going forward
going forward

What is happening

Politics BAME Wales EYST Wales

Do you feel disillusioned with Welsh Politics? Would you like to get more involved in public life and have an impact on the decisions that are made that affect you and your communities? EYST Wales is now recruiting for the third round of the successful BAME Routes to Public Life Mentoring Scheme. Funded by Welsh Government, the scheme is part of the All Wales BAME (Black, Asian and ethnic minority) Engagement Programme.  The BAME Routes to Public Life Mentoring Scheme is intended to help ethnic minority/BAME people to develop political skills and increase their impact in public life.

The third round of the scheme will run from 23rd September 2020 until 30th March 2021 and will include:

•             1-1 mentoring with highly influential people;

•             Bespoke training sessions on political influencing, communications and campaigning at Welsh Government locations;

•             A trip to UK Houses of Parliament (virtual or in-person);

•             Optional opportunity to help organise or contribute to EYST’s annual conference observing the UN Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

The two rounds running in 2019 and 2020 respectively have and had more 50 Mentor/Mentees pairs.

81% of previous mentees felt their understanding of Public and Political Life in Wales and been significantly increased by attending the program.

63% of previous participants stated the programme had a significant or huge impact on their confidence.

Deputy Minister Jane Hutt states “The Welsh Government is proud to fund the BAME routes to public life mentoring scheme as part of our Equality and Inclusion Programme. 

The scheme has delivered excellent results over the past few years; creating empowering relationships which provide Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic individuals crucial opportunities to learn, influence and build networks.  There is more work to do to achieve the representation of BAME people that we need in public life but this scheme provides a crucial foundation for that work”.

Nirushan Sudarsan, a law student from Cardiff University took part in a previous round.  Since completing the Mentoring Programme Nirushan has gone on to become a trustee with Youth Cymru, a governor of a primary school and is currently working on campaigns for equality in Wales with Citizens Cymru Wales.

Nirushan says of his experience on the programme: ‘The Mentoring programme, and my mentor the Deputy Minister, has given me the capacity to believe in myself that I can make a positive change here in Wales whether it is small or big’  

Another previous participant Mohammed Alamgir reflects on his experience of the project.

‘I am so grateful this project which gave me access to mentoring that I would never have received otherwise. I was matched up with a very high profile public figure and Assembly Member who was very open to ensuring the project was successful by making himself very much available to me, having open two dialogue with me as his mentee and showing me the inner workings of the Senedd , which I really wanted. He also made introductions for me which opened up further doors.  Following on from the mentoring scheme, I put myself forward and was successfully elected Director of Equalities at Plaid Cymru. I recommend the BAME Routes into Public Life Mentoring Project to anyone and am forever grateful to EYST for their support’

EYST Wales invites applications from BAME people who have a clear interest in politics and/or public life and a commitment to their own and other’s development. We aim to match mentees with mentors who have similar interests and come from the same geographic area.  

To apply, please take a few moments to complete this survey by 7th  August:

Survey

The application deadline is 5pm on Friday 7th August. We will notify you by early September if you have been accepted into the project and matched with a mentor. 

There will be a chance to find out more at an online Interest Afternoon session on Tuesday 28th July 3-4pm, where previous mentees and coordinators will be on hand to answer your questions

For questions or to register for the interest afternoon please contact Emily Robertson emily@eyst.org.uk or phone/message 07903074718

SRCDC welcomes Slovakian Ambassador

His Excellency L’ubomír Rehák visited SRCDC – Director Neil Binnell welcomed the ambassador to the centre – in Brunel St.

SRCDC is always open to forging new links from all countries of the world and communities.

  • His Excellency L’ubomír Rehák , Steve Garrett (Trustee), Nigel Payne – Honorary Consul in Wales.

The abassador has been prominent in visiting places in Cardiff and has been keen to learn about the education system and cultural aspects of living in Wales.

