience to five classes from primary schools in some of Brighton & Hove’s most disadvantaged areas.

Earlier this year, charitable foundation the Nominet Trust undertook research to explore the barriers preventing disadvantaged young people from gaining digital skills. A key finding was that those least likely to have digital skills are also most likely to be facing multiple forms of disadvantage and are among the hardest-to-reach in our society. Though Brighton & Hove appears an affluent city, it contains some wards in which 33% of children are growing up in poverty. Overall, 41% of Brighton’s children live in the most deprived parts of the city.

The Tech Trail led youngsters on a route around Brighton, a world-renowned digital hub – taking in a number of digital work places along the way. The idea was to inspire pupils, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, with the opportunities available to them if they choose to follow a career in tech.

Participants had the chance to step through the doors of some of the city’s most innovative companies including Propellernet, Drum, Ideal, Pragmatic, Brandwatch and Latest TV amongst many others. The young people saw first-hand what a tech workplace can look like and were able to try interactive experiences designed to increase their understanding of what these companies do. They also had the unique opportunity to talk to young employees about what it’s like to have a tech career in digital hub Brighton.

TDC’s Business Development Manager Ruth Chapman said “it was great to see so many companies engage with the idea of opening their doors so that young people could experience tech in Brighton. We hope that visiting these companies will inspire young people and help them realise the possibilities in tech as a future career”.

Then on Wednesday October 11^th 140 children from Moulsecoomb Primary School, Bevendean Primary School and Hertford Infant School, were treated to a virtual reality (VR) lesson on Brighton beach and a flight aboard the British Airways i360. Using VR headsets, the children were transported on a journey across Paris, Mont Blanc, a Dutch meadow, a South East Asian desert island and finally to Rio de Janeiro. Read a bit more and see pictures of the day as featured in The Argus and watch these videos to see some of the children’s reactions.

Ruth elaborates: “I’m really proud of the impact we made with the TDC Tech Trail this year. We were kindly supported by Drum, a local tech firm, who not only sponsored the project but provided mentorship to get it off the ground. In the end we over 16 different tech companies involved and support from Brighton Metropolitan, Creative Process and Entrepreneurial Spark.

From a business development sense, aside from the relationships formed with local businesses, the TDC Tech Trail enabled us to build connections with networks across the city. We were invited to be part of the discussions about future career pathways and opportunities for young people as part of Our Future City and we built a strong relationship with Brighton Digital Festival, who championed the project and invited us to talk about it at the closing conference. A chance to get on the stage and share our story with over 200 people.”

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Read more about the TDC Tech Trail.

TDC film shows contribution of older people to communities in Brighton & Hove

Brighton & Hove Older People's Festival TDC

On Thursday 5^th October, TDC showed a short film and hosted a morning of celebration, conversation and cake at the Brighthelm centre as part of the Brighton & Hove Older People’s Festival 2017.

We wanted to recognise and celebrate the part that Older People play in supporting their communities – from running food banks, to volunteering at their local lunch club or community café; from chairing their local Residents’ Association to being part of a Park ‘Friends of’ group; from supporting members of black and minority ethnic groups to championing the cause of the LGBTQ+ community. And much more besides…

Older people from across the city came together to meet each other, chat, to enjoy coffee and cake and to take part in a discussion with the Mayor of Brighton & Hove, Councillor Mo Marsh, about the contribution older people make to the city. Attendees watched a short film produced by our community development workers which featured many over 50s talking about how they are making a positive difference in their communities and what they, in return, get back from their volunteering. TDC Project manager Lyndsay Macadam said of the film ”The theme of this year’s Older People’s Festival is about recognising the talents and contributions of older people and we thought it would be fantastic to capture on film some of the older people in our communities talking about the work they do and to ask them why they do it.”

After the event, Steve Andrews, our Community Participation Worker with Older People, said “It was a truly inclusive occasion with lots of goodwill in the room. It was great to see older members of the BME community present, and people who hadn’t been to citywide events before. There was an element of fun but also some serious engagement in the groupwork.”

Brighton & Hove Older People’s Festival is an annual two week celebration inspired by the UN’s International Older People’s day which is held on 1st October each year. This year’s festival took place between 25^th September and 8^th October and saw hundreds of older people from Brighton & Hove taking part in events across the city.

