For A Change articles from February 2001

For A Change archives from February 2001

Inclusive society must be global.
February 1, 2001... This issue of For A Change is about the need to build a world where everyone has the chance to make the best of their talents. In the developed world millions are excluded from the opportunities which their neighbours take for granted. They...

Towards an inclusive society: Lawrence Fearon describes himself as a `graduate of the streets'. He examines the issues behind social exclusion - and possible solutions.
February 1, 2001... Last November, 10-year-old Damilola Taylor was stabbed in the leg on his way home to a housing estate in Peckham, south London. He bled to death. Once again our society, asks, `Why? What has happened to us? The estate where Damilola died is...

Doorstepping for jobs: (Simon Pellew and Pecan (Peckham Evangelical Churches Action Network).
February 1, 2001... Since 1989 Pecan (the Peckham Evangelical Churches Action Network) has trained over 7,000 people in one of south-east London's most deprived innercity areas. In 1992 the area had the highest rate of knifepoint robbery in the UK. Street...

Gateway to the city: (group founded by Dirk Paterson).
February 1, 2001... Spitalfields, in East London, lies just outside, the square mile of the City, Britain's financial centre. While the City is perhaps the greatest wealth creator in Europe, nearly a third of Spitalfields' residents are unemployed. Eighty-three...

Preventive medicine of one-to-one: Karen Elliott Greisdorf examines the role of mentoring in youth and job-training programmes in the USA.
February 1, 2001... A familiar proverb reads `Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day. Teach him to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime.' This approach is particularly alive in the mentoring movement in the United States. With roots in the 19th century, these...

Magicaid: (entertainer Paul George).
February 1, 2001... Near the beautiful city of Canterbury lives a self-taught entertainer who spreads joy and happiness far beyond the British Isles. Paul George travels to crisis areas overseas with his show `Fred Bear and the Magic Mice' bringing magic and...

Cement for community: (Pierre Semaan - director of a large cement factory in Albania invests in his workforce).
February 1, 2001... Pierre Semaan, Commercial Director of a large cement factory in Albania, believes in investment in his workforce as well as in plant and materials. `It's not just about paying salaries, but also about developing people,' he says. When...

Inside influence: (University of Greenwich's art exhibition).
February 1, 2001... An exhibition, entitled `Inside Influence', was held last December at the University of Greenwich's Stephen Lawrence Gallery, featuring Vanilla Beer's abstract works. The exhibition focusses on the connection between the everyday and the...

Adding value for motorists and the unemployed: Paul Nouwen took a very different path from his famous brother, the devotional writer Henri Nouwen ...
February 1, 2001... Paul Nouwen is well-known in The Netherlands. For 13 years his name was synonymous with the country's largest motorists' organization Koninklijke ANWB (the Royal Dutch Touring Club) with 3.6 million members. Even though he has retired from...

Nottingham tackles `hinge issue' for Britain: `honest conversation' at Nottingham's Partnership Council is a key to urban renewal ...
February 1, 2001... Nottingham citizens enjoyed the symbolism recently in inviting Haven Roosevelt, grandson of former American President Franklin D Roosevelt, to open a converted textile factory in the innercity area of Radford. It will be used for new businesses...

Face of politics to come: what makes a strong society? The vitality of its community life, maintains Mike Lowe.
February 1, 2001... In Britain and the USA politicians have been sounding a new note--perhaps a little faint and uncertain at first, but sure to become louder as the century progresses. It is the surprising sound of the politician concerned with the moral and...

Testing of hearts.
February 1, 2001... How does a community of scholars from differing church backgrounds live together in a way that is recognizably Christian, especially when they live among the rival halves of the Semitic family in the Holy Land, Jews and Arabs? Part of the...

US cities dialogue on race.
February 1, 2001... Hope in the Cities (HIC), based in Richmond, Virginia, aims to `build partnerships for racial reconciliation'. When, in 1997, President Clinton announced that his administration would promote honest conversations across America `to lift the...

Finding food for the soul.
February 1, 2001... Ukrainian teacher Oksana Kuchman says that her `spiritual renovation' began when she joined a pilgrimage to the Catholic shrine of Lourdes in France. It was organized by her church in Lviv which she describes as `a beautiful, ancient town in...

I, too, have a dream.
February 1, 2001... We journalists are often characterized as rude, invaders of privacy, biased and even dishonest. But for most journalists, most of the time, this is inaccurate. Most simply try to do a good job. We often make mistakes, though we're not always...

Britannia's unfinished business: (Bishop of Liverpool's discussion on history and repetance).
February 1, 2001... On 11 September 2000 the Bishop of Liverpool took up the theme of history and repentance in his `Thought for the Day' on BBC Radio 4's `Today' programme. He has given us permission to reprint it. Beneath the dome of the Royal Albert Hall,...

Still time, but just only.
February 1, 2001... The euphoria and many of the good intentions evident at the start of the new millennium have died down somewhat. Those major commitments to change that were around on 1 January 2000 now seem to have sunk back into obscurity, as most people...