GM=EqAl's March Working Group meeting included a focus group discussion to feed into the work of the Salford Social Prescribing Hub. Members shared a wealth of knowledge and experience in response to four questions:

• Are social prescribing services being used equally by people from all backgrounds?
• How can social prescribing services (unintentionally) deepen inequalities?
• How do social prescribing services vary in different areas as a result of lack of funding, austerity, deprivation etc.?
• What is being asked of VCSE organisations - are they being resourced appropriately?

Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) and Greater Manchester Probation Service (GMPS) are inviting Expressions Of Interest to deliver to services for people who are on probation. The ambition is to develop a ‘total system' of rehabilitative welfare services across Greater Manchester, working with Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) organisations.

Applicants will need to have buildings with public access and be used to delivering similar types of support for local people. The initial development delivery period runs until 31st March 2023, with around £1.2m available to deliver a welfare service hub in each of the 10 local authority areas of GM. From April 2023, GMCA / GMPS plan to have commissioned services to run for 3 years on a GM footprint.

Deadline: 8th April  

'Excluded from Mental Health Services: Characteristics and Barriers’ is a research project funded by the National Institute for Health Research. It aims to find out about:

•            Who does not get care when they are having a mental health crisis
•            Why they wanted this care
•            Why they did not get this care
•            Any services that they do have contact with   

The research team are looking for 3 or 4 public contributors with experience of not getting the care they needed when they had a mental health crisis, as well as 2 or 3 carers of people who have been excluded. No research experience is needed.

Through the Crisis Alternative Fund, Greater Manchester Health and Social Care partnership (GMHSCP) has secured £80,000 to fund two mental health Crisis Connector posts (one in the West (Bolton, Manchester, Salford, Trafford, Wigan) and one in the East (Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside) for one year. These posts will be managed by the System Lead for VCSE Integration who sits within the mental health team at the Health and Social Care partnership.

The GMHSCP would like to recruit these posts through secondment from existing VCSE organisations across Greater Manchester (one from the West and one from the East). These would be full-time, 12-month secondments, with the opportunity to extend if further funding is identified.

Deadline: 5th April

The Greater Manchester Older People's Network (GMOPN) is recruiting members for a new Older People’s Equality Panel, and would like to hear from GM residents aged 50+ who would like to be involved.

The GM equality panels have been established to advise, support and challenge Greater Manchester’s political leaders and policy makers to tackle the discrimination and disadvantage that cause injustice and inequality in society.

The Older People’s Equality Panel offers an opportunity to join with others to be a strong voice to influence decision making on key issues affecting older people. Please promote this opportunity through your contacts and networks. 

Greater Manchester is establishing a Community Wealth Hub to support and grow co-operatives, mutuals, and social and community enterprises.

The intention is to develop the Hub alongside the people and organisations who might benefit from or provide services to it. A six-month co-design process has begun and the GMCA wants to hear your thoughts on the proposals, and how you would like to get involved. If you are part of a VCSE organisation which trades, or aspires to trade in GM, you are encouraged to have a say. 

Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust are carrying out research to understand the maternity experience of women living in the M8, M13-M16 and M18-M19 postcode areas, with a focus on women from communities experiencing racial inequality.  

They are looking for volunteers aged 16 or over, and who have given birth in the last six months, to take part in either an interview or focus group. Participants will be given a £20 shopping voucher for their time. 

For further information or to take part, please contact Charlotte via charlotte.barber@mft.nhs.uk or 07929 759975.

Funding is available to community groups in the UK to support a broad range of activities which can contribute towards transforming their community and improving the lives of residents. Groups may apply for one Empowering Local Communities grant per year of between £500 and £1,500.

Deadline: 15th April

The 7Stars Foundation is offering grants of up to £2,500 for groups to support young people (aged 16 and under) challenged by abuse and addiction, young carers, and those suffering from homelessness or lack access to a safe space. Funding is intended to help young people who lack opportunities to cope with unfair situations and to achieve their potential.

