Happy New Year to all our Members, supporters and partners
We are aiming for 2025 to be our most inclusive yet and we’ll be placing a spotlight on some of our inclusion work this side of Easter. Below you’ll find details of a brilliant new initiative in the Staffordshire Moorlands, taking the long-established Pride movement and combining it with our commitment to Rural development, and a long overdue Pride in the Moorlands is born, thanks to the drive of the OUTSIDE project. You can also read the inspiring story of inclusion by and through the volunteers at member group, SAGE.
At Support Staffordshire we support and enable local people to make their community focussed ideas and dreams come true. So, whatever your idea for your community in 2025 – be that a community based on a place or a wider identity then give us a call to see how we can help. We are also learning and growing ourselves, with some bespoke development support through the Manchester Pride, All Equals Charter. And there will be more to come in February and March as we look at other aspects of our inclusion work.
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion is not only the moral thing to do, it is also the sensible and successful thing to do, enabling people’s skills and talents to shine whatever their personal identities and backgrounds, and often being enhanced by those lived experiences that we don’t all share. If you want some support with EDI at your organisation, again, drop us a line and check out our training.
Finally, this new year I want to announce that we have appointed our new Head of Operations for North Staffordshire who will take over the reins from Jill Norman who retires in March. The successful candidate is Baz Tameez, who will be known to some of you as the current Healthwatch Manager. Baz will say a little more in a February enews; congratulations to Baz on his promotion.
2025 is here, and we’re off…..
Garry Jones (he/him)
Chief Executive
Support Staffordshire
