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

START is designed to help 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 START programme Sandwell Homes also provides other training, such as induction courses for new members of Housing Service Panel members or new Tenant Board Members.

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 tenants and residents.

SCIPS also offer a wide range of training opportunities in addition to those provided by START.

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
• SCIPS ( 0121 544 1230 / 0121 569 3142)