The film “Supporting our communities” can be found on the TDC youtube channel or you can watch it right here!

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A special area of our work at TDC is around supporting older people themselves to develop groups and activities based on their needs and developing their capacity as volunteers. Our Community Participation Workers with Older People work citywide and recent work has involved building the Dementia Action Alliance with partners across the city and helping to train people and organisations to become more dementia friendly.
Read more about our work with older people.

The Trust for Developing Communities 2017 AGM – ‘Our Spaces’

We are pleased to announce The Trust for Developing Communities 2017 AGM which this year will be celebrating ‘Our Spaces’.

Thursday 12th October 2017

5.45pm registration for 6pm start

at
Brighthelm Church & Community Centre, North Road, Brighton, BN1 1YD

All members, partners, friends and supporters of TDC are welcome to come along. Join us to learn about TDC’s work across Brighton & Hove and to get involved in shaping our plans for the future.

A buffet of British and Asian food will be provided and you will have the chance to meet TDC staff, trustees, volunteers and many of the groups we work with.

Please find the AGM 2017 agenda here and read our 2017 Annual Report on the TDC website prior to the AGM.

As well as the opportunity to join our organisation and meet some great people working within the various communities of Brighton & Hove you will hear a presentation from Dr. William Bird, voted as one of the UK’s top 30 most influential conservationists and named by The Independent as one of the top 100 people making Britain a happier place.

Following Dr. Bird’s presentation there will be a panel question and answer session on the issues that he has raised making this an event not to be missed.

RSVP: Katharine Trevelyan – [email protected]

The “I am Able” campaign – transforming lives, regardless of disability

On Tuesday 19th September we were proud to support the “I am Able” campaign – highlighting young people who have transformed their lives, regardless of disability. The campaign is an initiative of the DM Thomas Foundation for young people – a charity dedicated to helping disadvantaged and vulnerable young people and children transform their lives.

At TDC we work with disadvantaged young people through our community development work in Brighton & Hove and a grant from DM Thomas Foundation, helped support activities for members of Moulsecoomb’s Look Sussex youth club for blind & visually impaired youngsters.

Look Sussex youth club runs every Wednesday in Moulsecoomb, East Brighton. It offers a safe, fun place for young people with visual impairments.

A huge thank you to the DM Thomas for supporting Look Sussex, and for helping our young people to say #IamABLE

Older People’s Festival 2017

As a part of the Brighton & Hove Older People’s Festival 2017, TDC invites you to a morning of celebration, discussion and cake!

Join us to watch a short film about the amazing contribution Older People make to our communities then share your ideas with Councillor Mo Marsh – the Mayor of Brighton & Hove, over tea and cake.

Thursday 5th October 10:30 – 12:30
Brighthelm Centre Auditorium, North Road, Brighton, BN1 1YD
Open to all over 50s – Free Entry

For info contact: [email protected]

TDC appoints new Chief Executive

We are pleased to announce that TDC (The Trust for Developing Communities) has appointed Athol Hallé as its next Chief Executive and he will be taking up the post at the end of October.

Athol comes to us from his position as Chief Executive of Groundswell, a post that he has held for the past 11 years, building the charity from small beginnings into the prominent and highly respected homeless organisation that it is today. His previous employers include Cardboard Citizens, Amnesty International UK and the National Homeless Alliance – the organisation from which Groundswell originated. Athol is a fellow of the School for Social Entrepreneurs and of the Ariane de Rothschild Fellowship in Social Enterprise and Cross-Cultural Dialogue.

Athol says ‘I am looking forward to taking on this new role and working with the staff, the Trustees and the communities within the City to make Brighton & Hove a place of greater equality and social justice.’

Grant Scott, Chair of Trustees, said ‘We are delighted to have appointed Athol as our new Chief Executive and we are confident that he will provide the transformative leadership to take the organisation through the next stage of its development and beyond.’

Moulsecoomb Bangladeshi Women’s group at the Coldean Family Fun Day

TDC Moulsecoomb Bangladeshi Women's Group at Coldean Family Fun Day

Members of the Moulsecoomb Bangladeshi Women’s group joined in to celebrate the Coldean Family Fun Day in August – an annual event held at St Mary Magdalen Church in Coldean.

