Toynbee Hall: March 2008

Tuesday, 25 March 2008

Transact debate: social landlords and financial inclusion

Transact debate: social landlords and financial inclusion
Transact hosted a debate with MPs and key figures from the housing sector about how financial inclusion work could help protect social landlords and their tenants from the impact of any economic downturn.'Weathering the Storm' will be chaired by David Orr, CEO of the National Housing Federation with speakers Steve Zebedee of North Somerset Housing, Julia Goldsworthy MP (Liberal Democrat spokesman for Communities and Local Government) and Karen Buck MP (Labour, Regents Park and Kensington North, with a special interest in housing and urban regeneration).The debate coincides with the launch of two new brochures which make the case for the greater involvement of social landlords in financial inclusion work. The first focuses on the social impact of helping tenants maximise their income and manage their finances better, and the second makes the business case for social landlords investing more heavily in this area of work. To download the first brochure click here, the second brochure will be available online shortly.

Transact News Page - Transact debate: social landlords and financial inclusion

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2008 Luke Leaving Toynbee Hall, London - a photoset on Flickr

How do I get housing?

How do I get housing?: "A Guide to Financial Capability for Social Housing Tenants

This guide is a resource for front line staff, social landlords and practitioners to use in financial capability work with social housing tenants.

Download the guide (PDF, 1.5 MB, opens new window)

The guide can be used for people who are new to the delivery of financial capability work or as a source of ideas, resources and prompts to those with more experience.

The guide may be used in several settings, including:

* life-skills courses for vulnerable tenants
* literacy and numeracy classes
* as a resource for your front-line staff.

Chapter 6 has been designed to support staff to act as advocates or champions for financial inclusion and capability within their organisation."

Thursday, 20 March 2008

Luke ... leaving

Luke and Jennie's Last Day Cake

The Handover

dBusinessNews :: Daily Business News Delivered to Your Desktop

DIRECTOR OF POLICY AND RESEARCH JOINS ACTION FOR CHILDREN NORTH CAROLINA

RALEIGH – ACTION FOR CHILDREN NORTH CAROLINA, a leading statewide nonprofit committed to improving the lives of North Carolina children and families, announces Alexandra Forter Sirota as Director of Policy and Research. Sirota joined Action for Children in November of 2007 as a Fellow in Economic Security. As Director of Policy and Research, she oversees the organization’s policy and data work, while focusing on strengthening the asset-building potential of children in families working below the poverty line in North Carolina.

dBusinessNews :: Daily Business News Delivered to Your Desktop: "Sirota has worked to promote financial health at Toynbee Hall in London, England, on the Services Against Financial Exclusion (SAFE) program."

So Eliot, do a Profumo. Metaphorically, get out the toilet cleaning brush.

The Ukrainian Observer: "'Call it quits, hunker down, and do the Profumo thing,' I said.

For those coming of age on the cusp of the Beatle years, you will recognize John Profumo as the English war minister who became caught up with the most sensational sex scandal of the 1960s. The episode involved Profumo, a Soviet spy, and a brunette named Christine Keeler.

The opposition party to Conservative Profumo shouted national security breach—very loudly. He resigned, and the prime minister, Harold McMillan, resigning a little later, saying it was for health reasons.

Profumo, utterly embarrassed, discreetly disappeared from sight, and reappeared only when his good charity works--which began with cleaning toilets at Toynbee Hall in East London -- started getting noticed.

Eventually, Profumo was awarded by Queen Elizabeth a CBE (Commander, British Empire), completing his rehabilitation from sinner to saint. He died last year at age 91. He is considered by this writer the comeback kid of political peccadilloes.

Folks like Profumo and Spitzer, who are independently wealthy, can do that sort of life-long redemption. The rest of us become taxi drivers or bartenders, or in the case of Bill Clinton advisor Dick Morris, caught with a prostitute in 1997, a columnist."

Newham Recorder - Young get tips on history

Newham Recorder - Young get tips on history: "Young get tips on history
18 March 2008
YOUNGSTERS who were given tips by several celebrities have marked the end of their oral history project with a film and audio showcase.

They have been researching and collecting oral histories from different generations including their own, on what it means to be young and grow up in East London.

The project, Trace, culminated at the British Museum on Friday, 14th March with a film and audio showcase of the recordings made throughout its duration. Trace is a Heritage Lottery Fund funded participant-led oral history youth project run by East London charity Toynbee Hall for 11 - 15 years old at a secondary school in Bethnal Green, Bethnal Green Technology College.

Joe Bell, London Trustee for the UK Youth Parliament gave a keynote speech. It was followed by young people from the project team giving an introduction to the documentary screening exploring the young people's generational identity and answering the question: What does it mean to be young and to grow up in Tower Hamlets?

Trace began in April 2007 and since then the young people have interviewed former MP Tony Benn about how politics affect young people, been advised by Jon Snow of Channel"

Wednesday, 19 March 2008

2008 March 19th (13)

2008 March 19th (13)
Originally uploaded by caledonianpark

Sunday, 9 March 2008

Revealed at last: the Ripper case book | UK news | The Observer

... every night tourists walk the same streets on a guided Jack the Ripper walk.

Ghoulishly.

