The Rank Foundation

Charity of the Month – January

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Humber all Nations Alliance (HANA)

Who are HANA?

HANA is a UK registered charity which aims to promote the well-being of black and minority ethnic (BME) communities throughout Humber and Hull. HANA aims to do this by providing BME communities with a voice, advocating on their behalf and by representing their interests in a range of influential or decision making contexts. As an umbrella organisation, HANA is composed of 50 BME constituted community groups, which represents most of the ethnicities, cultures and faiths in Hull and of the Humber region in general. HANA’s staff team and volunteers are able to speak more than 20 languages, which is an asset to community work and partnership development in a multicultural context.

Over the past few years, The Rank Foundation have supported HANA under the Foundation’s Hull Community Development Project, and provided the charity with a number of Time to Shine interns. HANA have recently appointed Brigitta Laszlo as new Chief Officer and have recruited a new intern, Badar.

HANA’s Projects

HANA provides BME communities with a number of services, including a hate crime reporting centre, mental health services addressing cultural sensitivity, employability training and school awareness workshops. In addition, HANA’s Eastern European Project, in partnership with the Humberside Police and The Rank Foundation, addresses the issues of Eastern European migrant communities. The Eastern European Project has helped forge relationships between the Eastern European communities and the Humberside Police, helping members of the community to understand that the Police play a supportive role in this country and that unlike other places, they should not ‘fear’ the Police, but rely in this institution when they face problems.

HANA is also one of the leading organisations in the delivery of cultural and community activities involving BME communities in Hull and Humber. HANA runs Ethnic Fashion Shows and a Football World Cup to increase cultural expressions and reinforce community cohesion. The Ethnic Fashion Shows are now well established in the City of Hull and attracts the attendance of hundreds of people, which helps the charity to promote and enhance community cohesion among people of all ethnic origins and backgrounds.

Contact details

If you would like to find out more information about HANA, they can be contacted through their website here.

Shapeshifter Productions

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About

ShapeShifter Productions is a not-for-profit art organisation, aiming to provide the community with high quality art and encourage people to get involved. Due to their fantastic work, The Rank Foundation supported the organisation with their Smiling Sessions programme.

The Smiling Sessions

The Smiling Sessions project was spread over 20 weeks, delivering 39 sessions at 8 different care homes and care services. The project reached approximately 180 elderly people, often facing social isolation with complex needs, long term health problems and disabilities. During the Smiling Sessions, elderly people were assisted to sing songs by the project coordinators and members of staff from the care homes (see photos of Smiling Sessions).

The sessions made a significant impact on the participant’s quality of life, as group singing stimulates memories, creates a sense of belonging and enhances social, emotional and cognitive well-being, whilst connecting and interacting people. The support staff assisting the sessions noted a vast improvement since the residents started attending, in particular, increased self-esteem, improved social cohesiveness between the residents within the schemes and improved concentration and memory. The staff also noted that shy, disinterested residents gradually light up, start to smile, tap their toe and start singing!

The project clearly facilitated communication between in-house residents and staff at the care homes; enabling social contact within a different environment, in which elderly people were seen in a fresh light. This has not only generated a new respect and understanding, but strengthened the internal community of the housing schemes, where people tend to feel very isolated.

Another event, which particularly brought staff and residents together, was the Tea Dance. Eversheds International Law Firm contacted Shapeshifter Productions in 2015, having identified the organisation as a charity they wanted to support. As a result, a Tea Dance was organised, with Eversheds supplying volunteers to bake cakes, decorate the hall and befriend attendees. The event was really well attended, with over 50 participants present in good spirits, feeling very happy and uplifted.

For more Information

For further information on Shapeshifter Productions, please visit their website here

Aiming Higher – Supporting Families of Disabled Children

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About Aiming Higher

Aiming Higher is a UK registered charity based in Blackpool, which supports families of disabled children to attend social activities by ensuring easy access to buildings, hosting family events at suitable locations and subsidising the cost of activities. The Rank Foundation supported Aiming Higher to update the equipment in their Ball Pool Room and Sensory Centre, which became worn and needed replacing (see photos of families using the updated rooms).

