LGBT Consortium Newsletter

A monthly digest for the LGBT sector View this email in your browser

A warm welcome to the July edition of our Newsletter, which is full of news from the Sector, our Members and the LGBT Consortium Team.

Sector News  Organisational Health Check: Social Media Having a good online presence is so important and so this month our Health Check campaign is focussing on Social Media. We have gathered together a range of tools , written resources  and visual resources  to help you get the most out of Social Media for your organisation. Check out our July Health Check here Collaborative Opportunities Collaborative working is at the heart of everything we do and with almost 300 Members, ranging in size and capacity, we believe that all of them should have the chance to participate in our nationally driven, locally delivered projects. By telling us about your LGBT group when you join, we can form a good picture of the work you do and where your experience and interests lay. Based on this information (and through your group opting into our specialist networks) we will ensure that the right opportunities for collaborative projects get to your group. Please get in touch to find out more  What's Our Way Ahead? - Civil Society at the Heart of London An open event that aims to offer networking and a chance to contribute to a wider movement that is democratic, sustainable and supporiver:  build stronger communities look beyond existing polidy frameworks. Enable greater community voice Wednesday 12th July, 13:00 - 20:30. London Metropolitan Uni. More info from: matt@lvsc.org.uk Membership Benefits go Online We have revamped the Benefits we offer to Full & Associate Members and moved them all online to make it easier for Members to search for, and access the Benefits they are interested in. Please click on the links below to find out more: Full Member Benefits Associate Member Benefits We will continue to work on the Benefits we offer for other Membership types and bring them all online. A Fresh Start for the Trans Organsiations Network  We are very pleased to announce that after recruiting our new Trans Organisations Network (TON) Worker Shaan Knan, the TON will now be back and up and running and more effective than ever. If you are invovled in a trans group, or your LGBT group has a trans specific worker or project - get in touch! Good Governance Please.  Governance: noun the action or manner of governing an organisation We want to promote good governance to all of our Members. If you are struggling with any aspect of running your LGBT group, stuggle no more! You can either access our range of online information sheets and tools, or get in touch with your friendly Engagement Team by emailing Vicky or Philip or give us a call on 020 7064 6500 News from our Members LGBT Consortium Members Shortlisted for National Diversity Awards We are proud to announce that several Members of LGBT Consortium have been shortlisted for the Community Organisation Award for LGBT, at the upcoming National Diversity Awards 2017. We wish the best of luck to Proud2Be, Albert Kennedy Trust, ELOP and New Family Social. Shout Festival Joins Art Council England's National Portfolio Birmingham LGBT is delighted to announce that the  SHOUT Festival of Queer Arts and Culture is joining  Art Council England’s National Portfolio 2018 to 2022 announced 26th June 2017. Becoming a National Portfolio Organisation (NPO) will allow SHOUT to take a significant step forward in our work, our partnerships, and in delivering the festival. Read more on this story here Getting To Know Ourselves - Will You Share Your Story? The London Irish LGBT Network have received a small Emigrant Support Grant to gather stories of our community (and/or its parts). They have been recording interviews with a view to producing a printed (and online) book, a set of audio podcasts online and some video podcasts. Read more about this exciting new project here All five party leaders sign up to the Scottish LGBTI Equality Pledge Scottish LGBTI equality charity the Equality Network has welcomed the commitment of all five main party leaders to the LGBTI Equality Election Pledge. The Pledge calls for five actions on issues that are reserved to the UK Parliament, to deliver equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex people in Scotland. Read more on this story here Consortium Team News Paul - Chief Executive Officer What an eventful month it has been with the General Election, and in particular the aftermath. We are as shocked as others with the deal the Conservatives have done with the DUP from Northern Ireland and have been talking with one of our Members in Northern Ireland to ensure that our approach to this has their engagement and input. As organisations who have been working with their political sphere for many years we are keen to ensure those organisations have an opportunity to share their experience and realities of life under the DUP. We have written to the Minister for Equalities and trying to seek more collaborative media coverage involving our Members living in NI. Rest assured we will continue to make noise about the inequalities that could result from this shocking partnership and encourage anyone else doing the same to liaise with LGBT orgs over there, so get in touch if you would like to make new links. Vicky - Membership & Engagement Manager This month, rather than update you all on what I have been up to, I want to challange everyone reading this to take a second and really think about how healthy your LGBT group is. Our Engagement Team is on hand to work with your organisation so that it doesn't ever find itself in a pickle. Putting the right things in place now, such as good solid policies and best practice governance can save a lot of panic later! So get in touch or check out our monthly Organisational Health Check Philip - Engagement & Information Officer It's been another busy month, where I have been working on several exciting projects. We have revamped the Benefits we offer to Full & Associate Members and moved them all online, so that they are easier to search through and access. I have also been working on the early planning stages of our upcoming Conference & AGM in November, details of which will be confirmed in the coming weeks! Harri - Stakeholder Engagement Manager for the National LGB&T Partnership This month I’m travelling to Manchester and Brighton to run focus groups for the Care Quality Commission to support their work to improve their inspections by raising LGB&T voices into the discussions. Drop me an email for more info. We were involved in the development of a new resource on Housing, Homelessness and Health, and should shortly be launching a new piece of work reviewing the evidence and needs of LGBTQ young people in relation to mental health. As always, sign up to our newsletter and follow us on twitter to be the first to learn about new resources and opportunities. Jess - National LGBT Anti-Bullying Project Coordinator Delivery of the Anti-HBT Bullying project is now well and truly underway and our Alliance is working with a range of schools across England. As well as working directly with teachers, the Partners that make up the Anti-HBT Bullying Alliance are working on a range of lesson plans and information sheets - so that schools have access to all the resrouces they need moving forward. Shaan - Trans Organisations Network Worker I have just joined LGBT Consortium as the Trans Organisation Network (TON) Worker  - TON is a network for trans-specific organisations. This is a real opportunity for TON to explore together how we can build a useful and strategic network. I feel really enthusiastic about joining LGBT Consortium and look forward to working with all of you. I will be getting in touch shortly with TON members to get to know you all. (Please bear in mind that I work in this post only one day per week). In the meantime, please feel free to email me or give me a call on 07799 904292   New Members A Warm Welcome to our Newest Members! We are delighted to welcome the following new members to LGBT Consortium. Please click on the name of the organisation to find out more about them. Bi Pride UK BoxedIn Theatre Dharma & Martia EHS - Rainbow Club Harrington Park Press Pink Gazette Wandsworth LGBT Forum Events from our Members Upcoming Events in July Please click on the name of the event or the organisation's logo for more information.

Wise Thoughts #gayWISE Drop-in Thursday 6th July 5pm - 7pm Totnes Pride Disco Fundraiser Saturday 8th July 8pm - midnight Wise Thoughts #womenWISE Drop-in Thursday 13th July 5pm - 7pm Youth Group Monday 24th July 5:15pm - 7:15pm Queers Without Beers Thursday 6th July 6:30pm - 9pm Annual General Meeting (AGM) Sunday 9th July at 5pm Social Group Thursday 13th July 6:30pm - 9:30pm out 4 coffee Wednesday 26th July at 11am MindOUT For The Laughs Wednesday 2nd August 7:30pm