CitizensUK Assemblies 2014

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www.citizensuk.org
promoting civil society
In association with
Û Ü 2
In association with
Assemblies
2014
page 4 and 5
www.citizensuk.org
reweaving the fabric of society
Issue 1 July 2014
In this issue...
Hello and welcome
to Citizens UK p2
The Road to 2015
p6 and p7
Social Care Campaign
building momentum p3
Living Wage Campaign
Citizens UK takes action p8
Why I’m involved
and making a difference p9
Citizens UK - the home of community organising
in the UK. Building powerful communities that
work together for the common good.
promoting civil society
In association with
Û Ü 2 www.citizensuk.org
reweaving the fabric of society
In association with
Recently we found that you, our friends and members, were telling us that you wanted to know more about what’s
happening across the Citizens UK movement. I hope that this bi-annual newsletter will help keep you up to date. As a
convert to Twitter, I also recommend you follow @CitizensUK for real-time news about Citizens actions across the country.
You will be amazed at the breadth of activity going on each week.
Our work to promote and strengthen civil society as a force to
make democratic change has seen the tradition of public assembly
revived. The front cover features Birmingham Citizens leader,
Abdinasir Ahmed, from the city’s Somali community, giving
testimony at their packed assembly. You can read about this year’s
Citizens Assemblies, including Birmingham’s, here. There is also
more about how the new Citizens UK Council plans to affect
the 2015 General Election. Each CUK Chapter now has elected
Delegates on the CUK Council. Over the last eighteen months
they have shaped a ‘Manifesto for Civil Society’ and this will be
launched over the summer.
In April this year we unified all our Chapters and Alliances to
become one national charity, Citizens UK. I can now say we are
a truly national charity, with Chapters across London, in Milton
Keynes, Birmingham and Nottingham.
Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan Citizens will found in
October and we are building alliances in Leeds, Glasgow,
Taunton, Manchester and the North East. We are also part of an
international network of organising, learning and sharing with
our colleagues across the world (USA , Canada, Germany and
Australia), and have been lucky enough to both host and attend
events with the IAF and One Sweden, as well as train two groups
from Hong Kong in the craft of organising.
With growth comes challenge, and in an ever tougher funding
environment we are always looking to recruit new institutions
and find new funding partners. We are lucky enough to have
some wonderful supporters, including Aviva, who are not only an
accredited Living Wage employer and principal partner, but also
offer Citizens UK advice and practical help, including the design
and print of this publication. I’d like to take this opportunity to
thank them and all our funders, friends and members on behalf of
our new CUK Board of Trustees and the Guild of Organisers.
I look forward to working with you over the next year as together
we build our power and relationships in anticipation of the
next ‘Citizens Fourth Debate’ with the three Prime Ministerial
candidates in early May 2015.

Neil Jameson
Executive Director
Citizens UK
2 www.citizensuk.org
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Hello &
welcome...
...to the first edition of our new
Citizens UK update, another first
in a year of development and
growth. And fittingly so,
as this year we celebrate
our 25th Anniversary!
promoting civil society
In association with
Û Ü 2 www.citizensuk.org
reweaving the fabric of society
In association with
Our campaign to improve Social Care,
www.icareaboutcare.org.uk, is beginning to
build momentum, and as a key proposal in
the Citizens UK 2015 Manifesto, you will be
hearing more about it in the coming months.
At some point in your life you, or a family
member, will need social care. It seems
everyone has a story about care in their family.
Some stories are positive and there is good
quality care work that we need to celebrate.
But we hear story after story of worry, frustration
and anger about poor quality care.
The Social Care Campaign is bringing together
care recipients, families, care workers, providers
and commissioners, united behind a common
set of basic standards: the Social Care Charter.
These standards include: continuity of care
worker, proper training, Living Wage and
pay for travel.
3
North London Citizens member,
Annemarie Anang
explains:
“All too often the care provided for my
mum has been inconsistent and inadequate.
This has ranged from careworkers not
knowing how to help someone suffering
from dementia, to care companies forgetting
to send a carer. My mum has me to care for
her now. But I’m all too aware that not everyone has a loved one who
can help when they are at their most vulnerable. That’s why we need
to work together and make our concerns heard at the highest level,
so no-one suffers the indignity of poor care or being put in a situation
where it’s impossible to do a good job.” Read more about Annemarie
and her mum here.
www.citizensuk.org
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#i care
about care
Please take the time to share your
story here.
