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I'd recommend a visit from CDX staff
Tuesday 17th August 2010, 21:08
You may have read in the CDX Ezine and blogs that CDX staff Emma and Sophie are keen to visit CDX members and find out more about what we all get up to. I invited Emma to spend a day in Dudley, which she did today, and we really enjoyed it.
I had cunningly arranged the day of Emma's visit to coincide with a meeting with colleagues to plan a Big Society event for our Local Strategic Partnership. We found it very useful to hear from Emma about some of the activity taking place around the Big Society idea, the people involved, and to find out more about what Big Society in the North are up to.
Emma and I then spent some time talking about work we have developed in Dudley around community influence, an empowering approach to engaging communities, and active citizenship. I realised that there are lots of opportunities to let CDX know about our work, and that CDX find it useful to know about what members are doing. And much as I found when Tanwir from CDX attended a community engagement network launch in Dudley, people seem to want to know more about CDX when they meet a member of staff. (Trustees of CDX don't seem to warrant the same level of interest - I'm not sure what we're doing wrong!)
As a result of my visit today I am going to join Emma's email discussion group about the NHS White Paper, and encourage others in Dudley to do so, in relation to a Strategy Reading Group session we are planning on White Paper. I'll keep CDX updated on our discussions around this, and also our Big Society work. I'll also be more proactive about promoting both my organisation's local activities and related CDX activities at the same time - to offer local colleagues opportunities to network both within and wider than our Borough.
Many thanks to Emma for taking the time to visit us today, and I hope she and Sophie receive more invitations from CDX members.
Lorna Prescott - CDX member (and Chair)