Thursday 7 December / 11.00am to 2.00pm / Granby Hall, 37 St Matthew's Row, E2 6DT

In the heart of Tower Hamlets, a pivotal dialogue is brewing. The BAME Disparities Project, presents a unique event designed to shed light on the challenges faced by ethnic minority led organisations in securing funding, leadership roles, and overcoming barriers. 

This event will offer a dynamic mix of panel discussions, workshops, and Q&A sessions. Participate actively and let your voice be heard. Connect with like-minded professionals, community leaders, and passionate individuals. This is your chance to expand your network and collaborate for meaningful change.

About the Organisers: The BAME Disparities Network is committed to bringing awareness to the challenges faced by ethnic minorities in Tower Hamlets. With the support of Tower Hamlets CVS, they aim to provide platforms for dialogue, collaboration, and change.

For more information, please email jennifer.ogunyemi@thcvs.org.uk

We are looking for an experienced and enthusiastic Development Director to lead the development of the North-East London Voluntary and Community Sector Collaborative (NEL VCS Collaborative).

What is the VCSE Collaborative?

The VCS Collaborative is a body of voluntary & community sector representatives and a representative from the ICB that collaborates to ensure that the design and delivery of health and care services works for residents. The position will be hosted by Tower Hamlets CVS although the post holder will be accountable to the NEL VCSE Collaborative Leadership Group and will be expected to work equitably across the North-East London sub-region.

Application close Monday 11 December 2023 @9.30am

In 2024 THCVS and Tower Hamlets Together are going to be piloting a new model of Neighbourhood Forums in Primary Care Networks 1 and 2 in the north west of the borough.

These Neighbourhood Forums are intended to provide an opportunity for communities in these Primary Care Network areas to be able to influence health priorities at a local level. The pilot programme will build partnerships between residents, the VCS, and statutory partners with the intention of building a sustainable place-based approach to addressing the health needs of communities. 

As part of this programme we are looking for 2 VCS partners to work with in the delivery of these programmes. Further information about this opportunity can be found here. This is a fantastic opportunity for a local partner to collaboratively shape this programme and help ensure that local communities are engaged and involved.

To apply please send an expression of interest to Sam Crosby:  sam.crosby@thcvs.org.uk by 9.30am on Monday 11 December 2023.  

Programme starts Monday 19 February /10.00am to 2.30pm @ account3

account3's bespoke Dare to Lead, is a 12 week leadership programme aimed at elevating the skills and knowledge of ethnically diverse women living in Tower Hamlets is back. 

account3 are now calling and inviting all women residents of the LBTH, that identify themselves as Black, Asian and or ethnically diverse, to register and take this amazing journey. The course is aimed at women who would like to be leaders in their chosen field and want to contribute to a positive change in the wider community. 

For more information, please contact 0207 739 7720 / admin@account3.org.uk

Every Tuesday 6.00 to 8.00pm / Toynbee Hall E1 6LS

Join elop's weekly LGBT+ Social Support group. It is a general social group and open to all over 18 to connect and talk! For more information and to sign up, please call 07908 553744 or email events@elop.org.uk

The Equalities Hub is key to the new direction for the Council’s equalities provision, providing a central strategic focus, responding to the community’s needs and issues. The Hub will be vital to bringing about a more coordinated approach to equalities in the borough. If you want to find out more on how to get involved or if you have information you would like to share with the networks please get in touch.

This report, was funded by the Mayor of London, to inform the London Health Board's Cost of Living task. It features a number of areas of good practice and case studies that Tower Hamlets can rightly be proud of including:

• Half of GP practices have a welfare advisor delivering social welfare legal advice on the premises, at least one half day a fortnight.
• Tower Hamlets has a well established advice provider network, Tower Hamlets Community Advice Network (THCAN), with one of the most sophisticated on-line referral platforms in London that professionals can use to refer clients to any advice provider in the borough. Currently 60% of referrals are coming from the borough's social prescribing link workers.
• Tower Hamlets has one of the longest standing health-justice partnerships in the UK. At the Bromley by Bow Healthy Living Centre, there is a welfare advice and fuel/food poverty team who are co-located and integrated with general practice.

