A Chamberlain Forum Session for active residents, officers and Councillors in Birmingham’s Priority Neighbourhoods and others with Cllr Mike Whitby and David Blunkett on Mutual Action and Birmingham’s Priority Neighbourhoods.

At the end of last year, David Blunkett launched Mutual Action, Common Purpose: Empowering the Third Sector: the result of year-long consultation by a working group of Labour MPs which he chaired at the invitation of – and reporting to – Prime Minister Gordon Brown.  The report challenged Government to be bold and decisive; to back the values of mutuality; to enable the Third Sector to be the glue that holds society together again.  He called for a redefinition of the role of government and of the relationship between government and citizens.  In this Chamberlain Forum session, joined by Council leader Mike Whitby, David Blunkett will expand on key ideas related to this – with an emphasis on what goes on in the context of Birmingham’s Priority Neighbourhoods including:

• Third Sector organisations of all sorts as the catalysts for community leadership in neighbourhoods
• the need not just to involve the Third Sector in delivery of contracts but also in defining how the job of improving and serving neighbourhoods is to be done
• neighbourhood audits: proper accounts of the money that goes into neighbourhoods and assessment of the value achieved
• support for communities to learn from one another and to be enabled to share their know-how more effectively with the agencies that serve them
• training for workers in public service to work more effectively with neighbourhood and community groups
• encouragement to all faith groups to play positive and inclusive roles in communities where they are present and active
• action to help community and voluntary groups engage with the criminal justice system and to expand the role they play in preventing crime and fighting its effects.

Join David Blunkett and the Chamberlain Forum to discuss Mutual Action in the context of Neighbourhoods and the devolution of power to neighbourhoods in Birmingham. The event is free but you should book a place in advance (places are limited).

Book your place at the meeting by contacting Chamberlain Forum, 109 Keys Court, 82-84 Moseley Street, Birmingham  B12 0RT  info@chamberlainforum.org