news and updates

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Job Preparation Training Courses

The Tower Hamlets Centre received funding from the Council to deliver a number of employment-related training courses this year.

We commenced with a Job Preparation course oevr 3 days in June 2008 at our newly-refurbished Tower Hamlets Centre. This course was attended by 12 local residents and covered subjects such as paying tax, interview procedures, filling in job application forms, and what kind of work is "out there".

Marcel Hirschman, an experienced Job Preparation trainer, was contracted to deliver the course and there will be more of these courses later on in the year.

Please see right for a photo of Marcel at work, and for another of the group.

In addition, we will be delivering Basic Skills (Maths and English) and IT (computers) courses throughout 2008 - 2009.

To complement this training our team of specialist Employment Advisors will be working with each service user providing them with assistance in:

• Writing and refining CVs
• Identifying what type of employment they would like
• How to become job-ready such as identifying internal and external training courses
• Looking for possible employment
• Applying for jobs
• Training in interview skills

Deaf Awareness Week 2008

deafPLUS was busy during Deaf Awareness Week which was held between 5 and 11 May 2008.

The Farnborough office held a display at Farnborough College and see right for a picture of our stand.

The Tower Hamlets Centre in Whitechapel held 3 displays in various parts of the borough and the East Acton Centre in West London held 2 displays, again in different places within the borough of Ealing.

1 Trustee, Alan Murray, and 2 members of staff, Rebecca Mansell and Kim Taylor, attended the "launch" organised by the UKCOD and it was an excellent opportunity to network over a glass of red!

It was a successful week for everyone. For more information about our activities during the Week. go to the "Events" page.

Lehman Brothers IT support

deafPLUS are the recent recipient of support from the Lehman Brothers IT team, who have been assisting us in considerable ways with regard to our IT (computers and Internet) infrastructure.

We needed some work to our Whitechapel network and the boys from LB were more than happy to oblige and now things are up and running smoothly.

And our website is changing over to a format which will make it easier to make changes by staff without having to go through someone with knowledge of web design, this is called CMS. Lehman Brothers are implementing this.

Once again to the Lehman Brothers team for all their assistance.

News about the financial year 2008 - 2009

2008/09 heralds a new era for deafPLUS, ringing in several changes. The previous structure of National Office being surrounded by "satellite" regions in the South, London, North and Midlands has been replaced by one which focuses on the services per-se.

As a consequence Janette Hewitt's position has been confirmed as Service Manager - South, her role previously was Regional Manager - South. Rebecca Mansell has been appointed to the position of Service Manager - London and Midlands.

Both Janette and Rebecca are now employees of National Office, rather than the regions or offices in which they are physically based. Janette's remit includes responsibiltiy for all MAS and lipreading contracts, while Rebecca has assumed responsibilty for all London and Midlands contracts.

These changes will result in a restructured website which is coming soon, placing the emphasis on the services and not the offices out of which they operate, as is currently the case.

After over 10 years as a Trustee and spending her final 12 months as Chair, Debbie Broughall has decied to step down. deafPLUS staff and Trustees would like to thank Debbie for all the work she has put into the organisation over the years and we would like to say to her that she will be missed.

Meanwhile, Peter Howes has taken on the position of Chair and Alan Murray of Deputy Chair.

Tower Hamlets News

deafPLUS Tower Hamlets secured a large contract with Tower Hamlets Council for 08/09 to provide a dedicated employment service for deaf and hard of hearing people living in the Borough.

Addiionally we received a grant for resources from the Council and this will be used to improve the IT infrastructure including a client management database, new furniture and other odds and ends, vital to the on-going development of deafPLUS as a whole.

The Tower Hamlets Centre has recruited 2 new members of staff, Clare Davies for the Employment Service and Maria Barroso for the Advocacy and Community service. Welcome to the team, Clare and Maria!

PQASSO

The East Acton Centre has just been awarded the PQASSO Level 1 Qualitry Mark.

PQASSO is a practical quality assurance system for small organisations, or for projects within larger organisations. It's a low-cost, straightforward quality system, written in plain English and designed specifically for voluntary sector organisations.

The PQASSO accreditation at East Acton will serve as a model for the other deafPLUS centres and roll-out will commence during the financial year 2008 - 09.

Many thanks to Mary Hicks, East Acton Centre Manager, and Lindsay Wood, EAC staff member, for working so hard towards obtaining this most valuable accreditation.