Albion fans forums - book your free tickets… Posted in: News & Events on 23rd March, 2010.

The fans forums will be at:

• 15th April at Wednesbury Town Hall;
• 22nd April at Alexandra High School, Tipton; - Event Fully Booked
• 30th April at St Michaels High School, Oldbury;
• 6th May at Thimblemill Recreation Centre, Smethwick; - Event Fully Booked
• 13th May at Moat Farm Junior School; - Event Fully Booked
• 20th May at the Hawthorns, West Bromwich - Event Fully Booked

Start time will be 7:00pm (except Moat Farm, which is a 6pm start).

Confirmed to appear so far:

15th April:  Ray Wilson, Joe Mayo & Mick Fudge at Wednesbury Town Hall
 
22nd April:  Richard Sneekes, Ian Hamilton & Alec Jackson at Alexandra High School

30th April:  Michael Appleton, Des Lyttle at St Michaels High School
 
6th May:    Bobby Hope, Tony ‘Bomber’ Brown & Cyrille Regis at Thimblemill Recreation Centre
 
13th May:  Andy Johnson and Geoff Horsefield, at Moat Farm Junior School
 
20th May: Brendon Batson, Ally Robertson, Graham Lovett, Graham Williams, Joe Mayo, at The Hawthorns

Call to book your free tickets on 0845 352 1260 now!

Maximum 4 tickets per application. 

 

New economic prospectus for Sandwell - online now Posted in: News & Events on 23rd March, 2010.

See our links page or download it here

Launch at The Public 17th March Posted in: News & Events on 19th March, 2010.

Gary Bowman, launching Backing Young Sandwell

Employers in Sandwell showed their support for the launch of the Backing Young Sandwell campaign at business breakfast at the Public in West Bromwich, this week.

Guests heard Gary Bowman, Director of Sandwell Partnership, Stewart Towe, Managing Director of the Hadley Group and Laurence Bowbanks, Station Commander, Tipton Fire Station talk about their experience of working with young people.  Why they believe in the campaign and some of the benefits – both to their organisation and the personal satisfaction of making a difference.

Highlight of the day was a brief speech by Andy Chan.  Andy’s a graduate apprentice with Sandwell Partnership and explained how getting the chance to break the ‘no experience, no job’ cycle has given him a whole new perspective on working and what he wants to do in the future.

Backing Young Sandwell has also received support from Department for Work and Pensions Minister for Employment Jim Knight MP, who said; “Congratulations to Sandwell Partnership for showing leadership with their local Backing Young Britain campaign and for helping to give young people a foot on the career ladder.

“They are helping local organisations to tap into the great source of potential of Sandwell’s young people and access Government support to ease the process of recruitment.”

Stewart Towe, Managing Director of the Hadley Group, making the case for Backing young Sandwell

For more information on how to become part of Backing Young Sandwell, download our employers information guide here or to sign up click to download a campaign reply form

 

Backing Young Sandwell – a privilege not an obligation Posted in: News & Events on 19th March, 2010.

One of the first key players to throw his weight behind the Backing Young Sandwell campaign, Sandwell Homes’ chief executive Brian Oakley believes passionately in organisations giving something back to the community in which they operate their business.

Responsible for managing the borough’s 29,000 council homes, Sandwell Homes is about more than just bricks and mortar.

Brian explains:”I feel strongly that as a responsible local employer in Sandwell, we should be doing everything we can to support young people to experience the world of work whether it’s through apprenticeships or work placements.

“We currently provide 40 apprenticeship opportunities every year, across a range of work areas. These include business administration, finance and customer care as well as housing management and community care, in addition to the more traditional trade apprenticeships in bricklaying, carpentry, plastering, painting and decorating. This equates to three per cent of our workforce.

“In additional, we also offer more than 200 work placements for Year 10 and 11 students.”
Another option is to encourage your partner organisations and suppliers to pledge their support for the campaign.

Brian adds: “We are currently delivering a £425 million Decent Homes programme, to improve the borough’s council properties. Working with our numerous construction partners we stipulate that as part of their contract they must provide a specified number of apprenticeships for local people.

“Since the Sandwell Decent Homes Partnership was set up in 2005, our partners have provided more than 200 apprenticeship opportunities.

“We also work hard with our suppliers and for every one million pounds worth of contract they secure, we ask them to provide one apprenticeship place.

“I would appeal to companies across Sandwell to pledge wholeheartedly, your support for this campaign, no matter how large or small you are or what sector you operate in.

“It is a privilege, not an obligation to play our part in ensuring the borough’s young people do not become a “forgotten generation” and by demonstrating our faith and confidence in them, they will become full and active members of the Sandwell of the future.”

Sandwell Health Other Economic Summit (SHOES) Posted in: News & Events on 11th March, 2010.

Sandwell PCT are pleased to announce their annual Sandwell Health Other Economic Summit (SHOES) conference to be held at The Public in West Bromwich from 23rd June to 25th June 2010.

The conference coincides with the G8 summit and will explore how local issues impact on world health and how global issues affect us. This year the local theme is environmental justice and health inequalities.

