Thank you to the Chairman of the Criminal Bar Association, Michael Turner QC

MTQC has taken the threats of further legal aid cuts beyond chalk striped suits  and the rarefied meadows of Lincoln's Inn. His battle beyond the bar, which is all of our battle has been brought home  hard to the slow awakening of the wider public. 

While justice sleeps...

These  disastrous proposals will affect the most vulnerable people in our society. 

MTQC gives courage   to those who have none left and brings together the unlikeliest of factions to save justice. 

And for that we thank him and ask him to stay close, the wise old general, to keep a hawkish  eye on the troops, the biggest battle is still to come.

Thank you for all that you do. For today's Monday Message see

https://www.criminalbar.com/latest-updates/news/q/date/2013/08/26/monday-message-26-08-13/

do you know an inspiring woman who works in housing?

Nominate her here!


Women in Housing Awards 2013

The inaugural Women in Housing Awards will celebrate and recognise the achievements of female professionals from all disciplines, working within the Housing sector across the UK.

The ethos of the awards and its specific aims are to:

Celebrate women’s achievements in the Housing sector

Promote the innovative contribution of women

Encourage women to work and flourish in the housing sector

Network with like-minded peopleBreak down the barriers

The awards have already garnered signficant support and endorsement from leading national housing industry organisations and professional bodies including the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH); the social housing sector’s leading provider of performance improvement services, HouseMark; TPAS, the largest tenant-led organisation in Europe; and WISH, the national business networking group for women in both the public and private housing sectors.

The awards, of which there are nine in total, will be open to women and organisations in the housing sector from across the UK.

Timeline

May 2013 – September 6th 2013 – awards open for entries

September 2013 – Shortlist announced

November 6th - Inaugural Women In Housing Awards ceremony, Hilton Hotel, Manchester

click here to nominate any fab femmes you think deserves this award

http://www.womeninhousingawards.co.uk/

building a new world

From the Nurture Development website which you must explore at your leisure http://nurturedevelopment.org/

NURTURE DEVELOPMENT HAS DEVELOPED A UNIQUE APPROACH TO BUILDING STRONGER COMMUNITIES THAT HAS BEEN SUCCESSFULLY EMPLOYED THROUGHOUT EUROPE AND IN AFRICA.

“Cormac Russell and Nurture Development have made Asset Based Community Development come alive in Ireland as a basic community building strategy.”

John McKnight, ABCD Institute

12 DOMAINS


There are at least 12 domains that are uniquely within the competencies of people and by implication, cannot happen without People Powered Change.

Our well-being is decisively more determined by our community assets than by any other health and well being determinants. Tragically community building hardly features as a priority in the current sickness model. And so, for example, older people are dying of loneliness in a sea of neighbourliness that does not know how to express itself.While it is true to say we are creeping towards a change in focus in this regard, it is also economically and ethically a pivotal time where the need to accelerate this portion of the public health agenda and to elevate the status and the function of ‘connected communities’ as agents of health production, has become all at once both critical and possible.

Everyone’s health and well being depends on this fundamental shift; this shift depends on everyone choosing to co-create a shared health seeking future. The same can be said for raising connected children, caring for our environment, sustaining our local economies, and promoting more inclusive societies.

Health and Wellbeing

Our health and wellbeing is mainly determined by the extent to which we are positively connected to each other, our environment and local economic opportunities.

Safety and Security

Increased police presence does not lead to enhanced safety and security in the same way that a connected community can.

Caring for the Environment

Imagine what is possible if people become more intentional and collective about their decisions around transport, heating and lighting their homes and how they manage their waste.

Nurturing the Local Economy

Most enterprises start small and local, in garden sheds, attics and at the kitchen table and in return they become the heart blood of local economies and one of the most reliable sources of employment for many communities.

Mindful Food consumption and Production

Local food chains enhance outcomes in the areas of health, environment and local economic well being.

Raising Powerful Connected Children

Children need to believe in their families and community. Children do not grow powerful in institutions; their power grows the closer they are to the centre of family and community life.

Ageing Well in Place/Locale

The type of care required to age well across the life course is the kind that sees both the gifts and needs of older people, in that order . This kind of care is only located among communities who have a central place for older people.

Building Communities

Communities grow from inside out, evolving from the place where ‘I’ live, to the community where ‘we’ grow. They can only grow through the deepening of human relationships.

Civic Action for Deeper Democracy & Just Society

Civic action for social, environmental and economic justice provides the rudder for keeping governments honest and on track, democracy meaningful, and people engaged in civic life.

Respond to Natural Disaster/Climate Control

No where is people power more apparent than in the face of natural disasters and the consequences of climate change; ashuman beings, when pu t to the pin of our collar we dig deep, pull together (self organise), and respond by building community.

Lifelong Learning and Sharing Wisdom

Knowledge and wisdom are hatched in the nest of everyday life a nd more particularly in associational life, not in educational, commercial or professional institutions.

Changing the World

"Change doesn’t happen because of how we invest our money . Change happens because of how we invest our human energy, and it always has since we came down from the trees." Daniel Taylor–Future Generations

Kazuri shortlisted for Centre for Social Justice Awards

"The annual CSJ Awards programme recognizes effective poverty fighting groups from across the UK. Cash prizes of £10,000 are awarded to charities, small voluntary groups and other local projects that display innovation and effectiveness in addressing the root causes of poverty, turning lives around and reversing social breakdown."

Kazuri is delighted to be one of only 18 organisations picked from  over 200 entrants  from  across the UK to have been shortlisted for this year's prestigious awards, to be announced in September. We have invited the CSJ panel to come and see our women's resilience center in Whitechapel and also the construction workshop for vulnerable women and ex offenders , our Coming Home, Cardiff project.

