Northern Ireland Community Relations Council - About Us - Council Minutes

14 February 2008

Community Initiatives Committee Thursday 14th February 2008 CRC Belfast Unconfirmed Minutes

Present: Mr Michael Wardlow (Chair), Dr David Stevens, Mr Drew Haire, Ms Eileen Gallagher, Ms Libby Keys, Ms Maura Muldoon (Late Arrival)

Observers: Ms Jane Corderoy

In Attendance: Dr Duncan Morrow, Ms Jacqueline Irwin, Mr Paul Jordan, Ms

Roisin Montague, Ms Micháela Mackin, Mr Andrew Smyth, Mr Damien McNally, Ms Judith Hamilton (Minute Taker)

1. Apologies

Mr Barney Devine

2. Minutes of Previous Meeting, 13^th December 2007

Agreed

3.Matters Arising

Update on 1 Feb meeting with CRU re: CFP budget

Mr Haire said that a programme for Cohesion, Sharing and Integration was being developed which was bringing together ASF and Race Strategy together. He explained that CRU has secured an increase of £7 million pounds additional money (£22m to £29m) Mr Haire explained that £2-£4 million will be spent on the development of District Councils over the next few years. CRC has been asked to provide an indication of running costs over the 08/09 transition year. The programme for CSI has to be decided. Mr Haire said that the criteria for the CFP and CR/CD scheme was to be looked at and a consistency of approach would be important. He said it was CRU’s intention for local core funded groups to be moved to local Councils and for regional core funded groups to be retained by CRC’s Core Funding Programme. Dr Morrow explained that core funded groups should be allowed an extension of time for this transitional process. Dr Stevens suggested local groups should be told that their funding will only be extended for 1 year. Dr Morrow suggested using the term “initially for 1 year” to allow an opportunity for extension if appropriate systems were not in place in time.

Dr Stevens voiced his concern over Peace II funding coming to an end and what this means, in particular to North Belfast groups who were funded by this programme.

Mr Wardlow stated there was an issue around responsibility to groups who were funded through Peace II. There will be no Peace II extension so the question is how do we treat Peace II groups?

Mr Haire discussed the timetable for the Assembly Programme for Cohesion, Sharing and Integration before the end of March. He explained that bringing together “A Shared Future” had implications at central government, regional and local level. The allocation of an increased budget would have to be worked out in this transition year. Mr Haire suggested the setting up of a Working Group consisting of Council Representatives like DSD, DENI including CRC and CRU etc. He said it would be important for the working group to be as inclusive as possible for the success of the future transition period. Discussion took place on the requirement for a better system to be aware of inflows and resources being put into CR within an area and that every Department knows exactly what each area is receiving financially. Mr Haire confirmed that no additional money has been allocated for intercultural work this year.

Dr Morrow mentioned delays in RPA would have an influence on the impact of CR work with local Councils.

Ms Mackin suggested that the development of the Peace III clusters might be the best planning processes on which to land the transfer of local core funded groups.

Mr Warlow said that CRU funding is not tied to the Peace III cluster process and delays on decisions for RPA would entail working with 26 District Councils.

Mr Haire said that CRU will have issues if peace plans are coming forward and there isn’t continuity from funding offered through OFMDFM. Ms Irwin said that it is important to build an area based strategy and joined up Government. Dr Morrow said the scheduling of local groups being transferred to District Councils within 1 year would mean that District Council’s would need their application process set up by September 2008. Ms Mackin also highlighted that the evaluation of local core funded groups process would need to factor information exchange and learning that will be required to be forwarded onto District Councils.

Dr Stevens suggested that the working group being coordinated by CRU would need to begin in early March to get a better coordination of responses. Mr Haire said the Good Relations Panel would be a good place to start the discussion and would ensure this item would be added to the agenda of the next meeting.

The Budget

The Core Funding Programme budget for this year was confirmed by Mr Haire as the same as last year i.e. 1,391,000 to include an evaluation programme figure of £40,000 p.a.

