START (Sandwell Tenants and Residents Training) has been put together by officers from Sandwell Homes and SCIPS (Sandwell Community Information and Participation Services) with the support of a number of tenants and residents associations who also helped identify what sort of training should be included in the programme by taking part in a survey. We would like to thank all the groups that helped develop the START training brochure.

The START brochure is designed to help Sandwell Council tenants and residents play a more active role in housing matters by helping them to get the training they need and covers the training that any tenant or group can apply for.

As well as the training listed in the START brochure Sandwell Homes also provides other training, such as training for new members of Housing Service Panels or new Tenant Board Members. This training is always offered to such persons, and does not need to be applied for.

SCIPS also offer a wide range of training opportunities in addtion to those listed in the START brochure.

In-house training courses are run in Sandwell, usually by employees of Sandwell Homes, SCIPS or Sandwell Council. These courses are free of charge to Sandwell residents. They are run as and when there is enough demand, normally at least four interested people would needed before a course could go ahead. We will always try to hold the training at a venue to suit you.

There are also a  number of other organisations that offer training courses for tenants. The topics covered and the times that they are run will vary, but many of these courses are offered at a discounted rate for tenants, and Sandwell Homes may be able to assist with the costs of external training.

For further information, please contact either:

• The Community Involvement Officer for your town, or
• SCIPS ( 0121 544 1230 / 0121 569 3142)

:

• START - Sandwell Tenants and Residents Training Brochure