Management Committe

We are Sharon Anderson, Manny Oraka, Martin Ward, Neil Burton, Dana Brown, Man Yen Tang, Wenda Gordon, Gina Barrett, Susan Laffey and Suzanne Rider.

We are the Management Committee of People First Lambeth. We make all the choices and are in control of the Charity.

What we do?

We work hard as Directors. We don't get paid because this is a rule from the Charity Commission who monitor all charities in the UK.

To be a Director you have to want to help the charity and you must be able to work hard.

Here is a list of some of the things we do as Directors of People First Lambeth;

We manage the staff and manager and make sure they are doing their jobs properly
We set the plan for how much we have to spend and what we will spend the money on, called the budget
We control the charity but we still need a bit of help from time to time so we listen to what our members, our workers and our volunteers have to say
We hold regular meetings to run the charity. No-one can come to all of them but we try not to miss too many
We plan what new groups and projects we will offer and we help with the fundraising
We count how much money we have, how much we spend and how much we save
We choose all the staff that work here
We do all the jobs on the committee like chair and treasurer
Anyone can join the committee, as long as they are a group member and they have a learning disability
We read and check the minutes of the meeting and we sign them
We listen to reports about the charity from workers to make sure it is run well

The Committee is a friendly place. We all get on and work together. It is a team place. We think it's nice to talk in a group where people are kind.

We think that support is very important. This is what our members say is good support;

A Good Support Worker

supports you without taking over
knows and respects that people with learning difficulties are in control of their lives
listens to us
respects us
cares about us and wants to help us sort out any problems we have
should want to make things better for people with learning difficulties
should know that people with learning difficulties get treated less equally than people without learning difficulties
explains what choices they can see are available to people
helps us to understand things
supports us to work at our own speed

A Bad Support Worker

tries to take over the group
tries to control the group in whatever they are doing
does not listen to people in the group
mistrusts the members of the group by not listening to them
shouts at us
bosses us around
says nasty things
is moody
is patronising
is rude
rushes us
says personal things about people
tell other people what people say and does not stick to being confidential
says "yes do this" or "no, do that" without supporting the person with learning difficulties to choose for themselves