Latoya Sykes, Charity Administrator at Aiming Higher, described how The Rank Foundation’s support benefited the local disabled community:

”I would like to take this opportunity to thank The Rank Foundation again for their amazing contribution towards the new facilities in our building at Aiming Higher. We had a fabulous opening ceremony that was presided over by the High Sheriff of Lancashire, who came to open the new Ball Pool Room and Sensory Centre.  The completion of the rooms came at an amazing time, as we have recently been further supported by Children in Need. This made it possible for more children to be able to access these new facilities we have. Thank you again for your contribution, it really has had an amazing impact on the local disabled community.”

 

For more Information

If you would like further information on Aiming Higher, please visit their website here.

 

Charity of the Month – December 2016

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Dundee Comics Creative Space

Dundee Comics Creative Space (DCCS), developed by The University of Dundee, is a social enterprise which encourages learning through comics, supports aspiring comic artists and provides individuals with educational workshops.

What is our Relationship with DCCS?

Since 2015, The Rank Foundation have worked in collaboration with DCCS, who have been really willing to engage in all the Foundation’s projects. For instance, DCCS designed the front of The Rank Fellowship Charities Evening brochure (see picture), recently hired their first intern on our Time to Shine programme and supported Caitlin Mitchell, one of our Leadership Award Holders on her CAP placement.

Caitlin (see photo below of Caitlin out in Dundee delivering DCCS posters and flyers with DCCS Coordinator Damon Herd) thoroughly enjoyed her CAP placement and gained valuable skills by working at DCCS:

‘’A highlight of my placement was getting to sit in on some of the workshops, both with young people and with Advocating Together (another Rank-funded organisation), who are creating a comic about tackling disability hate crime with DCCS. It was fantastic to see how happy the young people are here and it showed how worthwhile DCCS is. I’ve had a great time and I thank the team at DCCS for making me feel really welcome.’’

I’ve also learnt lots of new skills, such as graphic design and website editing, which I will definitely use in the future. During my placement I’ve worked closely with other people in DCCS, such as working out social media strategies with Damon Herd the Coordinator, which helped develop teamwork skills. I’ve also done some individual work where I needed to be innovative and confident in myself, such as creating interview questions for each of the different groups of people I profiled.’’

For more on Caitlin’s experience during her CAP placement, please see the comic below.

Caitlin’s CAP placement also made a positive impact on DCCS, as explained by Damon:

‘’Caitlin’s main achievement was boosting the public profile of DCCS and the work we do here. She did this through a concentrated burst of blog posts on our website and social media platforms, designing the graphics for new print media and by interviewing staff, artists and the young people who attend our Comic Clubs and using this material in her promotional blog posts. She also collaborated on a comic’s project with Rebecca Horner, an artist here at DCCS.’’

Contact Details

If you would like to find out more information about DCCS, they can be contacted through their website here or at info@dundeecomicscreativespace.com.

Summer Rank Report: Daniel Oliver

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Daniel Oliver tells us about his experience as a Yapper, under The Rank Foundations Youth Apprenticeship Programme (YAP). During the programme, he spent numerous years working with children at Frenford Clubs and worked towards a degree at the YMCA George Williams College.

”Frenford Clubs was established in 1928 and has grown from strength to strength, currently with over 80 volunteers. Frenford Clubs aims to facilitate learning and development of young people through purposeful leisure time activities. A key focus of the organisation is the development of volunteers, as this is the cornerstone of Frenford Clubs history and existence.

Each year, Frenford Clubs runs an annual residential trip to Woodrow High House (see photo). During the trip, I was responsible for 20 young people, who took part in team building activities such as raft building, assault courses and drama. In addition, the young people took part in an inspirational public speaking workshop with Hussain Manawar, who won a competition to do a speech in Thailand and regularly does workshops in local schools. This really helped the young people, as they all got something out of the workshop, whether it was confidence or inspiration. At the end of the residential the feedback from the young people was very positive, with all rating the week as enjoyable. Furthermore, many individuals cited teamwork as one of the biggest factors in their learning experience and reason for enjoying the residential.

I feel that my development as a worker has progressed every year during my placement at Frenford Clubs, due to the experience I gained from working full-time, which enabled me to learn on the job, combined with studying for my degree. Completing my education over the last five years has been a long but fruitful journey, which has enabled me to learn a great deal about informal education and I look forward to putting the theories I have learnt into practice. I have now completed my degree and was awarded a 2:1 in Social pedagogy (Youth Work and community learning & development), which I was delighted with. Frenford Clubs are also in the position to keep me employed full-time, so I will be staying on as an assistant manager.”

