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The Manchester Sign Post
Welcome to the first ever Manchester Deaf Centre email newsletter. We're really excited to bring you news of developments at MDC, including the relaunch of our website, our personal and professional development programme WAITE and our very own lockdown viral sensation!
What's new at the Manchester Deaf Centre? We’re very excited to announce the relaunch of our website. It’s been given a whole new look and is full of improved features, including live feeds, staff profiles and an interactive booking system for courses, interpreters and rooms.

There are exciting developments happening in our bricks and mortar space too: our courtyard is getting a complete makeover to transform it into a social space for all Manchester Deaf Centre visitors to enjoy. Keep your eyes peeled over the coming months for more announcements on this exciting development.

We’re delighted that we have been successful in securing the contracts for the provision of BSL interpreters for Stockport Council and Stockport NHS and have negotiated higher rates for interpreters in line with NUBSLI guidelines. We strive to improve not just the quality of service for the Deaf community but also the working rates for our BSL interpreters so this is a proud moment for us.
BSL News Manchester Deaf Centre runs very popular accredited Level 1 and 2 British Sign Language courses. Our Level 1 courses starting this month are almost sold out – this is wonderful news and means more people want to expand their knowledge of Deaf culture and learn to sign. If you’re interested in securing one of the few remaining places take a look at our BSL Courses page.

All of our BSL / English interpreters have been so resilient and flexible during lockdown, ensuring that our BSL users have still been able to access vital services, appointments and information – thank you!
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MDC CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE’S SERVICE (CYPS) Our new Children and Young People's Service Leader Caffy Nassimi-Green started in June and is doing a good job. Welcome to the team Caffy!

We have recently consulted on and reviewed our provision for children and young people. One outcome of that process is a new partnership between Manchester City Council, Young Manchester and Manchester Deaf Centre which aims to refresh the recreational activities and accredited learning opportunities available for our children and young people, not just at MDC but also with youth service providers across the city, including The Prince’s Trust in Ancoats and Hide Out Youth Zone in Gorton. This partnership will provide access to new facilities, fun, informal learning and social activities, and a range of options around career planning, employment skills, enterprise start-up and independent living.

This summer, we worked with The Prince’s Trust for the first time, providing training in personal finance, employment, wellbeing and future planning for young people. The Explorer course was an important step in encouraging young people to get involved in sessions like this and all of our participants said they would like to continue learning or even step up to bigger things. 
CYPS has been working with The Conservation Volunteers to run outdoor sessions for young people who are D/deaf or hard of hearing, their siblings and also children of Deaf adults. Summer holiday sessions took place at Platt Fields Park and involved learning about weaving and natural dyes, taking part in a scavenger hunt and discovering the Japanese art of Hapa Zome (hammering out leaves on clothes).  BSL interpreters were on hand to ensure  full access to the activities. The sessions were running rain or shine – visit our Facebook page to see some photos.  

If you’re interested in finding out more about support and activities for children and young people at the Manchester Deaf Centre,
visit our website, or contact Caffy on 07557 121 667 for text, FaceTime or WhatsApp or at caffyng@manchesterdeafcentre.com. 
WAITE – Wellbeing, Advocacy, Information, Training and Employment at Manchester Deaf Centre WAITE has been set up to provide support for our clients in personal development and betterment terms and has been recently enhanced thanks to a successful National Lottery funding bid.

The MDC Wellbeing Group has been running for three successful years. It’s now led by our Project Support Worker Richard, who is also responsible for our Deaf Ex-Offenders' Support Group.
 
The Wellbeing Group provides our clients with the opportunity and experience to access different environments and activities with the aim that one they will day feel confident enough to access them independently. We run sessions two days a week Monday is always Art Club and on Thursday the activity is decided by the group. Past activities have included trips to the Chill Factor, Ten Pin Bowling, Flip Out trampoline park, a tour of Manchester City Football Club, a visit to BBC studios, and many more. 
 
Lockdown and not being able to meet has had a negative impact on some of our clients’ mental health, so in response to that we have been hosting the Wellbeing Group online. We’ve being using Zoom and WhatsApp to run a range of activities, to help our group keep in touch and to share news from MDC.
 
We’re also working with different organisations – SEA (Signing Enabling Access), All Saints (specialist mental health service for deaf people) and the NHS John Denmark Unit – to reach more D/deaf people who could benefit from the Wellbeing Group.

MDC is thrilled to introduce our new Advocacy Team. Claire and Tawona joined MDC at the start of July and have been working hard to spread the word about our new service. Huge thanks to the National Lottery for awarding us funding for these roles.

The Advocacy team can support with letter translation, finance issues, setting up GP appointments, making referrals to other teams, and many other issues. Please contact us on waite@manchesterdeafcentre.com  or 0161 273 3415 to book an appointment.
Two Employment Service staff, Dipti Patel and Anna Cunnington, help clients with looking for work, including voluntary work, applying for training, setting up a new business or with advice about a current business. 

Our European Skills Fund-supported employability training, Strive and Thrive, is back. The course gives our unemployed clients an opportunity to update their skills and build their confidence, covering topics like creating a CV and covering letter, applying for employment, and how to prepare for an interview. 
Fingers United Sign Language Performance Choir has recently worked with Chorlton based singing choir the Hemi-Demis to create a BSL translated version of ‘You Will be Found’ from ‘Dear Evan Hansen’. The performance has raised over £100 for MDC!
Deaf Ex-Offenders Mutual Support Group In partnership with Co-operative Mutual Solutions and with funding from the Movember Foundation, MDC is setting up a new mutual support group for male ex-offenders, a cohort within which unemployment runs at 60%, the prevalence of poor mental health issues and social exclusion is high. This is following the lead of successful mutual support groups set up for D/deaf ex-offenders in Lancashire.

For more information on the Deaf Ex-Offenders Mutual Support Group, please contact Anita Kanji on 0161 276 9339 or anitak@manchesterdeafcentre.com.

50 Plus Group Our
50 Plus Group will begin meeting again as soon as government guidelines allow 
to socialise, play board games and bingo, prepare and share lunch.

Please get in touch on toffr90olo@yahoo.co.uk for further details.
BSL goes viral!


One of the most heart-warming stories to come out of Manchester in lockdown was of Tallulah and her favourite delivery driver – Tallulah responded in BSL to his signed, “Hi, good morning, have a good day”. That driver is Tim, one of our fantastic clients, so we were extra happy to see the clip of the pair go viral. It’s been viewed tens of thousands of times across social media and news websites and has brought joy to many – well done Tallulah and Tim.
Fundraising Andrew Hallworth and Paul Creasey – who are good friends of MDC – are planning an impressive 25km hike to raise funds for us. There’s still time to get involved – if you’re interested in joining the walk please email Annie Roberts on aroberts@manchesterdeafcentre.com and we’ll be back soon with more information.
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Our mailing address is:
Manchester Deaf Centre
Crawford House
Booth Street East
Manchester, M13 9GH
United Kingdom

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