H.O.P.E Training & Consultancy will be cellebrating 5 years of trading in April 2012. To read about the founder of HOPE Meena Kumari please see below :
Meena Kumari – Profile Notes 2012
Meena Kumari is the director and founder of H.O.P.E Training & Consultancy (Helping Other People Everyday) a BME Domestic Violence Training Company situated in the East Midlands. Meena started working for a Domestic Violence Help line in 2005 and in 2007 set up H.O.P.E Training & Consultancy and started to deliver professional BME domestic violence training across the UK.
In March 2008 Meena was awarded the Young Achiever of the Year award under the Women of achievement awards for Leicester, Leicestershire & Rutland. This award was in recognition of the Domestic violence work she has done within the Leicestershire area. In April 2008 Meena was asked by BBC Radio Leicester to become a regular guest and discuss Domestic violence Issues within the BME communities on the “Rupal Rajani Show”.
In August 2008 Meena was asked to present to the Black Workers Group For Leicester City Council “Climbing the ladder” theme and talked about running a successful training company on educating Professionals on Domestic Violence Issues. Meena was invited for lunch with the Lord Mayor of Leicester Manjula Sood in July 2008 to discuss interagency working and domestic violence issues within Leicester. In September 2008 Meena was awarded The Prince’s Trust Community grant and set up a National Conference on Honour Based Violence & Forced Marriages for November 2008. This Conference was set up in conjunction with Leicestershire Constabulary and Meena worked with young people from Leicester.
This conference gained national and local coverage as well as winning the Example of Excellence Award (BT Better World Campaign) in the way communication has been used to project such a sensitive issue. In November 2008 Meena was asked to be a guest speaker at the Mind Your Own Business – Enterprise Week event held by Leicestherday Trust.
In honour of annual Enterprise Week, the LeicestHERday Trust invited young people across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland to a very special and unique Mind Your Own Business event looking at how they can start their own business. In March 2009 H.O.P.E Training and Consultancy launched a DVD called “An insight into Forced marriages and Honour Based Violence”.
This DVD was launched in Leicester and attended by over 100 professionals. This DVD has sold over 80 copies from March 2009 to September 2009. This DVD was also nominated for a community Impact Assessment Award by the Princes Trust.In August 2009 H.O.P.E Training announced that it has trained over 300 professionals from Jan 09- Aug 09 in issues around Forced marriages and Honour based violence.
In September 2009 H.O.P.E was awarded a grant from Arts Council England to produce a play in Forced marriages and Honour Based violence with young people from Leicester . This play was written by young people and a drama company called Spaniel in The Works. In 2008 a conference was conducted which showcased this play. In 2009 H.O.P.E continued to train over 400 staff in FM & HBV and this increased to 500 in 2011. In 2010 Meena joined the east Midlands Housing group and started to manage the SAFE project for Foundation Housing.
This project was awarded a QAF level “A” within the first 14 months of running. In 2011 Meena ran the first Train The Trainer session on FM & HBV and also started to run 12 week programs for young people who had experienced forced marriages or HBV.
In April 2012 H.O.P.E plans to celebrate its 5th year Anniversary.