WISH Summer Newsletter 2023

WISH Summer Newsletter 2023

Welcome to our summer newsletter, yes it really is still summer everyone, despite what the weather may be suggesting, and here’s an update on what’s been happening at WISH during the previous quarter…

In our Spring newsletter we told you about some governance changes at WISH, with Debra Constance, one of our co-founders, stepping down as Chair and the appointment of Tracey McEachran as the new President for WISH. On retiring from the role as Chair Debra did a fantastic vlog with the Housing Quality Network (HQN) about her experiences and career challenges as a black woman working in social housing and this is well worth a watch!

Tracey then took up her position in April and has since launched her Presidential campaign #HearHerVoice. We were delighted that Inside Housing published a blog from Tracey  all about the campaign and why it’s so important.  We were then even more delighted when our friends at Ocean Media shared the top tips that we created to effectively hear women’s voices at conferences, with all of the speakers and facilitators of the Housing 2023 conference. The campaign is certainly gaining a lot of positive traction, only last week over 200 WISH members signed up to an online workshop and the feedback has been fantastic:

“Following the #HearHerVoice session this week I attended a  conference today and I thought to myself, I’m going to ask a question…I was a bit worried about doing so but the Chair had said at the beginning that ‘no question is a stupid question’ which really helped to set the tone…My question was recognised as a ‘really good question’ and the suggestion I made has since been taken on board.. I really don’t think I would have had the confidence had I not attended the WISH event. Thank you!”

It's great to receive such positive feedback about making a difference – watch this space for further #HearHerVoice events and guidance notes over the next quarter.

At the end of April we held our inaugural WISH regional board awards ceremony in London – to recognise and reward all the amazing volunteers we have working across the UK. See below..

In June we held or annual networking event in Manchester to coincide with the Housing 2023 conference. We must first of all say a MASSIVE thank you to our sponsors, Novus Property Solutions and secondly a thank you to everyone who came along and made the event such a huge success. We took the opportunity to create a corporate video during our Manchester networking event and we would like to say another thank you to everyone who ‘volunteered’ to be interviewed and filmed! Thank you! 

Looking ahead, we have lots of events advertised and open for booking on our website from across our regions. Please do check our events page out and remember, all WISH members can attend any and all of our online events, regardless of the region in which the event is being hosted, for FREE!

Have a wonderful rest of the summer everyone and I’m keeping my fingers crossed for better weather soon!

Read our Newsletter here...

https://mailchi.mp/wishgb.co.uk/wish-spring-news-9389651