Thursday 7 December / 1.00 to 2.00pm / Online

Exploring our own reactions to and perceptions of self-harm, what self-harm is and how it can present, why people self-harm and what it can mean, as well as how we can help and support in the immediacy and what other support exists.

Please email safeconnections@mindthnr.org.uk to book onto a workshop or for more information.

Tuesday 12 December / 1.00 to 2.00pm / Online

Explore the concepts of self-care and boundaries, reflect on our needs to create a personalised self-care plan, and explore and understand the impact of different social dynamics on ourselves and how we can set healthy boundaries and limits

Please email safeconnections@mindthnr.org.uk to book onto a workshop or for more information.

Wednesday, 20 December / 9.30 to 12.30pm & 1.30 to 4.30pm (*Only required to attend one session*) / Bernie Cameron Community Centre, 32 Merchant St, E3 4LX

What does it mean to become an anti-racist organisation? Local HR and Workforce professionals are invited to join the Tower Hamlets Training Hub for their new "Anti-Racism Training for HR Professionals” workshop. This is an opportunity to gain practical insight into how to manage difficult conversations on race and create a paradigm shift for their organisations to support the anti-racism agenda. Focused on those in HR roles – by the end of this short session, our intention is that participants will have:

• Understand the patterns of racism, what it is, and how it becomes systemically ingrained in organisational practices
• Provide some practical insight into how they can manage difficult conversations on race and decrease reliance on policies and grievance processes

As part of Family Hubs Early Help and Children and Families Service, the Parenting and Adult Education (PAE) team coordinate courses, programmes and employment pathways for families with children from birth to19 years old and up to 25 years for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).

For more information, email PAE@towerhamlets.gov.uk or complete the online enquiry application form here.

The Mayor of London has activated the Severe Weather Emergency Protocol (SWEP) due to the ongoing cold weather in the city. SWEP activation encourages partners to do what they can to shelter rough sleepers. If you or your partners see someone rough sleeping, please report straight away to Streetlink by clicking here. 

Cancer is the leading cause of death in Tower Hamlets but the attendance rates for cervical, breast and bowel cancer screening services are well below the national targets with the attendance rate for cervical and breast cancer screening having steadily fallen over the last 10 years.

With this survey, Healthwatch Tower Hamlets seeks to collect feedback to identify barriers that exist to accessing cervical, breast, and bowel cancer screening services.

It is 100% confidential and anonymous. The feedback from this survey will be used to create a report of the key findings that will be shared with the local NHS and other stakeholder organisations to help improve services to better meet the needs of the local population.

A consultation for Tower Hamlets Council’s new Local Plan is running until 18th of December giving communities a say in the future development of the borough.  

The plan outlines new requirements for affordable housing as well as draft policies on topics such as improving green spaces, supporting small businesses, and encouraging gender-inclusive development.  

As the Council’s most important planning document, the Local Plan is used to guide decisions on planning applications in the borough. 

How can you have your say? 

1. Complete the online survey

2. Comment on Site Allocations

3. In-person public engagement sessions - Council officers will discuss the project and respond to any comments or queries. Click here for a list of session dates.

4. In-person and virtual drop-in sessions.

Tuesday 5 December / 10:30am to 2:30pm / London Borough of Tower Hamlets, Town Hall, 160 Whitechapel Road, E1 1BJ 

Join Real to celebrate International Day of Disabled People. Come together, connect with others and have a say in our future. You are cordially invited to 2 events:

Event 1: Nothing For Us, Without Us workshop at 10:45am

A fully interactive workshop to gather Disabled people’s thoughts and experiences for the next Local Plan, which covers many aspects of local life for the next 15 years!

