Minutes:
Northants Fire & Rescue Service Recruitment
Stef explained that the fire service did not recruit for long periods then would go through an intense period of recruitment and they were currently in that phase. The service was traditionally made up of middle aged white men and they were looking for the widest diverse applicants as possible especially women, diverse communities and the LGBTQ+ community. They were using many outlets to raise awareness including ‘have a go’ and ‘positive action’ days. There was a physical aspect to the service but also so much more and these opportunities were a great time to ask questions. These days could be booked through this link - https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/nfrs-2022-recruitment-campaign-431089 Applicants had to be a minimum of 18 years old.
IWD Update – Debbie had been in touch with Leisure Centre at Daventry who were interested in seeing how they could be involved with International Women’s Day. Women’s sport had exploded in popularity over the last 12 months or so helped by how successful the NTFC Ladies team had been, the senior team winning all their matches last season and the other teams doing extremely well, and shown again by how popular the current European Championships were (especially now we know the Lionesses had won the tournament!). This was a key moment to encouraging more women and girls to get active.
Matt added that they had a pot of funding for getting people active that could be useful for groups to bid for. Stef said that NFRS had a women’s cricket team and he would see if they were able to do something for IWD.
Eleri – Centre for Advancement of Racial Equality Launch on 12 September – book through Eventbrite - Centre for the Advancement of Racial Equality Launch Day Tickets, Mon 12 Sep 2022 at 09:30 | Eventbrite She had also been working with the Afghan and Ukrainian resettlers holding activities.
Ryan – introduced himself as the new programmes officer. There were quite a few funds open at the moment.
Annabel – lots of activities at the women’s centres with a children’s group at the allotment 1 day week for the holidays. During Covid the Women’s Centre had been more of a drop in but was now getting more structured with groups and appointments only. Tuesdays and Thursdays were support groups, Wednesday sewing and health group. The Kettering Centre was now open 5 days a week. They were always looking for new volunteers. See information appended to minutes. Stef stated that NFRS did safety talks which may be of interest. Action Stef and Annabel speak outside of meeting.
Aimee – International Youth Day on 12 August on the Racecourse 12 – 4pm. Let Aimee know if you wudl like to get involved. Personal safety drop in session at NGH the following day 11am – 2pm. Been successful in a bid for more Safer Streets funding which would be building on the previous work.
Sarah – GamCare had their 25th anniversary this year and were doing a lot of work including commissioning a You Gov survey on gambling harms. They offered a lot of support for those affected by their own gambling or that of others and also offered free training. A massive uplift in calls to helplines and people going into treatment was expected with the cost of living crisis. Sarah can be contacted for further information - sarah.franklin@gamcare.org.uk
Rachel – NDAS has a new, all singing all dancing, website Northamptonshire Domestic Abuse Service (ndas.co) and were developing a children’s programme offer and would like to address more things in the future. The biggest news was collecting the keys of 2 new properties in the next couple of weeks, a 1 bed and a 2 bed flat which would give more accommodation especially for those who would be difficult to put in existing accommodation. A new policy covering menopause and running a workshop for those affected and looking at the effect of menopause on domestic abuse. Feeding into 2 OFPCC bids for supporting children and preventing violence against women and girls.
Matthew – Strategic Lead for Inequalities with NSport. There was £130k of funding to give out by end of March 2023. Email to come out shortly (circulated separately) of funding opportunities for getting people active which could be useful for groups planning activities for IWD. He was very happy to discuss with groups prior to submitting bids (matthew.peleszok@northamptonshiresport.org). They were especially looking to reach out to Bangladeshi and Caribbean communities.
Neil – Currently doing more recruitment as numbers needed to be up by March. They now had more BAME officers and more female officers than ever before and would be increasing soon.