Deadline: 30th April 

Grants of up to £1,000 are available to support Greater Manchester based peer-led voluntary groups that can engage local parents (remotely or face-to-face) in a welcoming, safe and nonjudgement environment where they can socialise with and learn from other parents or volunteers with lived experienced of perinatal stress.

Grants can be used for a variety of purposes from covering the cost of a group's rent/administration, to purchasing safety items or wellbeing resources. There is no submission deadline but the grant will close once the funds have been exhausted. 

BBC Children in Need (CiN) have launched a new scheme to support organisations to bring social action and youth empowerment opportunities to children and young people, to help prevent or overcome the effects of disadvantage. 

There will be 2 programmes: the Youth Social Action Fund, and the We Move Youth Social Action Fund which is for Black-led organisations and organisations that work with Black children and young people. 

To apply to either fund, interested parties will need to sign up for an information session. 

GMCVO are recruiting for a Chair of Trustees. 

Deadline: 30th March

Shelter in Manchester is looking for a Gaining Real Opportunities for Work (GROW) Programme Co-ordinator and an Involvement Officer to support its Changing Futures team.

Deadline: 30th March and 28th March respectively 

Bury Council is recruiting for an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Manager (full time, permanent)  and a Project Manager - Inclusive Public Services (full time, temporary).  

Deadline: 4th April  

GMCVO has three job vacancies with different application deadlines:

• Investment Fund Administrator (full time)  
• Investment Officer (part time, maternity cover)
• Administrator ((full time, permanent) to support the St Thomas Centre  

GMYN is looking to hire an experienced evaluator/team to help it identify and measure the impact of their programmes and services.

CLASS is seeking a part-time Finance and Operations Manager to join its small, dynamic team. The role can mostly be carried out remotely and will support the activities of the Community Savers network across Greater Manchester and Sheffield. 

Anyone interested in the post should email sophie.king@class-uk.com.

This is the Government’s controversial response to the report by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, which was published in March 2021. The Commission was established in July 2020 to review inequality in the UK, with a focus on education, health, employment and criminal justice. Its report included 24 recommendations for government, other public bodies and the private sector. 'Inclusive Britain' sets out over 70 actions in response to these recommendations, grouped under three main themes: trust and fairness, opportunity and agency, and inclusion. 

This report from Public Policy Projects highlights the importance of embracing a culture of change in the design and delivery of women’s health services. It describes the many failings of health services across the world whose default position is to treat women as second-class citizens and place unnecessary barriers to the delivery of high-quality accessible care. The report sets out recommendations rooted in the belief that women should be in control of their own bodies.

This report from NHS Providers highlights the scale and scope of the challenge to improve racial equality across the NHS, alongside the commitment of boards, trust leaders and NHS Providers to drive change in this area. 

Ten priorities were identified, including: building closer engagement with staff and community networks; fostering safe spaces; better education; focusing on personal values and behaviours; and openly challenging discrimination. However, just 4% of trust leaders said race equality was fully embedded as part of their board’s business. 

The case for tackling health inequalities is clear and overwhelming, with the Covid-19 pandemic shining a spotlight on the disparities in health. Over the past three decades there have been many attempts to tackle inequalities but none have resulted in the lasting change that is needed.

In this new long read, the Kings Fund explores what can be learnt from past attempts and make the case for developing a long-term approach to tackling health inequalities that endures.

This report from the Centre for Ageing Better analyses public and government data and shows that prospects as we age are worsening amidst a steep rise in pensioner poverty. It finds that more people are living with illness and disability, and life expectancy is falling, but these aren't being experienced equally. The number of people aged 65 and over in England is set to increase by more than 20% in the next 10 years.

The York Human Rights City Network (YHRCN) is a non-party political coalition that seeks to work with all the main political parties. Its goal is to speak truth to power and hold power to account, using universal human rights principles and the Human Rights City label to do this.