Read more about the campaign at
www.icareaboutcare.org.uk
#icareaboutcare
Annemarie Anang with her mum
Norman Lamb MP with care providers, recipients and commissioners at the Care in the Square tea party action.
Û Ü Û Ü
East London
943 people attended assemblies in
Hackney, Newham, Redbridge and
Tower Hamlets.
Wins included:
✓ Hackney Council to support the
campaign for recognition of Alevism
in their schools
✓ Birkbeck, University of London, to
work with Newham Citizens and
create a bespoke pilot programme
to train 30 local residents for health
and social care professions
✓ Redbridge Council agreed to pay
their directly employed care workers
at least the London Living Wage
✓ Tower Hamlets Council to
work with Citizens and housing
association Poplar Harca to trial a
‘Living Rent’ model
Assemblies 2014
Cardiff
The soon to be founded Cardiff Citizens and Vale of Glamorgan Citizens launched their
#10,000 stories listening campaign to understand the concerns of their communities
before launching an agenda of action in October 2014
4 5 www.citizensuk.org www.citizensuk.org
reweaving the fabric of society
In association with
We are proud to be reviving the tradition
of public assembly as a way of doing
politics, negotiating with people in
power and making progress with the
business of our members.
Over 4,100 people attended a Citizens UK
Assembly between March and May 2014.
With so many members actively involved
in staging these events across the Citizens
network, we wanted to celebrate and share
some of the highlights.
And now the hard work begins…
...working with the newly elected and
reappointed local politicians to help them
deliver the pledges they made to us!
Û Ü Û Ü
North London
800 people attended assemblies in
Barnet, Brent, Camden, Haringey
and Islington.
Wins included:
✓ £1.1m pledged by Barnet Council to
rebuild the Bravanese Community
Centre
✓ A public deal with HS2 to create a
Camden Citizens Charter guaranteeing
jobs, training and housing for
local people
✓ Police to donate 50 bikes each year for
five years to support Haringey Citizens
bike workshop scheme, with all profits
used to fund the CitySafe campaign
✓ A commitment from Islington Council
to help increase the number of Living
Wage employers in the borough to 100,
including at least five care providers
✓ Brent Council to attend a roundtable
on how they can champion the Social
Care Charter
South London
1,273 people attended assemblies
in Croydon, Greenwich, Lambeth,
Lewisham, Southwark and
Wandsworth.
Wins included:
✓ A commitment to make Croydon
Council a Living Wage employer
✓ Greenwich Clinical Commissioning
Group to work with young people
to co-design the Children and
Adolescent’s Mental Health Service
✓ Lambeth Council to provide
training to support our back to
work campaign
✓ Agreement from Lewisham
Council and Police to launch an
independent commission into hate
crime in the borough
✓ A commitment to find a suitable
area for a community land trust
development in Southwark
✓ Jane Ellison MP agreed to work
with local care providers and host
a Care Assembly in Wandsworth
during November 2014
Birmingham
Milton keynes
Cardilff
The vale of
Glamorgan
Nottingham
West London
492 people attended assemblies in
Ealing and Westminster.
Wins included:
✓ Ealing and Westminster Councils
pledged to work with us to implement
the Social Care Charter across their
boroughs, but could not guarantee
a Living Wage commitment for sub-
contracted care workers
✓ Westminster Council agreed to
work with us to tackle safety issues at
an underpass
Nottingham
Hosted a Delegates Assembly, with 202 leaders representing 33 institutions
pledging to work together on five campaigns:
1 Supporting homeless 16 and 17 year olds
2 Job creation in the city
3 Living Wage for retail and universities
4 Social Care
5 Hate Crime Commission
Birmingham
429 people attended the Birmingham Assembly.
Wins included:
✓ A pledge from the Clinical Commissioning Group Chair for a world class mental
health service for young people, including an interim service for 16 and 17 year olds.
Read more here
✓ Backing from the Police Commissioner to pilot the CitySafe scheme in Birmingham
Milton Keynes
260 people attended the Milton Keynes Assembly.
Wins included:
✓ A pledge to see the council pay directly employed staff at least the Living Wage
from April 2015
✓ Agreement to attend a presentation from our students on cyber safety and discuss
what the Council can do to help raise awareness of the issue
North
London
South
London
West
London
East
London
7 www.citizensuk.org
In association with
Û Ü Û Ü
Citizens UK exists to promote civil society.