Daniel’s line manager further describes how the YAP programme benefited Daniel and Frenford Clubs:

”It has been a wonderful journey for Daniel and for Frenford Clubs. Daniel has now developed into a senior youth worker who has taken on managerial duties, due to his confidence and maturity when dealing with problems and new challenges. He continues to be a favourite of the young people and leads a team of volunteer and paid staff on a daily basis. I would like to say a big thank-you to The Rank Foundation for the support and funding invested in Daniel. He is very much an integral part of Frenford Clubs and is definitely not the shy young man he was at his interview 5 years ago.”

Frenford Clubs still have big plans for the future, with planning permission in for the 11-a-side astroturf football pitch with floodlights. Frenford Clubs hopes this will help the organisation become more self-sustainable and secure the future of the club. Frenford Clubs are also aiming to boost female participation in their activities, which is going well at the moment, with female only arts & crafts, basketball, zumba and football as well as the mixed sessions. Disability projects are also a big part of the Clubs future, with wheelchair basketball and cricket already established, as well as disabled multi-sport sessions and independent living programmes.

Charity of the Month – November

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Essex Boys and Girls Clubs

Who are Essex Boys and Girls Clubs?

Essex Boys and Girls Clubs was set up in 1939 and works with young people across Essex and East London and at their adventure centers in Essex, Wales, Cumbria and Birmingham.  The charity helps young people to develop, by supporting 140 independent voluntary youth groups, which provide more than 15,000 teenagers with activities. The charity supports clubs which include activities such as cricket, boxing, football and outdoor activities, in the hope that this will provide teenagers with self-discipline, a ‘can-do’ spirit and a safe place to learn skills that will aid their future. In addition, Essex Boys and Girls Clubs run a range of projects with partner organisations, in order to help young people develop skills and confidence. These include The Duke of Edinburgh Award, National Citizen Service, The Arts Award and The John Muir Award.

What is our Relationship with Essex Boys and Girls Clubs?

Essex Boys and Girls Clubs, our longstanding grantee, have been highly supported by The Rank Foundation over the years due to their fantastic work. As they are a reliable and trustworthy charity, we have provided them with a number of Leadership Award students on their CAP placement, individuals on our YAP initiative and participants on our GAP program.

How does The Rank Foundation’s Placements Benefit the Charity and Individual?

Our placements are beneficial to both the charity and the individual, as the charity is provided with an extra helping hand and the individual receives relevant work experience and training. Sue Pell, the Fundraising Officer at Essex Boys and Girls Clubs, further explains:

‘’Having a Rank CAP student with us for two weeks helps us to give the young people we work with added support and encouragement, and in return, we are able to help the Rank student get a better idea of youth work and some of the challenges and adventures it can bring. Often the Rank students come to us from different backgrounds to the young people we work with, or have never had the opportunity to encourage and support other young people in the activities we offer.  Helping the Rank student to step up and take a level of responsibility within a group and watching them grow and develop is a privilege.  Many of the Rank students keep in touch with us after they have completed their placement.’’

Our 2015 Leadership Award Holder, Ishaq Raheel, spent his CAP placement at Essex Boys and Girls Clubs. He told us how his placement benefited him:

‘’Personally, I really enjoyed my placement. I met some really lovely people and learnt a lot about working with young people. For example, during my placement, I had to work alongside people with different severities of autism, which provided me with a developed understanding of how to work with people who have the condition. Furthermore, through observations of the site managers, I learnt how to manage a large number of young people.’’

Trieu Ho, from our 2013 Leadership Award cohort, explained how he overcame the challenges he faced during his placement at Essex Boys and Girls Clubs

‘’The biggest challenge I encountered during my placement was leading a group of young people during a crucial time, when they had to plan their social action project to give back to the community. There were individuals that were reluctant to participate, but I had to pull the team together and eventually they came up with a good plan for the project. I am proud to have assisted young people plan methods in which they can give back to the community and I am looking forward to seeing them execute their project.’’

Contact Details

If you would like to find out more information about Essex Boys and Girls Clubs, they can be contacted through their website here.