Dr Stevens expressed concern about not meeting the demands placed on the Proramme. Mr Haire stated that CRC had not bid for extra resources and advised them that they were entitled to do so.

Dr Stevens enquired about allocating any extra money from CRU to applications from North Belfast as their needs will no longer be met due to the end of Peace II funding. Dr Stevens stressed the point that the summer season would bring extra tension and pressure to the area and this issued needed to be addressed.

Dr Morrow stated that he had written to the First Minister and Deputy First Minister about gap funding to which their and DFP’s reply was that there is no gap. The reality is that there would be no money spent under the Peace III Programme until September 08. . Ms Mackin explained that many groups working with victims were in the same position as groups funded through CRC’s Peace II 2.1 programme in that their contracts were due to end early this year. She said that some of the services supported though the 2.4b programme were mainstream services that were necessary to support vulnerable and traumatised individuals. Dr Morrow informed members that he had also written a letter regarding funding available at the present time for victims groups.

Welcome to new Evaluation Officer

Mr Wardlow welcomed Damien McNally, in his new post of Community Relations Evaluation Officer for Core Funding.

Mr Wardlow also welcomed Andrew Smyth, Project Officer for the Funding & Development Scheme to the meeting.

Conflicts of Interest

Mr Wardlow addressed the issues of conflicts of interests at the outset of the meeting.

Mr Wardlow expressed his thanks on behalf of the committee to the staff involved in organising and managing the papers for the meeting.

4. Funding and Development briefing papers

4.1 Core Funding Programme

Ms Montague advised that the final draft evaluation reports had now been circulated to all groups allowing 10 days for their comments. Only factual errors could be amended.

Ms Montague also advised that there was limited in-contract savings this year but groups had submitted a short business case requesting additional funding. These will be assessed over the forthcoming weeks.

Ms Montague explained that Forthspring had requested a review of the CIC decision in December. Mr Morrow stated that Forthspring carried out very important community development work and that Pathfinder funding or Community Development funding could be used to fund this. A pathfinder bid is going to the next Council Meeting.

Ulster Society have also put a review request to Council.

4.2 CR/CD grant scheme and F&D Programme initiatives

Mr Jordan updated members on his paper. He explained that the closing date for small grants was 14^th December 2007 which was working well to manage the last quarter of the grant scheme. The total number of applications was 38 which has now increased to 40.

Mr Jordan said that feedback from Information events that programme staff were attending across NI were very encouraging. In addition there were interesting events coming forward for CR week.

Mr Jordan informed committee that the call for new applications to the Research Awards programme had gone out and that the deadline for receipt of applications would be the 6^th March. Mr Jordan requested the Committee hold a meeting to look over the papers/recommendations for research awards prior to the next Council meeting on 10^th April.

Ms Keys issued her support of the small grants scheme and noted the energy and quality of projects coming forward.

Dr Morrow praised the small grants scheme system in that it augments, is responsive, targeted and levers good outcomes for small amounts of funding. He said CRC small grants scheme was renowned for its flexibility and recommended that CRC’s process be mentored to Councils in relation to what does good funding look like. He said that Belfast City Council had sought and attained CRC Programme Director and Assistant Director support in the organisation and management of their grant scheme, of which feedback was found to be vitally important. He said that the model of the Community Initiatives Committee was important in making decisions and there should be advisors to District Councils when making decisions on applications.

Funding & Development Programme Initiatives

Ms Mackin expressed her gratitude to her staff who prepared a great deal of papers for the CIC meeting.

Ms Mackin thanked the Committee members who were involved in the response to the Consultative Group in the Past. She said that the response was available on CRC’s website with an overview of models of practice. Feedback from Council members who engaged in the process found it a useful and comprehensive exercise.

Ms Mackin stated that 4 Victims Commissioners were announced rather than 1 sole Victims Commissioner. Legislation is being worked on in setting up a Victims Commission.

