In 2018 we celebrate a hundred years of the first steps towards women’s suffrage in the UK. We say “first steps” because the journey towards women’s suffrage has been a long one. In 1918 the vote was only given to women over 30 who paid (or whose husbands paid) at least £5 in property taxes. (£5 in 1918 would be over £300 in today’s money.) In contrast all men over 21 could vote.

In this issue of the newsletter we will be highlighting some of the many amazing women that we work with, and women’s issues that we address.

Dominique Thompson is an expert in mental health issues. She talks about the tremendous cost to the economy of poor mental health. Training in mental health issues, and how to support employees who are struggling, can help stop problems at work.

An area we are interested in exploring is menopause awareness. Menopause symptoms vary widely between women, but some are affected very badly. Many companies have no policy for dealing with issues faced by staff going through menopause. We have been talking to researchers at Bristol and Leicester Universities about raising awareness of these issues.

Bristol Zero Tolerance, led by Charlotte Gage, does great work tackling gender-based violence in Bristol. Please consider signing up to their pledge.

We interviewed Vicki Morris, Chief Executive for the Care Forum: And read about our partner, Julie Close, Director of Southern Brooks Community Partnerships and their amazing work in South Gloucestershire.

We also introduce one of our new Directors, Lou Hart, who has a very impressive career in diversity work.

Finally, please take a look at our 2017-2018 Social Impact Report. We’re very proud of the work that we’ve done over the past year. With your help we’ll continue our social impact over the next 12 months.

Read our newsletter DN_issue12_4

Read our 2017-18 Social Impact Report DT_AR_6

Welcome to our first Diversity Trust newsletter. The Diversity Trust is three years old. We’ve come a long way and we’ve set the foundations in supporting organisations to have better equality, diversity and inclusion outcomes as our communities become more and more diverse. We’ll issue our newsletters quarterly and each newsletter will focus on a … Continued

Diversity News – Autumn 2015 Welcome to Diversity News, our Autumn 2015 newsletter, from the Diversity Trust. This newsletter highlights how we “reach out” to local communities. One way in which we reach out is by doing ‘Health Needs Assessments’ with communities across the West of England. So far we’ve assessed, and then published reports, … Continued

Diversity News – Winter 2015 Welcome to our Winter Diversity News. We’ve been busy bees over the last few months. We delivered training, which focussed on our core areas of equality, diversity and inclusion, as well as working to change health inequalities. You’ll learn more about our training in this issue of Diversity News. This … Continued

Disability Matters Welcome to Diversity News Spring 2016. This issue focuses on disability equality. You’ll see our disability equality trainers’ and consultants’. You’ll also read about updating your policies and documents so they meet the Accessible Information Standards, which comes out in July 2016. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) will check you’re complying. As always … Continued

Substance Misuse Matters Welcome to Diversity News Summer 2016. In this newsletter we’ve focussed on substance misuse, with special features on alcohol and drug services in our work and with others. We also included an update on Golden Keys in Bristol, how to make your documents accessible. We featured two reports about our work with … Continued

Mental Health Matters Welcome to our Autumn 2016 newsletter. Our focus this time is on mental health. We celebrated World Mental Health Day on 10th October and we wanted to share some information, ideas and stories with you about mental health. In the newsletter you will also find an update on our LGBTQ youth project in South … Continued

Welcome to our Winter 2016 newsletter. You’ll notice we called this newsletter issue The AGEnda, as it focuses on how our work supports older and elder people in our communities. You can also read about a research project at the University of Bristol. You’ll see updates from our friends at the Terrence Higgins Trust (THT). … Continued

Welcome to Diversity News Spring 2017. In this issue you’ll hear how we’re working with many services and organisations to bring communities together by supporting their Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. Our news-in- brief shows our Alphabets LGBTQ youth group in South Gloucestershire going from strength to strength. And we’re now getting ready to start an LGBT+ Community … Continued

Welcome to our Summer 2017 Newsletter! In this issue you will find out how Alphabets LGBTQ, our youth project in South Gloucestershire, has been working with local schools, as well as launching our latest film for schools. As always you can find out how to book our training on equality and diversity themes including specialist training … Continued