New Deal pages

New Year, new start, 
New Deal for Burngreavers

Building a stronger community, tackling crime, improving educational opportunities and attainment, creating jobs and providing local training opportunities - these are the priorities for Burngreave New Deal for Communities as it approaches its second year.

Work is currently underway to draft the Delivery Plan for year 2 of the ten year regeneration programme, which will be submitted to the Government Office for approval by the middle of February.

Many of the proposals included in the year 2 plan have already been agreed as part of the overall 10-year vision, but further work is now required to prioritise new projects for year 2, following more detailed work with the community, the voluntary sector and service providers. Childcare, for example, will be given a much greater focus, following feedback from the local community.

The Government Office is expected to give the go ahead for the year 2 proposals before March 31st, so that work can begin immediately in the new financial year. The focus during the year will be on key projects in crime, education, employment and training, and on developing further major projects to begin in year 3.

Another major part of the year 2 proposals is to further develop activities to encourage community involvement, effective communication and the programme of service level agreements with local service providers.

Executive Director Mithu Komarnyckyj is optimistic about year 2 and the improvements which will start to benefit local residents:

In many ways, year 1 of New Deal for Communities has been about behind the scenes work - getting all the systems and procedures in place to enable us to make a major impact on effective regeneration over the next decade.

The start of year 2 will be the beginning of the first significant investments in major projects and we are all looking forward to the challenge ahead.

Steve Jones - Chair of New Deal Board and Mithu Komarnyckyj, Executive Director

Eid Celebration a success!

An event organised to celebrate Eid proved an enormous success with more than a 100 local residents who took part in the action packed day at Verdon Street Recreation Centre.
Organised jointly by Ismail Yussuf, Shamsa Hersi and Abdo Ga s, the event was supported by Somali Education Breakthrough, New Deal for Communities, Pitsmoor Somali Youth Association and the Somali Health Project.
Many children took part in the celebrations, and there were a range of activities for them, including face painting, musical chairs, a 5 a side football tournament and a question and answer session about Eid.

Many people helped out on the day, and special thanks go to the following volunteers - Felson Tahir, Fatma Musa, Hanna Tahir, Tasmin Nimo, Mohamed Ibrahim and Said Mohamed.

So what’s going on with New Deal?

The first of a series of community events to give local people the opportunity to find out more about New Deal and what it could mean to them was held on January 21st at Forum House on the Wicker.
Organised for members of the Somali and Yemeni communities, the event was attended by around 100 local people. As well as hearing from members of the Partnership Board and New Deal staff team, participants had the chance to check out exhibitions about the regeneration plans and have informal discussions with members of New Deal.

Several more meetings are planned for the next few weeks - see the leaflet enclosed with this issue of the Messenger for more details. Or ring the New Deal office on 
0114 279 6932.

Green light for projects

A number of projects were given the go ahead at the December Partnership Board meeting. The full list of approved projects is as follows:

* Local Centres - production of a development framework for the future development and improvement of the Spital Hill area.

* Community facilities audit - a comprehensive review of what¹s currently available in the area and what is needed.

* Abbeyfield Park Multicultural festival - support for the development of the extremely popular annual summer festival.

* Language Support Agency - developing an agency to ensure that local language needs are met.

* BITPART - the development of a local IT strategy for Burngreave.

* Young People’s Service Plan - Setting up a Young People’s Council and planning for the future.

* Community Schools/Raising Achievements - an initiative bringing together local people, schools and others involved in education to ensure that standards are raised.

* Adventure Playground - support for this local facility which offers safe, supervised play for local children.

* Older People¹s Health and Well-Being - undertaking household tasks, such as installing security measures and basic household repairs, for older people in the community.

* Promoting Health - providing information and training on health and healthy living.

* Small Grants Fund - provision of a small pot of money available to local community and voluntary groups.

Goodbye and thank you

Interim Co-ordinator Diane Davies will be leaving Burngreave New Deal for Communities at the end of January to take up a new post with the South East Primary Care Trust where she will be working on regeneration issues.

Diane has worked incredibly hard over the last 15 months, during which she has overseen the successful completion of the original delivery plan, the first elections for community representatives and a whole host of other essential elements of the New Deal for Communities programme.

A big thank you to Diane for everything she has done - and best of luck in the new job.

Meetings & Events Calendar - February/March 2002

Partnership Board
Feb 27th Partnership Board 
mtg 5-7pm @ tba

Employment & Enterprise
Feb 6th Employment Theme Group mtg 
6-7:30pm @ The Furnival, Verdon Street

Housing 
Feb 7th 2002 Housing Theme Group mtg 10-11:30am @ Pitsmoor Youth Housing Trust, 106 Burngreave Road. (PROVISIONAL DATE)

Education/Health
Feb 14th Language Support mtg 10am-12pm @The Cornerstone Building Burngreave Road
Burngreave Business Forum
Feb 14th venue to be arranged

Education
Children & Young People’s Group
Mon 4th Feb 7.30pm @ The Furnival

Raising Achievement Group
Tues 5th Feb 6.00pm Forum House 

Childcare & Play Care Group
Weds 6th Feb 3.00pm @ Black Women’s Resource Centre

Health
Feb 6th Health Theme Group mtg 12:30-2pm @ St Peters Church Lyons Street

Crime  
Feb 7th Crime & Community Safety Advisory Group mtg 6:30pm Christ Church

Feb 26th Crime Theme Group mtg 2pm @ The Furnival, Verdon Street.


For more details on any of these meetings, please ring the New Deal for Communities office on 
0114 279 6932