The search is on again for young people in Sandwell who are shining stars in their communities. 

Professionals working with young people are being encouraged to nominate teenagers who deserve recognition for their achievements.

The Sandwell Teenagers Achieve Recognition (STAR) accolades will celebrate the hard work and dedication of the borough’s teenagers.

Housing chiefs at Sandwell Homes are reiterating the safeguards they have in place to protect residents from potential bogus callers.

The advice comes following a spate of distraction burglaries across the borough targeting five pensioners in a week.

Every Voice Counts is an initiative which is running through the National Empowerment Partnership. This FREE course is running on 16th February 2010 and is open to any Disabled Person who lives or works in Birmingham, Sandwell or Walsall.

An Sandwell Homes officer has followed in the footsteps of Hollywood legend George Clooney after raising £740 towards the Disasters Emergency Committee fund to support relief work in the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake.

Clerical officer, Liz Need, invited employees to a fundraising coffee morning after being inspired by George Clooney’s ‘Hope for Haiti’ telethon last week.

Residents in the Oldbury Central area of Sandwell are being offered the chance to see proposals for forthcoming improvement works under the low-rise stream of the Decent Homes Programme.

The event will be a valuable opportunity for tenants to see proposals for the forthcoming works and to ask any questions that they may have about the programme.

Sandwell Homes’ community alarms service has been praised by an elderly tenant for making sure she was looked after during some of the worst weather the region has seen for years.

Lillian Gwynne, an 88 year old tenant from Oldbury, called the housing organisation’s temporary hotline number when her boiler broke during heavy spells of snowfall and sub-zero temperatures earlier this week.

A Smethwick council tenant accused of racially abusing and being violent towards a Sandwell Homes employee has been handed a court order to curb his behaviour.

Birmingham County Court gave 52-year-old Daniel Alfonso Burke a one-year injunction order following action by Sandwell Council's anti-social behaviour team, supported by Sandwell Homes.

Children in 10 Oldbury based schools have received hundreds of books between them as part of the Sandwell Decent Homes Partnership’s milestone celebrations.

Sandwell Homes has teamed up with npower and Indesit to give away 100 state of the art fridge freezers to Sandwell Homes customers.

The promotion is part of a trial on carbon saving technology called 'dynamic demand'. Winners simply need to have a broadband connection in the home and for it to be left on 24 hours a day. Click here for chance to win.

Sandwell residents with real trees brightening their homes throughout the festive season are being urged to recycle them once the festivities are over.

There are several easy ways to recycle real trees in Sandwell. For starters they can be broken up and placed in green garden waste wheeled bins ready for the start of garden waste collections in March. Click here for more info.

Sandwell residents are reminded that garden waste wheeled bin collections will not operate until the end of February.

Cabinet member for neighbourhoods and housing Cllr Mahboob Hussain said: "The garden waste collection service stops temporarily during the winter, as it is a slow growing period in the garden, when generally only a small quantity of garden waste is produced.

Tenants and leaseholders are being invited to have their say about the use of garages in Sandwell.

Consultations are being held between 14-22 December in order to help review policy relating to the occupancy and use of 250 garage sites across the borough. Click here to see where and when you can have your say.

Sandwell Homes has become the first organisation of its kind to have its environmental performance certified at the highest European standard.  

The company, responsible for managing 29,000 properties on behalf of Sandwell Council, has achieved eco management and audit scheme (EMAS) accreditation following its work to make the business and its customers greener.

Residents will be able to switch from Star Wars to Sandwell Homes with a flick of the TV remote this Christmas, following a move of its services onto digital interactive TV.

Anybody with a Sky or Virgin TV subscription can now access information about Sandwell Homes and the local community through the ‘interactive’ button on their remote control.