All change for the Equalities Board!

From 1st April 2020 the Equalities Board will begin 6 months of change, slowly becoming part of the Greater Manchester Older People's Network (GMOPN). The two remaining staff members of the EB team will work closely with the GMOPN staff team to support EB members to join GMOPN, and help GMOPN learn from the work of the EB. We will also work to make sure the EB's learning over the last four years becomes part of whatever comes next for Ambition for Ageing.

We were very sad to cancel our celebration event in March because of coronavirus. But we hope to find ways to celebrate the EB together later in the year. Stay in touch with us for more information - contact Clare at [email protected]

The Equalities Board and Coronavirus

This is a difficult time for everyone, especially for people whose communities are not local, and who may be feeling very cut off.

The latest issue of the EB bulletin has some resources that we hope will help.

This page has links to the coronavirus pages of each of the 10 GM boroughs.

This page has links to helpful information for community organisations.

What was the Equalities Board of Ambition for Ageing?

The Equalities Board (EB) was a group of people who know about discrimination and inequality from life experiences, or because of work. The EB helped Ambition for Ageing (AfA) project to understand what makes people equal and unequal. For four years AfA helped people around Greater Manchester to make their communities more "age-friendly" - better for people over 50.

The EB was supported by three part-time staff who organised meetings, carried out research and produced information on equalities and ageing. The EB helped AfA to help people in minority communities, and others who are marginalised (at the edges of society). If communities work better for marginalised people, then everyone gets a better deal and communities can be more age-friendly. We know that when people from minority communities have a say in making decisions, then things get better for everyone.

You can find out more about AfA from their website here.

You can download an easy-read leaflet about AfA here.

We want to make all our information easier to access. If you find this website hard to use, please contact Clare or Sarah at [email protected].

You can find a glossary explaining difficult words and phrases that we use to talk about equalities here, or on our resources page here.

What members said about their experience:

“The EB gives minority discriminated groups a voice and platform to come forward and be heard, and it is a good way to reach out to marginalised and equalities groups in Greater Manchester.”

“It is important for policy makers to understand the needs of marginalied groups, but often people in these groups are silent, or there is no channel for them to be heard. I am an immigrant and I speak English as a second language and have hearing loss; I tried to ignore the impact of this as I got older. In the Equalities Board, we can raise awareness of these issues, and influence Ambition for Ageing.”

"I have enjoyed visiting local delivery areas and seeing what they are doing in their communities. It is very important because it is older people in local communities raising awareness of the needs and interests of diverse older people."

"The Equalities Board has given me a way to meet people from other minority groups and start to see things from their perspective."

"Ageing Equally?" Research Reports Published

We've published five new research reports, and simpler research summaries, from the EB member organisations that did "Ageing Equally?" research projects. We also wrote an evaluation report about wht we learned from our experience of supporting them.

New EB Ways of Working Document

The Equalities Board has been working on a new agreement about how we aim to work together with respect and care.

For the EB's latest news click here

To search for our stories use these tags: ageing, Ambition for Ageing, Equalities Board

Do you have lived experience of marginalisation?

Would you like to be able to bring that expertise to the GMOPN?

We're supporting older people with lived experience of marginalisation to get involved in the Greater Manchester Older People's Network

Email [email protected] to find out more.

You can find out more about the EB by clicking on the About Us page or click on the button below.

You can read our publications by clicking on the Publications page, or click on the button below.

You can see some resources about different equalities issues by clicking on the Resources page, or click on the button below.