Project Lead Agency – Nazilli Ilce Milli Egitim Mudurlurgu, Turkey

Delegates – Mr Farouk Ercan and Mr Omer Kilinc

Noi Del Tosi - Busto Arizio, Italy

Delegates – Maria Giovanna Colombo and Paolo Colombo

Chancenengleich In Europe e.V – Dortmund, Germany

Delegates – Ingibjorg Petursdottir, Angelica Erbsloh

Powiatowi Urzadpracy w Rudzie Slaskiej – Ruda Slaska, Poland

Delegates – Beata Kubina Glenz, Pawel Karas

Workshop Hosts – PISCESwm

Delegates – John White, Sue Raisin Jones, Laura Richmond

This Workshop had two overriding objectives.

The major and initial task was to make introductions to the partnership and to gain an understanding of each others roles and organisational structure and operations. This was achieved by a programme of presentations from each partner outlining also the national situation in relation to employment poverty and provision of social, health and educational services.

The secondary but important task was to introduce all delegations to Case Studies reflecting Best practice in the United Kingdom and to establish a template for each subsequent Workshop which would become integral to the final outcome of the partnership.

PISCESwm which is a unique Brokerage organisation operating within the West Midlands – PISCES stands for Partnerships in Social and Community Enterprise in Schools, Skills for Life and Social care – presented two examples of best practice exemplifying the outstanding cooperation between agencies from the public and NGO structures, both in areas of high deprivation and social exclusion

West Smethwick Enterprise where the initial meeting was held was established as a local NGO 7 years ago by the Methodist Church in recognition of the huge need and demand for support to local families and their children.

Families in Smethwick originate from a multiplicity of cultural backgrounds and many do not have or use English as their main language. As a consequence there is a need to assist and support both families and children in ensuring that they have access to the right levels of information and assistance.

Whilst the Methodist Church is of the Christian Religion one of its major achievements is the way in which they enable children and families from all religions to come together for regular interaction and socialization, at the same time celebrating the rich cultural diversity of the local community. Religious celebrations of all faiths are held with particular value in enabling children at an early age to appreciate the value of community inclusion.

The Enterprise also makes provision for older people providing lunches both at the Centre as well as in their own homes accompanies by a wide variety of activities in the Centre to help older people develop skills and have enjoyment.

The Core Function of the Centre is the physical provision of Child Care through a day Nursery and Crèche facility as well as a specialist provision of a ‘Contact Centre’ for parents who are separated from their families and need supervised access to their children.

At any one time the Centre has contact with over 100 children and 50 families and also manages a ‘satellite’ Centre in a nearby district of Smethwick.

The Centre demonstrates on a daily basis the vitality of collaborating and co-operating with other agencies and the inaugural meeting was able to witness how this happened with a number of presentations from representatives from both statutory as well as other NGO agencies including the Local Authority (Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council – Gary Bowman), West Midlands Police as well as other Children’s Centre’s.

This collaboration is essential in enabling the protection and support of vulnerable children and their families including, in the most extreme cases, safeguarding children where there is a threat of physical and emotional abuse.

West Smethwick Enterprise also provides a ‘Supervised Access Centre’ for parents who do not have custody of their children but who are allowed contact with them in a safe and neutral place on a regular basis. This is a provision which is authorized through the domestic Court/Justice system.

The manager of the organization, Sue Raisin Jones is also on the executive board of the Sandwell Community Hub Network, a consortium of similar NGO Community based Centres across the Borough of Sandwell. This Hub shares information and resources to enable a local, non-statutory response to a number of challenges and opportunities across the Borough to support vulnerable people of all ages and cultures.

The Borough of Sandwell in the West Midlands is adjacent to and north of the City of Birmingham and is recognized as one of the most deprived Council Boroughs in the United Kingdom in terms of child and family poverty and unemployment and whilst, in the main, being culturally very inclusive also has experienced issues around extremism.

Delegates were introduced to this project in Birmingham as another example of where collaboration at an operational level is enabling the support of children and families in a very deprived area of the City of Birmingham and only 5 kilometers from West Smethwick Enterprise.

The Church of the Redeemer provides a range of facilities including meeting rooms, a Sports hall plus a small café/Kitchen area providing Snacks and drinks

Safe Haven is an initiative from West Midlands Police and staffed by Neighbourhood Officers with the support of a number of other agencies and also Volunteers.

It meets on a regular weekly basis – Thursday evenings from 17.00 and 21.00 with the purpose of providing engagement through a number of supervised, informal and planned activities for children and young people between the ages of 8 and 18. They come from a wide area and, as with West Smethwick represent the rich cultural diversity of the City.

On any one evening up to 70 young people can attend.

Oversight of this initiative is provided by Chris Hoare, a long term associate of PISCESwm, and a nationally acknowledged expert practitioner in Community engagement and cohesion.

The Waterworks Estate on which the Church Centre is located was once one of the most deprived localities in the City renowned for the presence of Drug Dealers and Prostitutes. Chris with the support of other likeminded neighbours in association with the Police and Birmingham City Council has transformed the area introducing Gardens, Lighting and CCTV as well as hosting such initiatives as Safe Haven.

This level of collaboration and intent on improvement of the lives particularly of younger people was in evidence on the visit by the LEMOR delegation to the Centre where they were met by local Councillors as well as representatives of west Midlands Police.

The Centre and its staff work on the principle of identifying and developing the potential and skills of young people by providing a wide range of activities and experiences including Theatre, Music, Photography, Cooking as well as access to ICT where Gaming is positively used as a means of personal interaction.

As well as this regular weekly activity, funded jointly by west Midlands Police and the local Council, other events and celebrations are also organized including visits to local attractions, Concerts etc.