Topics include: Housing, Transport, disabled access to what you need locally, and what you want to see in your area and in the borough. Lunch is included. At this event participants are invited to a whole day programme.

Event 2: Disabled people and the workplace panel:
Equity and inclusion or frustration, trauma and exclusion? at 1.00pm

A panel discussion exploring the challenges, realities and opportunities for Disabled People In the workplace, with lots of opportunities for participation.

Thursday 7 December / 1.30 to 3.00pm / Online

Join Tower Hamlets Together, to celebrate the fantastic work accomplished by all of our colleagues across 7 organisations under Tower Hamlets Together – London Borough of Tower Hamlets (LBTH), NHS North East London (NHS NEL), Tower Hamlets GP Care Group (GPCG), Council for Voluntary Service (THCVS), East London Foundation Trust (ELFT), Tower Hamlets Health Watch and Barts Health.

Tower Hamlets Together recognises the achievements, challenges, efforts and successes of its colleagues which is to be rewarded, applauded and celebrated.
This FREE virtual event is not to be missed!

Monday 11 December / 11.00am to 2.00pm / London Borough of Tower Hamlets (LBTH), Town Hall, 160 Whitechapel Road, E1 1BJ

The Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) in Tower Hamlets plays a crucial role in supporting residents with important services and activities. This annual event will bring together VCS organisations and partners to discuss the issues related to the VCS and celebrate the VCS’s achievements.

LBTH also want to provide organisations with a chance to showcase their work and have a limited number of stalls available. If you are interested, please email vcs@towerhamlets.gov.uk.

Queen Marys University London would like to share an output arising from their recently completed community engagement project ‘Evaluation from the bottom up: empowering community organisations to communicate the value of their work’. 

Between February and June 2023, the project engaged with over 40 stakeholders from community organisations, the NHS, local authorities, and charity funding organisations. The team gathered insights from stakeholders about their experiences of evaluation and fed them into the development of a short evaluation course for community organisations. 

At a final project event, theatre practitioner and researcher Celeste Danielle supported project stakeholders to develop a shared understanding of current evaluation challenges and agree on how fairer and more meaningful evaluation practice could be achieved in the future. Their discussions and ideas produced the attached document ‘Evaluation Evolution: Principles for Meaningful and Fair Evaluation’. 

Please take the time to read the principles and share them as widely as possible with community organisations, commissioners, and funders. QMUL hope they will inspire people to commission, design, and conduct evaluations that can support transformative projects across diverse community settings. 

Please contact Megan Clinch m.clinch@qmul.ac.uk or Sara Paparini s.paparini@qmul.ac.uk if you would like further information about the project. 

St.Hilda's East has been supporting the local community in Tower Hamlets since 1889, through a range of programmes helping people to Live, Work, Learn and Play. 
They are now opening up more space for charities and community minded groups to join them. Their spaces come with broadband and wifi, kitchen facilities, break out space, reception services, access to sun terrace, and leases at competitive prices below the market rate. They also have hall and venue space for hire.
 
If you would like to arrange a viewing please contact paul@sthildas.org.uk

A property on Strahan Road, E3 5BU is being marketed for use by a Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) organisation to carry out community-based activities that benefit local residents.

The property comprises the ground floor of a newly built four-storey residential block, serving as a large community hall. The property is in the council’s community portfolio. Eligible organisations may seek Community Benefit Rent Reduction. Details of the council’s VCS Premises Policy and CBRR can be found here.

Trust for London want to fund organisations fighting for the rights of Disabled people. This includes work that strengthens the ability of DDPOs to engage in campaigning, policy, advocacy and to push for change. Or projects that enable DDPOs to do behind the scenes work so that they can be better run. They are also keen to fund work that contributes to growing, broadening and diversifying the Disability movement. Trust for London are expecting to give away around £1.2 million in total. There are two strands of funding available:

• development grants of up to £20,000, for new and small organisations
• larger grants for up to £180,000 over a period of 2-3 years

Deadline to apply: 4 March 2024 @5pm