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Please find below and in the links more information on RADAR's Empowerment Project, funded by the Department for Communities and Local Government.

The project is made of two streams: (1) The Empowerment Stream and (2) The Leadership Stream.

The Empowerment Stream will consist of 6 regional Empowerment Fora, open to people with any impairment. They will include speeches and workshops on how to influence the commissioning of local services, planning and housing issues and all manner of local public sector activity. Speakers will include representatives of Local Authorities, Primary Care Trusts and Third Sector Organisations. Peer-to-peer support will be offered after the events.

The regions covered are:
  • Home Counties and East Anglia
  • South West
  • Midlands
  • North West and Lancashire
  • Yorkshire and Humberside
  • North East
To support the regional fora, a number of briefing sheets have ben commissioned. The purpose of this material is to support, inform and enable local disabled people, so that they feel empowered to influence public sector activity focussed in the areas below:
  1. Local Planning
  2. Independent Living
  3. Lifetime Homes and Neighbourhoods Strategy
  4. Health
  5. Commissioning
  6. General Influencing Toolkit (taking part, levers for change, how to make approaches, how to present at meetings, how to respond to consultations, what rights exist with reference to all of this, etc.)
With regards to the Leadership Stream there will be 4 Leadership Days. These will be attended by 100 aspiring leaders with IID (Injury, Ill-Health or Disability). there will be coaching and workshops at the events to help develop their leadership potential, with follow up coaching after the events.

With an emphasis on reaching hidden communities, there will also be 4 action groups set up as part of the Leadership Programme. These will be Neuro-Diverse, Learning Disability, Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) and Survivors of the Mental Health System. they will meet at each of the Leadership days and discuss how to break down the barriers faced uniquely by people with their specific backgrounds. They too will receive coaching, plus some mentoring opportunities.

This is an exciting programme, which will make a real difference to the lives not only of those people participating in it, but for many others affected by the issues addressed. If you would like to become involved in the programme, please download the application pack here, fill in the form and return it to RADAR by the 8th of January 2010.

If you are interested in joining the Empowerment Project, please see the Contact Us page for details.

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