Category: Volunteering

NMP publishes its submission to Home Office on stop and search

Today NMP publishes its submission (below) to the Home Office’s consultation launched in July on the use of police powers of stop and search.

Our evidence is based on a six-week project of rights education and training with young people conducted over the summer in youth clubs, community centres and public spaces in Newham, which included a survey questionnaire addressing key issues and questions posed by the consultation. The project was supported by the young people who are part of NMP’s Youth Engagement Panel, which helped to design and test the questionnaire. Read more

Volunteer to become an NMP Community Legal Observer during the Olympics

This summer, the eyes of the world will be on east London during the Olympics. Communities across east London and visitors to the area will witness an extensive policing and security operation with up to 12,000 officers on the ground during peak days. A prime community concern is the impact of this on equality and human rights entitlements.

The need for Community Legal Observers has already been explored in articles both by NMP and its supporters in recent months. In short, we and many others based in east London are concerned about the impact that such high levels of policing will have on specific sections of the community, many of whom already experience disproportionate contact and often discriminatory treatment from authorities – young people, people from black, Asian, minority ethnic, refugee or white working class backgrounds – but we are also conscious that policing and security at ground level can impact on others including visitors for whom English is not a first language, students and residents. In recent times in Newham, community confidence in the police has been severely tested by the disastrous Forest Gate anti-terror raids, where two Muslim families endured a terrifying house-raid based on faulty intelligence, the inordinately high level of Section 60 searches compared to other boroughs and most recently the allegation of racial abuse by police from NMP case Mauro Demetrio. An increase in human rights abuses has been documented in cities where sport mega-events have been held in the past; it is therefore essential that communities in east London are strengthened to resist and challenge any infringements on their rights. Read more

Becoming a Graphic Design Volunteer

As a small community organisation we have limited funds. However, it is our aim to regularly produce a wide range of vital practical /educational and campaign information to distribute to the local community. Because of the nature of our work in responding to emergencies, this material is often needed very quickly.

If you have experience of designing leaflets / small booklets in a format ready to go to a professional printers and could spare us some time for free we would be extremely grateful. Unfortunately, we cannot provide either a computer or software for this – you would need to possess these already yourself. We would provide all the text / images and guidance of how we would like the information presented.

If you are interested, fill out our Volunteer Application form or contact us directly in the office to discuss it further.

Becoming a Written Translation Volunteer

NMP regularly produces information specifically for black and minority ethnic communities (BME) whose first language is not necessarily English. On subjects such as knowing your rights under stop and search or using our emergency line it is vital that information is widely available amongst BME communities as they are those most likely to be affected by these issues.

If you are able to offer to do occasional written translation of short documents – particularly if you have access to computer software containing the script for that language, although it is not essential – we would be most grateful.

If you are interested, fill out our Volunteer Application form or contact us directly in the office to discuss it further.

Becoming a Campaign Volunteer

Volunteer role
To support the work of NMP workers and MC in any campaigns NMP is currently facilitating / supporting.

What volunteers have done to support campaigns in the past

  • Provide practical support to the campaign by assisting NMP workers when we go out leafleting, helping to staff stalls at events, getting people to sign petitions, attending gatherings such as public meetings / vigils / protests etc.
  • Assist in producing campaign materials by helping paint banners, design leaflets, provide pictures for leaflets / annual reports
  • Attend campaign meetings held by NMP
  • Attend campaign meetings /events held by other organisations and feed back information from them to NMP. As we have quite a small staff team, this helps us stay in touch with what is going on a broader level
  • Help disseminate or distribute information on our campaigns out to local organisations / schools / community centres / individuals etc.

If you are interested, fill out our Volunteer Application form or contact us directly in the office to discuss it further.

If you wish to volunteer to assist with campaigns at NMP, it may be helpful to understand NMP’s key work first. The best way to do this is by volunteering to become an Emergency Service volunteer