She informed members that funding for the Programme’s Core and Small Grants Schemes for groups working with victims had been secured up to March 2009. Ms Mackin indicated that additional money has been announced for Victims and is currently working on ideas with the Victims Unit (OFMDFM) for use of the small grant scheme as a method for some additional funding to be distributed. Ms Mackin also stated that feedback on a timetable as to when the new strategy will be in place is not yet clear – but imminent.

5. Methodology of Approach to Evaluation Process for Core Funding Programme in 2007 and Overaching Themes

Ms Mackin highlighted the process by which the Council carried out an in-house “interim” evaluation of 24 organisations supported by the CRC Core Funding Programme in 2007/2008.

Ms Mackin explained that Alison Keenan and Eimear Owens interviewed Directors, staff, group users and partners about their core funded work. An online survey was issued with 10 days allocated to respond, however, this was extended by a further 10 days. The survey had varying degrees of success, although there was an information deficit in many cases by way of obtaining email addresses from groups.

Ms Mackin said that all core documents – focus group and interview questions, a standard survey etc. can be made available for members upon request.

Mr Wardlow paid tribute to the work of the team in the delivery of the Evaluation Programme – Alison Keenan, Eimear Owens, Marie Darragh, Michaela Mackin, Paul Jordan, Roisin Montague and Damien McNally.

Ms Mackin highlighted that members would have been provided with detail on the overarching issues that were encountered by staff when engaging on the Evaluation Process, at an earlier meeting of the Joint Funding Committee in November 2007 (however time was a factor in the deliberation of such matters):

1. Race & Intercultural work

Committee formally agreed some years ago that in the absence of additional resources, the remit of the CFP could not be extended to include work with new communities. Dr Morrow indicated that since the work of the Council is to focus on Equity, Respect for Diversity and Interdependence the Committee would be required to give consideration to applications of an intercultural nature. Committee agreed to this however noted that no additional resources were forthcoming from CRU (OFMDFM) at this time.

2. Mainstreaming

Some funded groups had indicated that institutions were showing a reluctance to engage with difficult CR issues and this was a challenge to their work. Ms Mackin said that our advocacy and policy development work is important here. Committee suggested that the Good Relations Panel might be useful in understanding the extent of Government Departments undergoing Good Relations and Diversity Awareness Training.

Ms Irwin suggested that the group gather up a good evidence base for mainstreaming as the issue has only been discussed in a very general level to date.

3. Sustainability

Ms Mackin stated that the income generation model is the favoured model for CF groups when dealing with sustainability however this fee for service increases the competition re: tenders for work and reduces partnership working.

4. Partnerships

Ms Keys stated that there wasn’t a lot of clarity from applicant groups in what they meant by effective working partnerships. This needs to be made clear from CRC’s perspective.

Mr Haire suggested the possibility for sponsors to be more active in developing partnerships and to find out what the market wants.

Ms Irwin explained that partnerships and collaborative working needs to be made clearer.

(Ms Muldoon arrives)

5. Volunteerism

Ms Mackin stated that support for volunteers needs to be focused possibly through the CRC’s small grants scheme. There is a need for CRC intervention and a review of groups’ work in this area.

Local CF Groups v’s Regional CF Groups

Ms Mackin said that as a result of developments in the future relating to funding priorities and the role of District Council CRC requires decisions on which groups are deemed local and regional and those groups whose work is of a strategic interest to the Council and are not yet ready to be transferred to the District Council Programme due to risk/need for CRC intervention/steer/influence, etc. It was agreed by Committee that a decision would be made as to the CF groups’ future status within the programme as consideration is given to each group future award.

In addition, Ms Mackin reported that a Committee decision was required on how CRC will manage the evaluation process of local groups who will be in receipt of a 1 year extension. She suggested that reports, likely to be based on 9 months of work should focus on aims/objectives and the extent to which these have been delivered, a focus on the learning outcomes for the groups work and for the purposes of CRC and District Council and dissemination purposes for the wider CR network. Committee agreed with this proposal.

