We are now into the third year of the Enabling Wales Project. The time has gone so fast. All the participants from the North Wales and the Gwent Valleys training programmes have successfully passed their accreditation, and we are busy arranging the Graduation Events. Be sure to keep an eye out for upcoming dates which means we can all celebrate everyone’s achievements.
Over the past few months we have been working very closely with four disabled peoples’ organisations across Wales delivering business consultancy support along with Wales Cooperative Centre and DEWIS Centre for Independent Living (CIL). These four groups are very interested in becoming Centres for Independent Living. We have had some amazing ideas from each group and are looking forward to their progress. The tender for further intensive business consultancy support with Wales Cooperative Centre and DEWIS CIL is out and the deadline for submission is the 23rd of September, where two out of the four groups will be selected. The two groups who aren’t selected will still receive support from Disability Wales. We will announce the two successful groups on the 27th of September. So, keep an eye out!
We have also been very busy with DEWIS CIL on developing a session for County Councils and County Voluntary Councils (CVCs) on the importance of Centres for Independent Living and how both County Councils and CVCs can be involved on the development of CILs in their area. We will have our first session on the 15th of September
We haven’t forgotten the Young Enabling Wales side of the project. Indeed, we have a very exciting event coming up very soon and we hope all Young Enabling Wales participants will be able to attend. The event will concentrate on various issues young disabled people face and how we can look to tackle these issues together. So look out for the dates of the event, as more information will be coming out very soon. We will also be asking some Young Enabling Wales participants to join us in developing a Young Enabling Wales website where all the participants and more will be able to network and campaign so watch this space. If you want to find out more about the Young Enabling Wales Website and how you can get involved, please contact Rhiannon.
If you want to find out about Enabling Wales and how you could get involved in a Centre for Independent Living being set up in your area please contact Rhiannon Hicks, Enabling Wales Development Officer at: Rhiannon.hicks@disabilitywales.org.