Revealed at last: the Ripper case book
Police files giving step-by-step details of 1888 killings go on public display * David Smith * The Observer, * Sunday March 9 2008 *

NEIL reports at 3.45.a[m] 31st inst, he found the dead body of a woman lying on her back with her clothes a little above her knees...' So begins a vivid account on lined notepaper, by a Superintendent J Keating, under the heading 'Metropolitan Police'. The ink seems as fresh as a morning newspaper. Yet it is dated 31 August, 1888.This is one of the police reports filed just hours after Jack the Ripper claimed another victim in London's East End. It is one of numerous documents relating to the Victorian killer which, after more than a century in the archives, are to go on public display for the first time.Handwritten accounts from the scenes of the crimes, detectives' case reports, coroners' inquiry records, witness statements, photographs and letters will form the centrepiece of a major exhibition, 'Jack the Ripper and the East End', at the Museum in Docklands, London. Visitors will not be spared graphic descriptions, such as 'her throat cut from ear to ear', in the retelling of the bloody and gruesome crimes.'They are absolutely amazing,' said Julia Hoffbrand, curator of the exhibition. 'They were written on the day each woman was found, so as a step by step account you get a real sense of what happened. The documents bring home the fact that these are real people and real events. They are very moving.'The files were first kept at Scotland Yard, then transferred to the National Archives in Kew, west London. But due to their fragile condition they could only be viewed on microfiche. 'It's a rare opportunity to see the actual documents in the original ink,' Hoffbrand said.The police report of 31 August 1888 continues: Dr. Llewellyn, No.152 Whitechapel Ro[ad]... arrived quickly and pronounced life to be extinct, apparently but [a] few minutes, he directed her removed to the mortuary, stating he would make a further examination there, which was done on the ambulance. It has since been ascertained that the dress bears the marks of Lambeth Workhouse and deceased is supposed to have been an inmate of that house.'Jack the Ripper is believed to have killed five prostitutes in or near Whitechapel in 10 weeks between August and November 1888. More than 170 names have been put forward as suspects including the Duke of Clarence, the artist Walter Sickert, who had a morbid obsession with the killings, Montague John Druitt, a barrister who took his own life just after the last murder, and Michael Ostrog, a Russian thief. Books, plays, films and musicals have mythologised the killer and every night tourists walk the same streets on a guided Jack the Ripper walk.A letter purportedly from the Ripper to the police will also be on display. Dated 7 November 1888, the handwritten scrawl states: 'Dear Boss, I am writing you this while I am in bed with a sore throat but as soon as it is better I will set to work again on the 13th of this month and I think that my next Job will be to polish you off and as I am a member of the force I can soon settle accounts with you I will tear your liver out before you are dead and show it to you.' The letter, signed Jack the Ripper, has a crude drawing of a man, but remains one of many tantalising clues.Among the documents are witness statements to coroners as well as contemporary press reports. At the inquest into the death of Catherine Eddowes, whose mutilated body was found in Mitre Square in Aldgate, her daughter Annie Phillips tells of her father's separation from her mother: 'He had no ill will to my knowledge against Deceased [Catherine Eddowes]. He left Deceased between 7 & 8 years ago entirely on account of her Drinking Habits.'Like Eddowes, Mary Ann Nichols was found with her throat cut, in Buck's Row, Whitechapel. On her last evening alive, she is reported as having said: 'I'll soon get my "doss" money; see what a jolly bonnet I've got now.'The exhibition, which opens on 15 May, will also feature maps and recordings from people who grew up in the slums of Whitechapel. Donald Rumbelow, a leading expert on the Ripper and co-author of Jack the Ripper: Scotland Yard Investigates, welcomed the exhibition. 'To see the documents out of the mounts will be quite something.'

Revealed at last: the Ripper case book | UK news | The Observer

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Friday, 7 March 2008

Project Development Worker - Guardian Jobs in Charities > General

Project Development Worker, TOYNBEE HALL

* Employer: TOYNBEE HALL * Posted: 04 Mar 2008 * Location: UK * Industry: Charities - General, o Charities - Management * Contract: Contract * Hours: Full Time * Salary: Up to £26,500Employer logo Shortlist this job Email this job to a friend Job contact details View all jobs from this employerApply using the following method: ApplyToynbee HallLearning from local action developing national solutionsSalary: Up to £26,500, pay award pending from 1st April, plus employer pension contributions after six months. Current funding to 31 March 2009.Toynbee Hall produces practical innovative programmes to meet the needs of local people, improve conditions and enable communities to fulfil their potential. Fantastic opportunity to be in at the start of a new project to help improve services for those who have difficulty accessing basic banking services. Make a difference and make the most of your skills and passion for social justice and inclusion.You will be a part of Toynbee Hall's dynamic and fast moving financial inclusion team, and will use your excellent communication and diplomacy skills to persuade a range of people and organisations across the sectors to work together for a common cause. You will need to be able to make links between the banking and not-for-profit sectors, and make relevant our agenda to support the most excluded people to a profit-driven industry. You will be able to think rigorously and methodically, and be able to develop ideas from research into excellent resources and approaches to communication.For an application pack please contact recruitment@toynbeehall.org.uk or 020 7392 2921 or http://www.toynbeehall.org.uk/jobsClosing date: Thursday 20th March at 5pmInterviews: Thursday 27th MarchRegistered Charity No 211850

Project Development Worker - Guardian Jobs in Charities > General