6. Mediation Northern Ireland – Special Request

(Mr Wardlow left the room – a quorum was maintained)(Regional Group)

Dr Morrow explained that the deficit anticipated by MNI last year was not as substantial as initially thought. In fact it was very little in comparison. It was agreed by committee that MNI should not receive the additional funding of £11 000. It was also agreed that Mediation Northern Ireland would receive an inflationary increase of 2½% on their existing award.

(Mr Wardlow rejoined the meeting)

7. Continuation Funding Review Reports

Interaction (Local Group)

CIC Decision - £56,534.00 (1 Year) 2½% increase on existing award

Ms Montague stated the Group had met their objectives and recommended offering them funding for a further year. Committee agreed with this.

Ms Montague also stated that the Administrators post would have to be publicly advertised. Committee agreed with this also.

Groundwork NI

CIC Decision - £27,755.00 (1 Year) 2½% increase on existing award

Ms Montague stated that Groundwork had met their objectives and had acted on 4 of 5 recommendations from the previous evaluation. As this was based on 6-9 months work she recommended extending their funding for another year. Committee agreed.

8. Proposed budgets – Continuation Groups

Mr Wardlow suggested giving 2½% cost of living on top of amount applied for to groups who have not asked for an increase on their existing amount of funding and the Committee agreed.

ICR (Regional Group)

Committee considered the budget submitted for the year 2008/2009 and agreed to continue funding at the current level with an inflationary increase.CIC Decision - £31,701.00

(Dr Stevens left the room – a quorum was maintained)

Corrymeela Community (Regional Group)

Committee considered the budget submitted for the year 2008/2009 and agreed to continue funding at the current level with an inflationary increase.

CIC Decision - £132,088.00

(Dr Stevens rejoined the meeting)

PAKT (Lurgan) (Local Group)

Committee considered the budget submitted for the year 2008/2009 and agreed to continue funding at the current level with an inflationary increase. It was also agreed to award an additional £3000 towards rent.

CIC Decision - £27,901.00

Interaction Belfast (Local Group)

Committee considered the budget submitted for the year 2008/2009 and agreed to continue funding at the current level with an inflationary increase.

CIC Decision - £56,534.00

Groundwork NI (Regional Group)

Committee considered the budget submitted for the year 2008/2009 and agreed to continue funding at the current level with an inflationary increase.

CIC Decision - £27,755.00

Workers Education Association (Regional Group)

Committee considered the budget submitted for the year 2008/2009 and agreed to continue funding at the current level with an inflationary increase.

CIC Decision - £46,783.00

9. Application for Renewal of Core Funding

Committee agreed that all local groups be funded for 1 year initially. Regional groups funded up to 3 years.

07/0712 Intercomm (Local Group)

Committee considered the organisation’s application materials and continued discussion from December’s meeting and agreed to continue to fund at the current level with an inflationary increase for 1 year initially.

CIC Decision - £24,218.00

07/0713 NBIN (Ashton) (Local)

Committee considered the organisation’s application materials and continued discussion from December’s meeting and agreed to increase their funding for 1 year initially.

CIC Decision - £80,098.00

07/0714 LINC (Local)

Committee considered the organisation’s application materials and continued discussion from December’s meeting and agreed to increase their funding for 1 year initially.

CIC Decision - £78,769.00

07/0715 Tides Training (Regional)

Committee considered the organisation’s application materials and continued discussion from December’s meeting and agreed to increase their funding for up to 3 years.

CIC Decision - £42,400.00

07/0716 Partisan Productions (Regional)

Committee considered the organisation’s application materials and continued discussion from December’s meeting and agreed to increase their funding for up to 3 years.

CIC Decision - £24,000.00

07/0717 WIP/Downtown Women’s Group (Regional)

CIC Decision - £20,077.00

07/0718 UPC (Regional)

Committee considered the organisation’s application materials and continued discussion from December’s meeting and agreed to increase their funding for up to 3 years.

CIC Decision - £27,454.00

07/0719 Tinderbox (Regional)

CIC Decision - £18,073.00

07/0720 BIP (Local/Regional)

Committee considered the organisation’s application materials and continued discussion from December’s meeting and agreed to increase their funding for up to 2 years.

