Keeping everyone in the loop. View this email in your browser BID working with Milton Keynes Council on new combined Sensory Support contract From 1st April, BID Services is delivering a new combined Sensory Support Service to residents in the Milton Keynes area. The service called SARC (Sensory Advice Resource Centre) is funded by Milton Keynes Council and will be delivered from BID's new, accessible drop in centre in Witan Court, Central Milton Keynes. The service will support adults aged 18+ in the Borough who are profoundly deaf, hearing impaired, sight impaired, or who have dual sensory loss. One of the aims of the service is to put the service user at the centre of the support they recieve and to provide an improved quality of life and greater personal independence. The services will be delivered in a variety of settings including people's own homes and in the community. Over the coming months, BID Services will be working hard to raise awareness about the new service and to ensure those that need to know about it, service users, carers and families as well as those within the health, social care and voluntary sectors are aware of the range of services available. If you would like to learn more about the Milton Keynes SARC Service, please contact sarcmk@bid.org.uk or telephone us on 01908 401135. 19 Jobs and counting for BID's Employment Service... BID's employment service, which was re-launched in August 2011, supports some of the most vulnerable people in our society to find employment. The service, which focuses on those who are profoundly deaf and hard of hearing, has already placed 19 candidates into employment.
Manager of the Service Mark Woodall, along with Employment Coach Karen Young, started the service with a small pot of funding, with the aim to support 20 clients into further education, training or employment. It became obvious fairly quickly that the demand for the service would far outstrip supply and in the first six months alone, the team supported over 45 clients keen to find a job and contribute to society! Recognising the demand for the service could not be met with the current provision, the Employment team set about looking for new partnerships and funding opportunities to allow them to support all those wishing to access the service. They have now secured a further four contracts which expands the service to work with those not in employment, education or training (NEET). Their work takes them into schools, colleges and local employers to source employment, apprenticeship and training opportunities for clients. Since last September, BID's Employment Service has been instrumental in the successful employment of five profoundly deaf apprentices, none of whom had been employed since leaving college. This involved working very closely with the apprentices, employers, Job Centre Plus, Access to Work and Training Providers. Manager of the service Mark Woodall commented: "Today over 122 clients have accessed the service which is outperforming many of the national providers who deliver DWP contracts! Our aim is to continue to expand the service in order to meet the growing need to support deaf and hard of hearing people back into work, education or training. To do this, we need to work with a greater number of employers and build more partnerships with local stakeholders. We would be very keen to hear from organisations wishing to get involved and support our employment programme." For more information about this service, please contact Mark Woodall, email mark.woodall@bid.org.uk or Karen Young, email karen.young@bid.org.uk Deaf people in the West Midlands will have more opportunities to get involved in sport after BID Services receives National Lottery funding from Sport England's Inclusive Sport Fund
BID Services has been awarded 168,000 of National Lottery funding which will be used to deliver a three-year programme that encourages greater participation in sports for young deaf people aged 14+. The sports will include basketball, table tennis, football, rugby, badminton and a variety of multi sports sessions. Young deaf people often feel isolated and are excluded from sport due to their hearing loss. One of the key aims of the new Deaf Positive Activities Project is to reduce this isolation by providing opportunities for over 320 deaf people to access grass root sporting opportunities over the course of the three year project. Having previously delivered a very successful sports pilot for deaf young people through sports charity StreetGames, BID will transfer the learning into developing a project that is deaf positive and extends to the wider age group. An important component of the project will focus on developing a cohort of deaf coaches and volunteers who will become role models and support an increase in participation levels among young deaf people. UK Deaf Sport, along with StreetGames, was instrumental in supporting BID Services to obtain the funding and will be working strategically with BID and its project partners to deliver the programme. If you would like further information on this project please contact Jo Reilly, Deaf inclusive Sports Officer on telephone 0121 246 6100 or email jo.reilly@bid.org.uk Macmillan and BID hold Cancer Information Day to highlight the range of services available to support Deaf people with cancer
The Macmillan BID Cancer Support Programme was launched in 2011 and aims to reach and improve the lives of deaf people living with cancer. The service supports patients, and the families of patients, who are profoundly deaf sign language users, as well as those who are deafened, or hard of hearing. The purpose of the service is to close the gap in health inequality by ensuring that deaf patients have access to a full range of communications support, as well as advice and information, to enable them to feel included in their care and medical treatment. To raise awareness about this milestone project, Macmillan and BID held an open day on Saturday, 11th May where deaf people, family members and health professionals could collect information, find out more about different types of screening, and understand the range of support available to people with cancer through the service. Sarah Treadwell-Baker (second from left), Macmillan BID Coordinator was on hand throughout the day to offer advice and support. As Sarah says: "We understand only too well the communication barriers faced by deaf people when they try to access services, so it was really amazing to see people coming into the centre and seeing for themselves all of the support and advice they can access through the Macmillan BID Deaf Cancer Care support service." If you would like more information about the Macmillan BID Deaf Cancer Care service please contact Sarah Treadwell-Baker on 0121 246 6100 or send an email to sarah.treadwell-baker@bid.org.uk What does a Conference Centre have to do with a Charity?