We believe that public life should be occupied
not just by celebrities and politicians – but also
by everyday ‘organised’ people, demanding part
of the action.
So, just as the political parties are building their
manifestos for next year’s General Election, Citizens
UK has spent the last 12 months preparing a
‘Manifesto for Civil Society’.
Citizens UK Council Co-Chair Charlotte Wood:
“First we listened to what matters to our member
communities. Then we held workshops to address
the common themes they identified, inviting sector
specialists to help us shape each one into a
manifesto proposal.”
The proposals are true reflections of the issues that
matter in our communities. By bringing them to the
attention of people in power and those that vote for
them, we can make real change happen.
We know this process works: thanks to your actions
before the 2010 election, and the cooperation of the
coalition Government since, many of the proposals
we put forward then have now been carried out.
These include: a cap on the cost of credit, Britain’s
first urban Community Land Trust, recognition of our
Living Wage Campaign, and an end to the use of
immigration detention centres for children.
As the 2015 election approaches, we need to
start taking our new manifesto proposals to local
MP candidates, to our places of worship and
education, and ultimately to the polling stations.
The proposals:
1 Improved social care
2 Better public health
3 More permanently affordable housing
4 Restore the UK’s reputation as a place of sanctuary
5 Improve employment and training opportunities
6 Make financial institutions work for our communities
7 Promote the Living Wage as the norm for good employers
The Road to 2015 creating a manifesto for civil society
6 www.citizensuk.org
reweaving the fabric of society
l Would people in your institution be interested in getting
involved with the General Election campaign?
l Could you host a training session in your area so
we can build a diverse team, get out there and act?
Contact Citizens UK’s Tom Henderson, to find out more:
[email protected] t: 0207 043 9881
Û Ü
Citizens UK leader,
Barbara Nalumu
“We led the
campaign to end the
detention of children
for immigration
purposes because it
directly affected our
communities. At the start of the campaign
in 2009, 30 families from my own Ugandan
community were in detention – today
there are none.”
Case study
Case study
In 2010 we asked the political party leaders to pledge to end the detention
of children for immigration purposes. Earlier this year we celebrated as the
Immigration Act was passed, making this proposal law. Thanks to our campaign,
whilst in 2009, 1,119 children entered detention centres such as Yarl’s Wood,
in 2013 just eight children were detained in such centres (and then released
following age assessments), 103 were
held briefly on arrival at the border,
and 91 were held at the family-friendly
centre, The Cedars, for very short periods
before leaving the UK.
www.citizensuk.org/2014/06/end-to-
child-detention-written-into-uk-law
The Cedars.
Citizens UK’s General Election Assembly, May 2010, saw the three party leaders
address members and respond to the ‘People’s Manifesto’.
Living Wage
Campaign
With over half the families living in poverty being in-work, it’s no surprise that
low pay remains on the Citizens agenda across the UK, unifying communities
to act together and challenge local businesses and organisations to become
accredited Living Wage employers.
Citizens UK actions have been happening up and
down the country:
Father Michael Brown, Nottingham Citizens, led a delegation to
the Next AGM in May, asking them to lead the retail sector in
tackling low pay by becoming the first major retailer to
be accredited.
Bluebirds for a Living Wage Cardiff Citizens football action.
Islington and Cardiff Citizens targeted the top and bottom of
the Football Premier League, challenging their teams, Arsenal
and Cardiff City to be the first football clubs to accredit as
Living Wage employers.
Lambeth Citizens celebrated an important victory, as ITV became
the first national broadcaster to be accredited. The team is now
focussing their efforts on other high profile employers on London’s
prestigious South Bank.
Children from Haringey Citizens’ Willow Primary School said a big
thank you to Homes for Haringey as they presented them with
their Accredited Employer plaque.
Living Wage Foundation News:
Over 750 organisations are now accredited by the
Living Wage Foundation, an initiative of Citizens UK,
as Living Wage employers.
High profile sign-ups during 2014 have so far included
Nationwide, Clear Channel, Nestle and the National
Audit Office.
Earlier this year Aviva, an early supporter of the campaign, and
principle partner of the Foundation, cemented their commitment
to tackling in-work poverty. Read about their journey here.
