The Cedar Project
CEDAR is a resource for LGB/T people and our communities, and for Intercom's partners and stakeholders. CEDAR stands for "Community Experience, Data, Analysis and Research". It's our information and research project.
Community Consultation
CEDAR is the centre of the community consultation which underpins all Intercom's activities. We have a large contact list, which means that we can consult a very broad range of LGB and Trans people, with many varying profiles of being Out or not Out, about all sorts of issues. We can ask our contacts to help us with targeted research into people's experiences and their sense of community needs, whether in relation to community safety, health needs, fairness and equal ops in the workplace, policy issues like workforce-monitoring, and many others.
What's actually in there?
Community skills and knowledge...
LGB and Trans people have a lot of skills. In particular, we know a great deal about what it like to grow up LGB/T in the South West and elsewhere. We understand the issues of confidentiality and Outing from the inside. We know the sort of places where there can be problems---the family, the workplace, schools and youth services, social services, etc.---and what sort of problems these are. We know how some organisations have successfully mainstreamed equality, or tackled phobic crime, so we can put people in touch with good practice around the UK.
...and a research library
As well as our shared skills, Intercom has by now built up an enormous information-base of research, reports, press coverage, historical facts, academic works on sexuality and sexual behaviour, and studies on the roots of phobic prejudice. We've developed this information-resource almost without noticing it over the last ten years and more.
Many CEDAR research and strategic documents are available for download from this website, including our Peninsular Strategy The Extended Neighbourhood, and our big research survey report A Firmer Foundation. Have a look at our Resources page.
LGB/T Local Heritage and LGB/T History Month
One of the most important parts of this information base has to do with local LGB/T history. We are very glad and proud to be able to say that we have been awarded a Local Heritage Fund grant to support an LGB/T History Month worker for eighteen months, starting in June 2007. She will work with local volunteers to build up their own local LGB/T heritage events across the peninsula. For more information about this project as it develops, go to our History Month Project web-page.
Are you interested in using the CEDAR project resources? ---
- LGB/T local history
- legal stuff around equality, diversity, and LGB/T issues
- evidence bases for sound policy-making
- commissioning some reliable inclusive community-led research?
Or would you like to volunteer to be involved?
--Either way --- or if you just want to know more --- do get in touch!