Their latest human rights indicator report shows that while the Covid-19 pandemic may be receding, its legacy will be with us for years to come unless decisive action is taken at local and national level.

This Ambition for Ageing report looks at what can support older people from dispersed communities - meaning people who share an identity or experience but do not all live in the same area - to stay connected as they age. 

The recording of a seminar held to support the launch of the report can be viewed here. 

A Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) report which looks comprehensively at trends in UK poverty, across all its characteristics and impacts.

Muslim Education and Development (MEND) have produced these guidelines for employers on the Holy Month of Ramadan and Muslim-friendly workplaces. 

British Future have released new findings from the Ipsos immigration attitudes survey, which has tracked attitudes on a range of migration issues since 2015. The survey shows a continuing gradual positive shift in attitudes to immigration and support for welcoming refugees.

The latest Census and demography update has been published. The main points include the following:

• Early release of Census 2021 data on residents whose country of birth is Ukraine or a neighbouring country. There are LGA local authority profiles available for this data e.g. Manchester.
• Review of migration statistics.

Working with Disability Research Services Ltd, as part of a two-year funded Lottery project, Dr Theo Blackmore has created a map of UK Disabled People's Organisations (DPOs). For this piece of work, DPOs are defined as organisations that is controlled by disabled people, and are classified as:

• Classic Pan-impairment DPOs (red)
• Impairment specific DPOs (blue)
• Intersectional DPOs (yellow)
• Activity-specific DPOs (green)

If you know of organisations which are not on this map or have questions about the project, please contact theo@disabilitycornwall.org.uk. 

This 8-part podcast from Serial Productions and The New York Times, which has topped global audience charts, is sobering and recommended listening for anyone who wants to understand structural Islamophobia in the UK today.

A free 90-minute webinar from the NRPF Network, available on three dates, covering:

• who has no recourse to public funds and what this means.
• how to identify when social care or the NHS may be required to provide ongoing care (including housing/financial support), to a patient with no recourse to public funds.
• how to implement best practice when working to safely discharge patients with no recourse to public funds who are destitute or at risk of homelessness.

The mission of Why Me? is to transform lives through Restorative Justice. This in-person conference is for anyone with an interest in making the Criminal Justice System more inclusive.

GMCVO has published it’s 2021 Annual Review. Find out about their changing role in Greater Manchester, what they have been up to during 2020/2021 and read about some of the inspiring organisations they have worked with and supported.

The founder of Salford Survivor Project, a charity aimed at supporting victims of domestic abuse, has been appointed as co-chair of Greater Manchester’s newly formed Gender-Based Violence board.

Jane Gregory, who lives in Salford and founded the charity in 2013 following her own experiences of domestic violence, will help the board continue its work to tackle gender-based violence in Greater Manchester.

Analysis shows that 338,656 families who are eligible for Healthy Start vouchers for fruit, veg and milk have not yet claimed the new digital cards, which they will need when paper vouchers stop on 31st March. The last date to apply for the digital card so as not to miss out on any payments was Thursday 10th March.  

A large coalition of charities, led by Sustain and The Food Foundation, and including Royal College of Midwives and Royal Society of Public Health, has written to Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Sajid Javid, asking him to extend the paper vouchers while the digital scheme is fixed. 

GMCA launched the Greater Manchester Strategy at an event on Monday 14th March.

The vision for the strategy is for "...Greater Manchester to be a place where everyone can live a good life, growing up, getting on and growing old in a greener, fairer more prosperous city region.” 

The strategy is supported by a number of plans that will help GM reach its ambitious targets - one of which is the VCSE Accord, a tripartite agreement between GMCA, GMHSCP and the VCSE Sector in GM, signed in October 2021. 

We Stand Together’s latest Difficult Dialogue, in partnership with Europia, titled ‘Europe in Crisis?’, was held at the Ukrainian Cultural Centre in Manchester on the 16th March. Feedback from discussions highlighted a need for humanity and honesty in addressing the developing situation in Ukraine.