October Update

October Update

Many thanks to all those of you who have sent in comments, address updates, messages of encouragement and feedback following the publication of the September News, Final EMCF Report and plans for the future of FaithToEngage in your area.  Please do use it (or lose it!) as your network for encouraging action.  I hope this month’s round up exemplifies the vitality of the Faith Sector in responding to the challenges our nation faces.

If you did miss the important information and links in last month’s letter please click here

Please do let me know of your events, activities hopes, and successes to strengthen the reputation of faith as a force for good in our society and to encourage one another.  Full communication details are in the footer below and the old via the continuing emcfadmin@btconnect.com.

So what’s the Buzz:

• FareShare, hit the national headlines last weekend when they asked the food industry for extra helpings as UK hunger spreads:
  • New figures released by UK food charity FareShare show a sharp rise in demand on charities for food as people all over Britain struggle to put dinner on the table. 42% of charities surveyed reported an increase in demand for food in the past year as food prices soar and the recession bites, putting additional strain on families and people on low incomes.
  • An additional 1 in 3 of the charities surveyed are facing government funding cuts, with 65% of these charities slashing food budgets in an effort to stay afloat.
  • FareShare is helping to take some of this strain by providing surplus, good quality food from the food industry to a network of grassroots community organisations all over the UK, saving them almost £8 million a year in food and other costs. This food is now reaching 35,000 people a day, up from 29,000 last year - following the largest ever yearly increase in the number of charities desperate for FareShare food, up from 600 to 700.
  • Leicester Diocese has led the way in that county and is now offering to assist expansion into neighbouring areas.  Read more on our website and contact me if you need any further information – some serious thinking is going on in Lincoln already          see more on our web-site and www.FareShare.org.uk
• PowerShare – a thought! While FeedinTarrif (FiT)and Rent a roof schemes are supported by the government has anyone the expertise and energy (sorry!) to work up a repeatable model which would allow charitable trust members to buy PhotoVoltaic panels for the roofs of their asset (meeting hall, community rooms etc), earn a return personally from the generation fee (8.5 - 45p/kwh depending on size) and give the fuel poor a hand with subsidies from the FiT itself at least (3.1p/kWh) as well as providing free power to their own building.…or even hardwire your neighbours.
• The Joseph Rowntree Foundation published ˜The riots: what are the lessons from JRF’s work in communities” by John Low, Programme Manager at JRF see http://www.jrf.org.uk/publications/riots-what-are-the-lessons.  Urban Forum also featured related issues in its latest edition of Clearway
• Equality & Human Rights Commission has published its submission to the European Court relating to Four religious discrimination at work cases EHRC Submission to ECtHR September 2011 (PDF)
• Northampton Racial Equality Council (NREC) are having a fundraising dinner on 9th December 2011. Speaker, Lord Justice Laws. the judge who has given a number of rulings in cases of equality conflicts on issues of faith and sexuality. £35 for a three course meal and alcoholic/non-alcoholic drinks for the night Contact: Anjona Roy 01933 278000
• CLINKS Event 13th October – you could still just catch this conference in Birmingham with high level speakers including NOMS•Overview on VCS working with offenders | Exploring the criminal justice commissioning landscape | Commissioning work with offenders round table | Partnership working |Mergers and Collaboration See full programme here
• The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has asked me to be a Faith voice on their EM Community Involvement Panel.  The panel aims to be a critical friend assisting them to improve their communication and processes to assist both victims and defendants understand the court processes they are seeking to use or are caught up in.  If you have relevant information on encounters with the service please contact me. I will try to represent all concerns and certainly not limit it to faith related issues.
• From the SouthWest Region FaithtoEngage partner – see their Annual Report at:
  www.faithnetsouthwest.org.uk/j/index.php?option=com_rokdownloads&view=file&Itemid=58&id=327:faithnetannualreport54751 (PDF)
• Health Commissioning FaithAction and National Children’s Bureau have planned training on the Health Commissioning process for our sector with some free spaces awarded on a first come, first served basis. ‘Commissioning for Equality’: understanding of what commissioning is | Context and concepts | Practical advice tendering with examples | What health commissioners are looking for | How to become commission ready      When & Where: 15th November 2011 – Birmingham      25th January 2012 – Manchester         28th February 2012 – London
• Government responds to Select Committee's Localism Report The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has responded to the report of the Select Committee Inquiry into Localism which was published in May. The response addresses each of the Select Committee's recommendations
• ·         Participatory Budgeting Master Class: Neighbourhoods & PB 8 November 2011: Central Manchester: PB can play a crucial role in helping deliver genuine localism by offering people a direct say in how money is spent in their communities. PB Unit is a project of Church Action on Poverty, based in Manchester
• One East Midlands AGM – 17 November:learn more about The Office for Civil Society (OCS), the Big Society and key programmes: Alison Adams, Policy Manager OCS               and: Locality and the Community Organisers’ programme: Naomi Diamond, Development Manager at Locality. (see also www.cocollaborative.org.uk)
• Nominations wanted for Community Insight Visits: Are you or do you support a fantastic community organisation that deserves some recognition and has a story others could benefit from?
• NATIONAL INTERFAITH WEEK: 20-26th November 2011. Interfaith Week takes place every year to give people of any faith or none the opportunity to discover more about different faiths and beliefs.  Please e-mail me with any activities you are planning.  I will make them known.

If there is anything I can do to assist I will make every effort to do so and do know that there is real support available from many of you to do what we can in these more difficult circumstances.  Our success will depend on our faithfulness and deep concern for all amongst whom we live.  Do let me know if any links are missing or lead you astray.  News of the New National FaithtoEngage Web-Site will follow next month

Finally if you know of or anyone in your own organisation or elsewhere who might value these updates please do let me have name, address, organisation and relevant info and an e-mail and I will happily extend our circulation.  We would particularly value links into the voluntary and public sectors where further integration would assist all our endeavours.

Yours faithfully

Derek Markie

East Midlands Partner:  0777 877 2176         fte-em@emcf.org.uk      www.emcf.org.uk