CIC Decision - £65,403.00

07/0721 PRG (Regional)

Committee considered the organisation’s application materials and continued discussion from December’s meeting and agreed to fund at the level requested with an inflationary increase for up to 3 years.

CIC Decision - £87,729.00

07/0723 Community Relations Forum (Local)

CIC Decision - £32,525.00

07/0724 The Fermanagh Trust (Local)

Committee considered the organisation’s application materials and continued discussion from December’s meeting and agreed to continue to fund at the current level for 1 year initially. However, if post is not filled within 3 months (01^st July 2008) funding will be withdrawn.

CIC Decision - £29,588.00

07/0726 The Nerve Centre (Regional)

CIC Decision - £17,118.00

07/0728 SLIG (Local)

Committee considered the organisation’s application materials and continued discussion from December’s meeting and agreed to fund at the requested level for 1 year only as requested.

CIC Decision - £12,725.00

07/0729 BCDA (Local)

Committee considered the organisation’s application materials and continued discussion from December’s meeting and agreed to increase their funding for 1 year initially.

CIC Decision - £33,745.00

07/0730 174 Trust (Local)

Committee considered the organisation’s application materials and continued discussion from December’s meeting and agreed to increase their funding for 1 year initially.

CIC Decision - £44,000.00

07/0731 Trademark (Regional)

Committee considered the organisation’s application materials and continued discussion from December’s meeting and agreed to increase their funding for up to 3 years.

CIC Decision - £60,000.00

07/0745 The Junction/Holywell Regional)

Committee considered the organisation’s application materials and continued discussion from December’s meeting and agreed to fund at the level requested for up to 3 years.

CIC Decision - £86,773.00

10. New Group Applications to the Core Funding Programme

Fourteen new applications were received of which three scored above the threshold of 21. Two additional assessment scores were disputed and increased to a score of 21, which increased the number to five new applications to be considered for funding.

Committee reviewed the applications and agreed to decline the following groups on the basis of not having met the critieria/not scoring above the threshold of 21.

07/0835 Caw 2000

07/0844 Crossfire Trust Armagh

07/0846 Seymour Hill and Conway Community Association

07/0847 Smashing Times Theatre Co

07/0850 Beyond Skin

07/0852 Ulster Scots Cultural Trust

07/0853 Inter Estate Partnership

07/0854 Derry and Raphoe Action

07/0856 Bloody Sunday Trust

Groups that all scored above threshold of 21 to be considered for funding:

07/0851 Youth Action NI (full assessment – score of 19 increased to 21)

The Committee agreed the assessment score was too low and therefore increased it by 2 points. Committee discussed application materials and agreed that this was not a priority at this time for the core funding programme when other government departments had funding available for the Youth Sector.

CIC Decision – Application rejected

07/0845 Training for Women Network (full assessment)

Committee discussed the application materials and agreed that the organisation did not currently fulfill a gap in the core funding portfolio. There was also concern that their programmes were not sufficiently developed and therefore did not believe it warranted support at this time.

CIC Decision – Application rejected

07/0848 The Playhouse (full assessment)

Committee discussed the application materials and agreed that the organisation did not currently fulfill a gap in the core funding portfolio.

CIC Decision – Application rejected

07/0849 Public Achievement (full assessment)

Committee discussed the application materials and agreed that it was not a priority at this time for the Core Funding programme given other departments had funding available for the youth sector.

CIC Decision – Application rejected

07/0855 REACT Armagh (full assessment – score of 19 increased to 21)

The Committee agreed the assessment score was too low and therefore increased it by 2 points. Committee discussed the application materials and agreed that this group is carrying out some unique work but strict criteria should be set down for this group to work on a cross community basis. Funding was awarded at the requested level for 1 year only.

CIC Decision - £37,582.00

8. AOB

There was no other business.

9. Date of next meeting

The date of the next CIC meeting will be held on Tuesday 27^th May 2008 from

10am to 1pm at the CRC offices in Dungannon.