Previously he has visited Corpus Christi High School and had delivered a lecture to the staff and students at Cardiff Met, Slovakia has a number of students studying in Cardiff.

GO4GIRLS

The Project will work with over 150 BAME girls in the community aged 10-16 to build their skills in sports activities which are traditionally male sports such as Cricket, Golf, Football, Cycling, Taekwondo, Baseball and Ice Hockey.

SRCDC with thanks – to funding from the Tampon Tax Community Fund


Tampon-tax-community-fund

This will help girls identify future opportunities and enhance their aspirations beyond traditional gender roles.

The Project will develop interests in coaching and raise aspirations eg currently there are no female cricket umpires in Cardiff at present, coaching is presently promoted as a male only option.

The taster workshops will be over 10 weeks and facilitated by a Sports Coach (female) and accompanied by a Female Sessional Youth Worker.

Trips to matches and events will also take place after the workshops.

SRCDC Brunel St

What else would you like from us ?

Please let us know what you would like by completing this quick survey Open Day

What new service(s) would you like to see in Riverside.
What types of services would you like to see in the community in Riverside?

Thank you - Diolch

Footsteps in a Foreign Land – updated

On 11th September as part of Danielle’s play, research and development, a group of attendees listened to the play in development – this was followed by an interesting Q andA.

Chief, arriving as a seaman; as many did; and settling in Wales – Danielle re-tells scenes of discovery; memory; and events that resonate greatly today.

The tension within families, generations and cultures – ultimately dividing a family.

Now a third generation migrant Danielle draws from a rich vein of episodes from her families’ story.

Many of the scenes evict both an emotional and introspective response within the audience.

Danielle Fahiya’s family came on a journey to Wales and Danielle ended up here in Cardiff she now is a professional actress and playwright. She is of Jordanian, German, Welsh and Somalian descent.

With the support of many people: she was awarded an @Arts_Wales_ grant for her play telling the story of her family’s migration to Wales.

Footsteps in a Foreign Land promises to be a powerful reminder and redolent of the present world.

This play in development is shortly to be shown in a community setting at the Riverside Warehouse in Cardiff on the 13th September at 11 am.

Chapter will host a later showing at 4pm.

Footsteps in a Foreign Land – Danielle Fahiya – Cardiff
Danielle Fahiya
More about Danielle here

https://daniellefahiya.wordpress.com/

Communities connecting through good food across Cardiff and Vale

Get Togethers

Bridging the Distance: Re-connecting our communities through good food

by Food for Life Get Togethers

An event to open conversations and hear about initiatives by ACE and SRCDC and how organisations can share ideas and potential solutions to continue to engage communities through food.

Click on the Link below to find out more:

Bridging the Distance: Re-connecting our communities through good food

Scams – phone, email and door

Many criminals are looking to take advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic.

There are a host of new scams circulating:

E-mail claiming to be HMRC – delete these HMRC will contact via post.

Bank loans – banks will not contact you via email or phone unsolicited.

Callers (Wales) has had a number of people targeting the vulnerable members of society offering to ‘help’ or provide PPE.

Some have asked for donations to ‘Charities’. Others to offer ‘tests’ for Coronavirus.

More information can be found here. https://www.south-wales.police.uk/en/advice/fraud-and-scams/

And here https://www.homeinstead.co.uk/swansea/news-events/recent-voucher-scam-in-the-swansea-area

If you are a relative or friend of a vulnerable person – please let them know these scams are taking place – ask them to phone you, if they are called or contacted. Help protect them. Reassure them you are able to help them.

Wyndham St Pantry – update

The Wyndham Street Pantry has been set up to help local residents to get great quality food at a brilliant price! We were already planning to start a  pantry at SRCDC this year  because we’ve seen first hand what a difference it has made in other parts of the city but we decided to speed up our opening to respond to the Covid-19 crisis.

