DIRECTOR’S REPORT Introduction Assembling this report has brought home to me how much has happened since I started. It has been something of a roller coaster ride – hard work but to be honest also a lot of fun! Leeds Initiative I have attended meetings of the Narrowing the Gap Board and the Neighbourhood Policy Team, and have met with Kathy Kuldenitzky from the Leeds Initiative. I have also attended a Leeds Initiative team meeting. The issue of the restructuring of the Leeds Initiative staff team has been raised through the Strategy Group & a helpful reply received from Cllr Richard Brett. A quarterly meeting between the Leeds Voice Chair, Director and Leeds Initiative Director has been arranged to ensure effective liaison. Leeds Voice VCFS Strategy Group I have attended a meeting of the strategy group, and the third sector together task group. I am preparing a proposal for consideration at the strategy group about Third Sector Together which will be discussed at the May meeting. Leeds Voice Thematic Forums I have attended 2 meetings of the Health Forum, one meeting of the Children and Young People’s Forum and 2 meetings of the Environment Forum. I am taking forward the appointment of a health co-ordinator for Leeds Voice to give a stronger basis for our work in this area. The Health Forum will be evaluated by the funder, NHS Leeds, in 09/10, with a view to a 3 year funding agreement from then. I have met 121 with the chairs of the CYP and Health Forums, and will shortly meet with the chair of the Environment Forum. There are significant areas of partnership working without a forum, and I intend to look at the feasibility of developing forum activity, starting with the work on safer and stronger communities. Community Engagement I have met with two of the three Area Managers. Through the Neighbourhood Policy Group I have contributed to discussion about the future of neighbourhood management. I have also attended a meeting of Community Involvement Leads convened by the NHS. I am seeking a more co-ordinated approach to both the NHS work on community involvement and the work led by the Leeds Initiative on National Indicator 4 (on how far people feel able to influence local decision making). Communities of Interest I have attended the Echo Your Voices event which Leeds Voice organised for seldom heard communities, and bespoke training that we provided for Leeds Involvement Project. I have met with the Faith Forum, and participated in their “Faith and the Environment” conference. I have met with Leeds REC, and with Yorkshire MESMAC (re the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Trans or LGBT sector). I have been briefed about the Council’s equality hubs initiative and attended the BME hub. I think it is important that Leeds Voice is consistent in its work on communities of interest across all six strands of the equality agenda – i.e. gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, religion/faith and disability. Community Development Health Network I have led discussions between the NHS and key organisations about the development of the network following a critical evaluation report. As a result a proposal is being developed which will be funded by NHS Leeds. If you want further information about these developments please ask. Compact I have chaired a meeting of the Compact Implementation Group. At that meeting it was agreed to undertake a taking stock exercise on the Compact. This will get going at the next meeting of the group on May 6. It was revised and relaunched in 2006, so is likely to be due for revision again. I have arranged to meet Cllr Stewart Golton who is the compact champion to seek his views on the way forward. Regional and Sub Regional Work I attended a West Yorkshire Local Development Agencies (WYLDA) event on the development of a third sector framework for West Yorkshire. Presentations were given by Bradford and Kirklees on developments there. There would appear to be particular benefits from collaboration Bradford who have developed a third sector strategy and are in the early stages of setting up third sector forums alongside their new LSP arrangements. I am applying for a place on the Regional Voluntary Sector Leaders Board which is being established to sit alongside the new regional arrangements following the abolition of the Regional Assembly.
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