Christine Deputy, Group HR Director, Aviva, said:
“Paying the Living Wage is absolutely the right thing to
do for our people, our business and the communities we
are part of. We have paid the London Living Wage since
2006 when it first came into practice, in 2012 we paid
UK Living Wage to all our permanent UK employees,
and now we’re extending this throughout the UK to
include our subcontracted workforce. I am pleased to
say this now completes the fulfilment of our long term
commitment to the Living Wage.”
www.citizensuk.org
reweaving the fabric of society
In association with
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l Help us celebrate accredited Living Wage employers.
If you spot the Living Wage employer mark or use the services of
a Living Wage accredited employer, tweet a picture to
@LivingWageUK.
You can find the list of accredited employers at
www.livingwage.org.uk/employers
I’m a Spurs girl, so taking part in an action to deliver
hundreds of letters to Tottenham Hotspur asking
them to pay the Living Wage was an important and
proud moment. I will be an even prouder fan when
they pay!
It’s great to be part of an organisation that supports
us to make change. Lots of groups do a lot of talking,
with Citizens we listen, talk, and build power to act.
My background is in nursing, so I have a special
interest in the Social Care Campaign. I think it’s
important we care for care workers, starting with
the Living Wage. BUPA spoke at the launch of the
campaign, and I want to see them introduce the
Living Wage to their staff.
Susan Greaves
St Stephens and
St Nicholas Church,
Manor Park, Newham,
East London
Joyce Thipa
Calvary Family
Church, Basford,
Nottingham
The first time our voice was heard! We have
been operating the church for over six years, and
had reported issues of crime and abuse against
us to authorities, but had no feedback let alone
assistance. Since joining Nottingham Citizens
we’ve been listened to, the Police have even
attended our church to talk face to face.
We held an Assembly with the Police and Crime
Commissioner candidates in 2012. We put specific
asks to them, and had commitments made publicly
to us. It helped me decide who to vote for.
We can hold them to account on their promises.
I am looking forward to doing something similar
with our MP candidates for the General Election.
Now we collaborate with a diverse group of
people; we didn’t have that exposure to diversity
before. Personally, I co-chaired a Nottingham
Citizens AGM. It was awesome, a great experience.
I would encourage other faith and community
groups to join. You benefit in a big way.
www.citizensuk.org
reweaving the fabric of society
In association with
Û Ü 9
Why I’m involved...
...our members explain what they enjoy
about their work with Citizens UK.
What’s your proudest
Citizens moment?
What are you looking forward to
in the year ahead?
What’s the impact of membership
been on you and your institution?
Q
Q
Q
www.citizensuk.org
reweaving the fabric of society
In association with
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Contact us:
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With thanks to Aviva for their support in producing this newsletter.
For further information about Citizens UK
please follow us at:
l @CitizensUK
l #cuknews
l www.citizensuk.org
l 0207 043 9881
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and help support the work of Citizens UK.
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If you would like to find out more email
[email protected]
or call 0207 043 9881
You can help us build a new generation of civic leaders
prepared to act together for the common good.
Please donate at www.justgiving.com/CitizensUK
Citizens UK is the home of
Community Organising in the
United Kingdom.
Citizens UK started life in the early 1990s when,
having attended Community Organising training
in the USA, Neil Jameson was inspired to build an
alliance of civil society organisations in the UK.
Following several years of patient relationship
building The East London Communities Organisation
(TELCO) was launched in 1996 at a public Assembly
of community leaders from over 30 east London
organisations. Since this first Assembly, the success
of TELCO and the Community Organising model has
led to Citizens alliances forming across London and
beyond in Milton Keynes, Nottingham, Birmingham
and Cardiff. Today, these local alliances bring
together over 300 member organisations that
represent the diversity and interests of civil society
in the United Kingdom.
These alliances affiliate to Citizens UK, the home of
Community Organising in the UK, which has a strong track
record of working with diverse civil society organisations
for the common good. We train local community leaders in
the principles of Community Organising so that with their
neighbours they have the power to challenge politicians,
councils, and businesses.
Community Organising is based on the principle that
when people work together they have the power to
change their neighbourhoods, cities, and ultimately the
country for the better. We work with people who want to
transform the world, from what it is to what they believe
it should be. To do this we listen to our members, asking
them about their concerns and developing strategies to
improve our communities. We ensure that civil society is
at the negotiating table alongside the market and state,
so that our communities are included in the decisions
that affect them.
We work in local chapters and campaign teams.
Find out more about what we do at:
www.citizensuk.org
Who
we are...