Stefan Bobolecki, Director of Regeneration and Planning says "I am pleased to see all Kazuri's hard work is being recognized through being shortlisted for this prestigious award by the UK's leading think-tank."  

Peter Cobrin, Director of Innovation and Skills says, "It's great to see innovation and imagination in this most complex of sectors being recognized." 

Farah Damji, founder of Kazuri Properties CiC says, "Thank you to all people who have been part of Kazuri. Someone clever told me when I started this three and a half years ago that  this venture  would be like taking a train to Glasgow - some people would stay for the duration and others would be  there for part of the journey and get off at Edinburgh. All I can say is  to  everyone who has had anything to do with Kazuri since its inception is I'm grateful to have shared part of the journey with you and thank you. Even being shortlisted is an honor."  

We look forward to welcoming CSJ  staff at our projects in London and  Cardiff. 

The Kazuri ethos that sustainable housing and resilience are at the core of a stable lifestyle  leads to cohesive communities and are aligned with the Center for Social Justice's  own values of empowerment, redemption and creating a better society.

Kazuri statement against G4S in social services

"Kazuri  will oppose and block every opportunity  sought by  G4s  to provide public services contracted out by the state, which affect vulnerable women and children. This includes access to legal services and the proposed privatization of probation services.  G4S are not fit to run public services until they receive a clean bill of health from the Serious Fraud Office, the National Accounting Office, the Public Accounts Committee  who are all currently investigating G4S. 

The social services market is ripe for exploitation and profiteering  but we will prevent this  through  determined and committed community action and legal challenges  upon every  last contract  G4S attempts to secure which affects vulnerable people.  Kazuri along with many others,  do not sanction child killers running children's homes, funded through the public purse. 

Perhaps the government might look to their own recently appointed Social Value Ambassador Chris White MP, for more equitable solutions on procurement which don't damage our community and traumatise the most vulnerable people in our society. We need a  global movement to shift into gear a system which does not reward murder and the state sanctioned corporate rape of the sector. We need to redefine our economy so that it adds social value, cooperation and resilient business models in which we can live cooperatively. 

This existing destruction vulture capitalism only  benefits G4S shareholders,  greedy Whitehall mandarins  who want directors' seats on the boards of global behemoths to satisfy raging egos and hungry and disappointing politicians like Lord Reed and Lord Condon who have desecrated  the public trust placed in them by accepting directorships on G4S board."

Kazuri
Sanctioned 23rd July 2013 at a general meeting of the board, London.

Implementing the Public Service (Social Value) Act 2012

 View Chris White MP's talk at the Justice Academy last month here

Chris White MP first introduced the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 as a private member's bill in June 2010, it came into effect in April 2013 and for the first time  all public bodies in England and Wales  are requited to consider  howthe services they commission might improve the economic, environmental and social well being of the area.

In this talk, Chris discusses how the Act is being implemented and how it seeks to change the way that public bodies design contracts. Chris also discusses  how the Act is aimed at benefiting social enterprises, charities and community organisations, as he believes these organisations can provide maximum public  benefit to the local community.

Resilience training Cardiff. Be the best YOU!

Resilience and trauma in the criminal justice system
Venue: Ocean Academy, Central  Cardiff, 24 July 13 00 – 17 00 hrs

In conjunction with Diverse Cymru, challenging discrimination in all its forms to create a more equitable future.

By invitation only, free to third sector organisations and public service employees,  providing services to people affected by the criminal justice system.“I know that I need to deal with it to heal,” says a woman we’ll call Ramona. “But sometimes I just have to take a step away from it too. I have experienced very painful flashbacks. The memories get so vivid; I literally, physically feel the pain again.”

Many people working in third sector organisations think of trauma as something that will affect others. Prisoners, survivors of domestic violence, asylum seekers and  recovering addicts all display signs of post traumatic stress disorder. The increase in direct exposure to violence or through the coverage of 24/7 events across the world by the media and the impact of hearing the experiences of  traumatised people are resulting in creating traumatised communities.  This is  already having significant social, economic and infrastructural impacts. The predicament of the  War Child  refugee and the direct correlation in the increase in violent gang crime is but one example.

This simple 4 hours training will introduce you to the concept of secondary trauma or compassion fatigue and provide you with a tool kit to overcome mixed emotions. We explore incorporating resilience into your core day. It is led by Flo Krause and Farah Damji.

Flo Krause a leading human rights barrister is on the frontline of changes in the criminal justice system. She represented prisoner John Hirst ,  Hirst v UK in which the actions of the UK government in denying the vote to serving prisoners were deemed to be illegal. Flo deals with parole boards and is in prisons almost on a daily basis and practices transactional analysis.

Farah Damji is a former offender whose life was shattered as a result of early life trauma and whose self destructiveness, mental illness, depression and substance dependency precluded living an authentic life. This came to a halt in 2005 when she was sent to prison. She set up a company in 2010, Kazuri which works with former offenders and other traumatised women to house them and provide safe pathways to employment and resilience training.

The topic of resilience, it seems, provides a solid platform for identification and for the education of the public on what constitutes good psychological health. As a result, individuals can put together their own strategies for building resilience, depending upon their individual strengths, styles and cultural differences. Resilience can even apply to organisations faced with significant pressures and challenges. After all, turning adversity into opportunity--a potential by product of resilience--is critical for organizations to thrive. Without question, building resilience is currently an important strategy as we deal with significant budget pressures and staffing shortages . But if we can draw on our strengths and build our resilience, we will most certainly "bounce back" from present difficulties.

 For more information please contact Kazuri on 020 7 377 5791. Places are limited and if you would like to attend please email info@kazuri.org.uk

Third sector and public sector: FREE, private  sector organisations £110

"Be like water."