Strengthening DPULOs Programme monthly update, no.1 – Feb 2012

As I blogged last week, the Strengthening DPULOs Programme is starting monthly updates to interested stakeholders about its work. Below is a copy of the first update, which was sent earlier today. If you didn’t receive it and would like to, just let me know your contact details in the comments or on Twitter (@rich_w) and I’ll add you to the list.

This is the first monthly update about the Strengthening DPULOs Programme.

The Programme was launched by the Minister for Disabled People, Maria Miller MP, last year. The aim of the Strengthening DPULOs Programme is to provide a range of practical and financial support to DPULOs to become stronger and more sustainable.

You can read an overview of the Strengthening DPULOs Programme here.

Programme news

Since the programme launched there have been lots of things achieved.

One of the main things people have been interested in is the types of financial awards we’ve made through the Facilitation Fund. You can read about some of the first round of awards made by the Programme in September last year here.

You can also read about the difference the Strengthening DPULOs Programme has made so far, in the words of DPULOs themselves.

We have recently published an Expression of Interest for some work we’re doing on disability hate crime. It’s called “DPULOs: Making a Difference”. We want a DPULO to bring together a collection of case studies for us on how up to 10 DPULOs have made a difference in addressing disability hate crime.

We have funding available, both for the DPULO that will coordinate this work and for the DPULOs whose work is featured as a case study.

To find out more, please read the Expression of Interest.

If you’re interested, please submit your Expression of Interest to Richard.Watts1@dwp.gsi.gov.uk by 5pm on Friday 2 March 2012.

One of the programme’s Ambassadors, Lynne Turnbull, will be speaking at a personalisation conference in March. To find out more about this, visit here.

To find out more about Ambassadors – who they are, what they do, and their contact details – please visit here.

Here are some blogposts the Ambassadors have written about work they’ve done so far:

• Mark Baggley – Visiting two DPULOs
• Rachael Wallach – Visiting My Life, My Choice in Oxfordshire
• Berni Vincent – A DPULO Ambassador writes

You can also hear more from Ambassadors – through video and audio – here.

Useful resources

One key part of the Strengthening DPULOs Programme is to share learning and useful resources. Some useful links to recent information we’ve published are below.

• Evidence from a research project considering a community empowerment approach to health – which is very similar to what DPULOs do in their local communities – shows it saves £3.80 for every £1 invested
• Governance is a vital issue for DPULOs. There is a whole range of governance resources specifically for DPULOs from work done by the Department of Health and hosted by DRUK (formerly National Centre for Independent Living)
• We gave a talk to research in practice for adults about DPULOs, which you can read about here
• The Programme was also kindly invited by In Control to do a webinar on DPULOs, which you can find here
• Community Catalysts is an organisation that provides a wider range of support for micro providers, including DPULOs. To find out more, visit here.

Find out more about the Programme

To find out more about the Strengthening DPULOs Programme, you can visit our website.

You can also keep in touch with the programme through our regularly updated Facebook page. This includes information that may be useful to DPULOs, as well as information about the programme too. If you are on Facebook, you can find us here.

If you are on Twitter, you can share information and find out more about DPULOs using the hashtag #dpulo.

As always, we’d be grateful if you can spread the word and publicise this news throughout your networks / newsletters / websites etc. We’d also be grateful for any feedback you have on this first regular email.

Contact us

For information, biographies, contact details and details of the areas covered by each of the 12 DPULO Ambassadors covers, please visit the Ambassadors page.

If you have any questions about the Facilitation Fund or any part Strengthening DPULOs Programme, please contact odi.businessperformance@dwp.gsi.gov.uk.

Please feel free to forward this information on to any DPULOs, networks or stakeholders you think might find it interesting. If you didn’t receive the original email, please share your contact details with us so you can receive our monthly emails.

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