Race Equality Foundation - Introducing the START programme in Manchester and Liverpool

Amina Lone, Parent Programme Officer in the North West, explains the ongoing work taking place in Manchester and Liverpool .

Following on from Round One of the Parenting Fund, the Race Equality Foundation successfully secured funding in Round Two of the Parenting Fund, to continue to build up parenting support in the North West . The first phase of the work involved establishing a base in the North West which has now firmly been put in place. Good relationships have been built with Manchester City Council, the voluntary, statutory and faith sectors in Manchester as well as with the regional offices of national agencies such as Barnardos and DePaul Trust. We are engaging in partnership work and are constantly striving to improve the standards in parenting support so families can benefit.

The second phase of the work in the North West involves continuing to provide intensive support to groups that are new to the provision of parenting support or to working with SFSC: providing training around groupwork, co-facilitation, and recruitment and retention of parents, so SFSC facilitators can keep their facilitation skills sharp; and building up a local infrastructure with the establishment of regional peer support groups.

A key area of development is the rolling out of the START young people's programme. This is a programme that can be used with young people, ages 10-18, in as many varied ways that SFSC is used. The ethos of START is the same as SFSC and the aims of the programme are to raise self-esteem, self confidence and self-discipline in young people as well as equipping them with solution building and positive social skills. The programme is 12 weeks in length with a 2 hour "classroom" based session which is followed with an hour's activity where the young people can put some of their skills into practice. The programme has been successfully run in Manchester and London with the young people taking part in activities as diverse as photography, making a music cd and basketball training. The START programme can be used with young people independently or run alongside the SFSC parent programme.

The next SFSC training in Manchester is taking place in early summer. Start training is rolling our throughout the year. If you would like details of any of the above, please contact Amina Lone via email amina@racefound.org.uk.