The members took along their children and participated in the fun activities and songs as well as trying their hands at making milkshakes! It was a great opportunity to bring together many different families and encourage cultural exchange. The families had a great time engaging the children and making the most of the school holidays and the day closed with a sumptuous Bengali Lunch of chicken curry, vegetables and rice, cooked by the members of the Moulsecoomb Bangladeshi Women’s group. Thank you to all our members of the group, Family Support Work and St Mary Magdalen Church for hosting the event.

TDC have worked with the Moulsecoomb Bangladeshi Women’s group for a number of years now, supporting them with their accounts, helping them secure funding, linking them into activity groups and helping them to organise their own trips and activities, including swimming, yoga and family days out. The group came about because of the large number of Bangladeshi women in the Moulsecoomb area who were isolated at home with little contact from neighbours. Various barriers were preventing the women from accessing services that should be available to them and the group has gone a long way to helping improve access to these and reducing social isolation amongst members of the group.

The TDC ‘Tech Trail’ at the Brighton Digital Festival

This year’s Brighton Digital Festival will be taking place between Thursday 14th September and Friday 13th October.

TDC are excited to be working with some of Brighton’s most exciting digital businesses and educators to create a Tech Trail around the city. The trail will inspire young people, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, to learn more about the possibilities of tech in the city by offering them the chance to step through the doors of different tech businesses and see first-hand what a digital workplace looks like.

Read more about the Tech Trail on the Brighton Digital Festival website and register here in advance to secure your spot.

And in addition to this, we have teamed up with Propellernet search marketing agency, Block Builders and the British Airways i360 to offer a fun, interactive Virtual Reality experience to five classes from primary schools in some of Brighton & Hove’s most disadvantaged areas. Want to find out more? Click here.

TDC’s Business Development Manager Ruth Chapman says “we’ve just had our first meeting to kick-start the TDC Tech Trail and it was great to see so many companies engage with the idea of opening their doors so that young people could experience tech in Brighton. We hope that visiting companies like Drum, Brandwatch, Propeller Net, Gene Commerce and many more, will inspire young people and help them realise the possibilities in tech as a future career”.

The Tech Trail takes place between 2nd and 5th October across Brighton & Hove. Participation is FREE and is for young people aged between 14-17 but you must register in advance and all under 18’s must be accompanied by an adult.

Registration is via Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/tdc-tech-trail-tickets-37483362747

Here is what’s in store:

Tech Trail Schedule

Monday: Come and find out more about Brighton Metropolitan’s Computer Programming course – what does the course cover and how does this translate into what digital companies are looking for.

Wednesday group 1: Meet the team at Ideal and find out what it’s like to provide IT solutions for companies like IKEA from a base in Brighton. Then, after a quick stroll up the hill, visit Pragmatic, a website design agency who have created sites for ITV, Conde Nast, Bacardi and Headmasters. How do you come up with ideas that work with their brand?

Wednesday group 2: We’ll start at Drum where the team are keen to chat about how you can spot digital solutions and turn them into a business; Drum recognised the need for people all over the world to meet and created an online portal for team meetings that is used worldwide. After a quick stroll along the seafront, we’ll then stop in at Latest Television where you can see the difference tech makes in media – perhaps trying your hand at reading from the digital autocue.

Thursday group 1: Meet the group at Brandwatch, a major Brighton tech agency that works for digital companies, monitoring the conversations that people are having online – get involved with some social research yourself and see how it could help inform companies about their next move. We then move on to Platf9rm, a shared working space that is full of tech companies who can chat to you about how they got into tech. There will also be a chance to try a VR experience with 3plusVR that explores the potential of an online world.

Thursday group 2: It’s your chance to step inside Propellernet, regularly voted one of the top places to work in the UK. Propellernet will show you how they make sure other companies are found online – a mixture of website work and incredible experiences that lift companies to another level. We’ll then walk on to DabApps who create applications for the likes of Tesco and the NHS, as well as Brighton’s Fringe. Get involved in the debate about how people interact with apps and how to make them more interesting.

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Tech Trail Schedule

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