Like most charities, we are always looking for ways to fund services for the people we support. Many of the projects and services we provide, whilst much needed, are often not supported through contractual provision. For instance, we work with young and older deaf people to help them secure sustained employment; we run a summer play scheme for young deaf children giving them an opportunity to play with other children and reduce isolation; we support a programme that provides young people with access to a range of sporting activities and we also manage a programme for older deaf people which provides much needed socialisation and days out. To continue offering these services, we need sustainable funding! One of the ways we obtain funding is through our conference centre, The Signing Tree, which is part of BID Services and operates as a social enterprise not far from the centre of Birmingham. All the profits we receive from the conference centre are used to support our communities in one way or another. We would like people to think about the benefits of using a social enterprise to hold their meetings and events, rather than a bland corporate hotel. We guarantee there is no compromise in quality or service and you would be supporting our work and helping us deliver much needed services. We often have offers and special deals you can take advantage of, so if you are looking for a high quality venue in Birmingham to hold your next event, then please give us a call on 0212 450 5121 or email sam@signingtree.org.uk We really do appreciate your support! BID is changing! Like most successful charities, BID Services has developed and evolved over the years; we've introduced new services, moved into new geographical regions and now support a diverse range of clients across the West Midlands and other areas of the UK. The changes that have taken place over the last decade have re-shaped the charity and
brought about transformational change to the way we deliver services; we push boundaries, look for new ways to do things and inspire people to take control of their lives. However, we realise that our brand hadn't kept pace with the changes in the organisation and that our current communications materials and traditional brand was hampering our ability to create better communications with our client groups. We have recently undertaken a brand review and consulted with a range of stakeholders to obtain their views on how our brand should evolve. The result is a fresh, new look for the charity that is bright, bold, modern and uses organic shapes to represent our caring nature. The new brand will translate across all of our communications materials and will include a new website. We will be launching the new brand in the autumn of 2013 but we thought you might like a preview of our new BID Services logo. We love it and we hope you do too! BID'S Arts Programme delivers new opportunities to Deaf Artists to enable them to work professionally
To further Deaf arts development and to provide artists with additional opportunities to create new work which can be professionally presented, BID Services has developed a new Deaf arts programme, called Deaf Explorers, which has been funded by Arts Council England, West Midlands. This new initiative is supporting 6 deaf artists to develop their skills creatively by exploring collaborations with other artists around the world, then using their new skills to create a body of work that can be presented at BID's Deaf Cultural Centre and other arts venues around the country. The Explorers initiative will result in the creation of a wealth of high quality, inspirational work which Arts organisations and other performing arts venues can use as a springboard to develop collaborations, networking and further commissions for these exciting artists. To facilitate partnerships, networking and collaboration and to allow arts organisations to explore how they can engage with this enterprising new programme, BID is hosting an event on 27th June, 2013 at its iconic Deaf Cultural Centre, home to deaf arts. If you are an arts organisation and would like further information or wish to book a place at this event, click on the link below: Deaf Explorer Unconference Hate Crime BID's Supporting People team have been working in partnership with West Midlands Police to promote and increase awareness of reporting and understanding "Hate Crime" and how this can affect vulnerable people in the community. The Team have received full training and will co-work with the police as a third party reporting centre. The aim of this programme is to empower and support individuals to live and remain safe
The aim of this programme is to empower and support individuals to live and remain safe in their community. Clients who feel at risk can visit their local police station to report a hate crime at any time but if they feel more comfortable receiving support to do this, they can visit BID and obtain support from one of BID's trained SP support workers. If you would like to find out more information about Hate crime and how BID's support workers can help, please call our Supporting People service on 0121 246 6100 or visit the Supporting People website on www.bidsp.org.uk Deaf community encouraged to avoid loan sharks The England Illegal Money Lending Team are working in partnership with BID Services and the Supporting People Team to ensure key messages about avoiding loan sharks and reporting the crime reach the deaf community. BID has worked with the Team to put together a video which explains, through British Sign Language, what a loan shark is, why they should be avoided and where people can turn for help. The video is to be distributed widely for training purposes and will also be available to view online. Furthernore, should anyone who uses sign language fall prey to a loan shark, the Team have introduced webcam facilities to set up a meeting whereby they can discuss their experiences in confidence, via a translator from BID. There are an estimated 310,000 households across the UK in debt to a loan shark. These lenders are acting illegally, usually befriending their victims forcing them into a never ending spiral of debt. If you would like to find out more information about loan sharks, please contact our Supporting People service on 0121 246 6100 or visit the Supporting People website on www.bidsp.org.uk QE Opens New Audiology Centre Deaf and hard of hearing people living in Birmingham and the region can now visit a brand new NHS Audiology centre at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Previously located at Selly Oak Hospital, the HARC (Hearing Assessment and Rehabilitation Centre) moved to the Edgbaston site in December and changed its name. The new centre offers free hearing tests and high-quality digital hearing aid services, as
well as a range of other services dedicated to helping adults with their hearing, balance and tinnitus. Within a short distance from the Audiology centre, BID's own Equipment Service, at Ladywood Road, accepts referrals and offers assessments for deaf and hard of hearing people on assistive equipment within the home. There is a range of equipment specifically designed to help people which can have a very positive impact for those with a hearing loss. Deaf and hard of hearing people living in Birmingham can find out more by contacting Emma Bridgewater, on telephone: 0212 246 6100, fax: 0121 246 6125 or email: emma.bridgewater@bid.org.uk Email Website Facebook Twitter LinkedIn In the Loop is published and produced by BID Services, a charity promoting choice and independence. Our aim is to make a big difference to deaf people and people with other disabilities. Editorial contacts: Editor Jeannette Harper Sub Editor Lisa Davies Copyright 2013 BID Services, All rights reserved. unsubscribe from this list update subscription preferences