The following keynote speakers have been confirmed and will share their views

• Dame Yve Buckland, Chair Consumer Council Water
• Professor Mala Rao, Director, Indian Institute of Public Health, Hyderabad
• Professor Richard Wilkinson, The University of Nottingham
• Professor Ian Roberts, London School of Hygience and Tropical Medicine
• Dr Fiona Adshead
• Dr Steve Boorman, Director Corporate Responsibility, Royal Mail
• Dr Jenny Douglas, Open University
• Dr Bill Gunnyeon, Director for Health Work and Wellbeing, Department for Work and Pensions
• Dr Dorothy Logie, Freelance Health Consultant
• Dr Gilles de Wildt, GP South Birmingham PCT

As part of the SHOES conference The National Heart Forum will also be holding a seminar.

The conference will be free to delegates from the West Midlands Region and for delegates from outside the region there will be a charge of £50 for the three days. A final programme will be circulated in due course.

For more information click here

Any queries should be directed to the following email shoes@sandwell-pct.nhs.uk

 

 

Join The Campaign… Posted in: News & Events on 2nd March, 2010.

 

 

Sandwell Partnership has got together with a range of our partners (including Connexions, West Midlands Fire Service, Business In The Community, the Shaw Trust, West Bromwich YMCA, Sandwell Homes, the Hadley Group) – to respond to the Backing Young Britain challenge.

Some of the key players in the Sandwell business community have already come forward offering apprenticeship and work placement opportunities and now we’re launching the Backing Young Sandwell campaign with the aim of creating 1000 apprenticeships and 500 work placements for young people in Sandwell who are aged between 16 – 24 years old and are currently unemployed.

As Stewart Towe, Managing Director of the Hadley Group puts it:

“The harsh reality is that in Sandwell we are facing a 33% unemployment rate, amongst our young people.  There are many people who are young and gifted but unemployed in Sandwell.  I’m asking everyone who thinks that’s unacceptable to join the Backing Young Sandwell campaign.”

“We want to put something back into Sandwell and I believe there are many other successful employers – across all sectors – who share our determination to help our young people take that first step into work and hopefully into careers that give them a great future.”

The Backing Young Sandwell campaign will launch with a business breakfast in March and be followed up with the launch of a youth focused website that will be the place for 16 to 24 year olds to register for apprenticeships and work placements.

For more information on how you and your organisation can join us in Backing Young Sandwell, please download the leaflet or email sandwell_partnership@sandwell.gov.uk for more information.

Download information for employers here

UPDATE 2nd March 2010

The response to our Business Breakfast for Sandwell employers on 17th March has been good so far - thanks to everyone who’s already agreed to come - but it’s not too late to book your place at the official launch of Backing Young Sandwell, which will be at the Public in West Bromwich. 

If you are an employer, in the public or private sector, and want to know how you can be part of Backing Young Sandwell email us at sandwell_partnership@sandwell.gov.uk for an invitation to our Business Breakfast launch event.

Backing Young Sandwell is our local response to the national Backing Young Britain campaign.  Click here for information about Backing Young Britain.

Connecting Communities – up and running! Posted in: News & Events on 2nd March, 2010.

 

Sandwell has been awarded a total of £300,000 of government funding for four voluntary sector led Connecting Communities programmes in Tibbington, Friar Park, Ocker Hill and the Rowley Regis/Tividale areas of Sandwell.

 
The programmes will be working to strengthen community cohesion and community leadership in areas where there has been a sense of isolation from services and the decision making process that has been worsened by increasing levels of unemployment.

 
The four programmes will be tailored to the needs of the individual areas but all will have common elements which will include teambuilding, work placements, training to develop the participants’ general employability and a “team challenge” that will carry out some type of improvement to the area.  In total 80 young people (aged 16-24) will take part in the programme in community leadership and citizenship.

 
The lead partners are Friar Park Millennium Centre, Murray Hall Community Trust, Centrepoint and Oakham Church, all community led organisations rooted in the neighbourhoods identified.  Other partners include the West Midlands Fire Service, Sandwell Council Communities Unit, West Midlands Police, The Albion Foundation and local housing associations, Accord and Black Country Housing.

 
All the partners are signed up to provide taster sessions or placements for the young people involved.  Part of the purpose of the “taster sessions” is to ensure the young people involved have a chance to sample a wide and varied range of work opportunities in the hope of broadening their horizons and raise their aspirations.

 
In each of the four areas a smaller delivery group has been set up to implement the programme, in each case this involves further voluntary organisations active in the area.  Care has also been taken to ensure the people who will work on the programmes know the areas well, in some cases they are local young people themselves.  While the programmes are up and running, all are still keen to hear from local young people who might be interested in getting involved.

 
Gary Bowman, director of Sandwell Partnership said; ‘This is a really exciting chance to reach out to some of the areas of Sandwell where we know people have felt alienated from the mainstream which leads to understandable frustration.

 
What Connecting Communities offers is a chance to open doors for some of our young people.  Giving them the chance not just to work with some of the organisations that influence their everyday lives, but to have a real say and perhaps from this some of the next generation of community leaders can emerge.’

 
If your organisation would like to get involved in Connecting Communities contact Sandwell Partnership on 0845 434 9140 and we will put you in touch with the lead agency for your neighbourhood.