    As a community anchor organisation we wanted to set up something that would make a real difference to people in our local community on a day to day basis. Before the crisis, the cost of living had never been higher, now we face a community where many of our most vulnerable are even more isolated, where family members may have suddenly lost some or most of the income and where people are having to provide additional food costs to fill the gaps of educational providers. 

We’ve set up the Wyndham Street Pantry because despite these struggles we think everyone should be able to access a wide selection of healthy, exciting food! 

  For people thinking about ordering from the Wyndham Street Pantry, we charge £2.50 per package and for that you get over £15 worth of shopping (3 full bags). We get our food from Fareshare Cymru who provide us with fresh fruit and Vegetables, tinned good, dried goods such as cereals, crisps and rice, dairy products, Meat, Vegetarian dishes and desserts.We don’t know exactly what we’ll get each week but we know it will be high quality, a great selection and you will be able to plan A LOT of meals form it. 

  In our first 2 weeks we have sent 73 deliveries out  to local residents and we are happy to say we have had great feedback, Ms E, a single Mum currently self-isolating said, “Little one and I received our first order and we’re overwhelmed! Incredible! thank you so so much, this is so incredibly useful to us!” Another Pantry customer reported back ” We are over the moon with the food, we will get so many meals out of this food, we really do appreciate it.”

 We would like to thank FoodCardiff, the Martin Lewis Fund, Cardiff Council as well as the Helping Working Families Fund from The National Lottery for helping us set the Pantry up and The local Probation Team, Oasis, Women Connect First and Horn Development Association and ACE for providing staff to help us run so smoothly! A great community effort to help people struggling to access food for themselves or their family. 

If you are think a pantry delivery would be of help at the moment or you know someone in Riverside, Grangetown or Canton who you think could benefit  just text your name and address to 07399810653. We will confirm your delivery slot on Monday and we make our deliveries on a Wednesday. If you would like to get involved in any other way you can also contact us on the same number.

Giving Nature a Home in Cardiff

Free online workshops (for adults)

  • Pollinator identification
  • Seasonal gardening tasks for wildlife
  • Creating, maintaining and enhancing habitat for pollinators.

More info in English: https://community.rspb.org.uk/getinvolved/wales/b/wales-blog/posts/urban-buzz-workshops

More info in Welsh: https://community.rspb.org.uk/getinvolved/wales/b/wales-blog/posts/gweithdai-urban-buzz

Free activities for children, families and schools

Over the past few weeks we’ve also been developing a number of online resources for children, families and schools:

  • Habitat Explorer competition for children and families – link here
  • Uploading lots of educational resources onto HWB – link here
  • ‘Garden Ecosystem Expedition’ video lesson on Youtube – link here
  • Sharing fun resources for families on our Facebook group – link here
Jazz Austin 
Rheolwr Project, Rhoi cartref i fyd natur yng Nghaerdydd | Project Manager, Giving Nature a Home in Cardiff 

Pencadlys RSPB Cymru Castlebridge 3, 5 – 19 Heol Ddwyreiniol y Bontfaen, Caerdydd, CF11 9AB 
RSPB Cymru Wales Headquarters Castlebridge 3, 5-19 Cowbridge Road East, Cardiff, CF11 9AB 

Ffôn/Tel 02920 353318 
rspb.org.uk

Virtual FAN

Although COVID has interrupted the FAN groups both here and in wider Cardiff FAN is restarting some groups using digital tech.

Any one with access to the internet can take part – whether you just want to chat or improve your English – or reduce isolation – this could be for you.

A list of Virtual FAN meetings is here(click).

In addition to our virtual FAN groups friendly informal support continues to be given by Facilitators and staff by phone, text and email.

We anticipate that when the emergency is over many virtual FAN groups will continue and will enable far more people take part in FAN, both at home and away.

If you have any questions or are unsure how to link into a virtual FAN group, please do get in touch(click here) and please do encourage anyone who may be feeling isolated or lonely to join a virtual FAN group.

If you are Facebook more info here –
https://www.facebook.com/THEFANCHARITY/ .