NVSC - Newham Voluntary Sector Consortium
January 23, 2004
Not-for-Profit Sectors Praised
Held November 5th 2003, around 100 guests filled the St Marks Centre Beckton for our AGM and enjoyed the culinary delights of traditional Irish food, accompanied by a healthy helping of Irish folk music.
Representatives from the voluntary, faith, and community sectors, accompanied by a rather high number of council officers, enjoyed an afternoon of good food, good music and the all important business of taking care of business.
Recognition
Faith groups in Newham would have been delighted to hear Mayor Sir Robin Wales, give recognition to the valuable role faith groups play within our communities. The Mayor also gave recognition to the work undertaken by voluntary sector organisations, in the delivery of key services within the borough.
Service Review
However, despite this, the Mayor went onto say the Council would be looking at the way grants were allocated to the voluntary sector, stating, ëorganisations that had traditionally received grants in the past, may not always automatically receive them in the future.í
He went onto to suggest alternative ways the Council could provide support to the voluntary sector. One suggestion made was for the Council to assist the sector by taking on their administrative duties, freeing up time for voluntary sector workers to concentrate on service delivery.
Presentations
Secondees to the Councilís Neighbourhood Renewal Unit, Jane Wooley Project Manager and Caroline Wilson Monitoring Officer, unpackaged how the £26 million of Neighbourhood Renewal Fund (NRF) was being spent. Whilst Chigor Chike explained how the £28,000 Canning Town Outlook Project had received from the NRF, was helping refugees break down the barriers that have kept them isolated.
Board Members
In line with our constitution, one third of our board members stepped down, resulting in 2 voluntary, 1 faith and 2 community sector vacancies on our board. There was also 1 vacancy to represent umbrella groups. Having not received any nominations for the umbrella group or faith sector board vacancies and only 1 nomination for the community sector board vacancy, Mr Ola Matimiolla, of Clays Lane Training Centre was elected to the board. With 3 nominations having been received from the voluntary sector for only 2 vacancies, an election was held, resulting in Sue McCarthy of Age Concern Newham and Yutenda Onifade from Tulip Mental Health Group being elected to the board.
The Future
The AGM concluded with NVSC Director Sarah Ruiz reporting that an additional 3 posts were being created to help bolster voluntary, faith and community sector involvement at Sector Meetings and Community Forums.
Children's Fund fiasco
From April 2004, Newham ñ through Social Services, will receive a total of £1.9 million to provide services for vulnerable and disadvantaged children and young people, living with mental health or those with a disability or refugees.
If you are a service provider offering a service in this area, do not get excited, as you will be unlikely to get the opportunity to bid for a share of this money. Instead of this fund being open to all projects that provide services in this defined area, this money is merely being rolled over to the existing 36 projects that have been funded for the past 3 years. Such practice from a department who are normally so transparent and open in their grants is quite breathtaking.
Late Discussions
After much discussion, the Childrenís Fund Partnership Board, the body responsible for the allocation of this fund, decided to seek expressions of interest. However, the Director of Social Services subsequently overturned this decision. Many reasons were given not to accept expressions of interest and none of them stack up. However, it is the usual much loved Council practice of leaving it to the last minute before deciding how the fund should be allocated. Now, at the 11th hour there remains insufficient time and insufficient resources to conduct a fair process, affording those other than the current 36 funded projects, to participate in service provision with money from this fund. This now appears to be no more than a closed shop. Well shame on you Social Services.
No more limits
An informative half day conference for women wishing to start their own business was hailed a success by all those who attended.
Targeted at women from ethnic minorities the day included
guest speakers from Community Links, Street Cred, NVSC, and The London Re-building Society. A small unfunded community group based in Forest Gate, No More Limits was set up as a self help group in 1998 under the name The Active Women Association. Along with the name change in 2000 the community group also expanded its remit and began outreach to people suffering with depression and those recovering form a mental health problem. It also began to help raise awareness of HIV and AIDS amongst ethnic minorities within the borough. Speaking with Elevate, the founder of No More Limits she explained ëthe group helps women to reintegrate themselves back into the community. One of the ways we do this is by running workshops. We will be having 2 new workshops starting in January, a fashion workshop and a health and beauty workshop. These are really about helping women who are recovering from depression develop new skills and make new friendships. Hopefully we will be able to do much more in the future.í
If you would like to find out more about either of the workshops or the work of No More Limits then contact Elevate on 020 8250 7265.
Equal Opportunities Breakthrough Award
Achieving real progress in equal opportunity is no mean feat. Just occasionally though, there are significant breakthroughs ó a company initiative that really makes a difference; a negotiated settlement that creates a fairer workplace; a successful legal case that changes personnel practice. The Wainwright Trust wants to celebrate that success.
The Breakthrough Award, comprising a specially commissioned trophy and £1,000, aims to recognise the contribution of individuals in achieving equality breakthroughs. In establishing this biannual award for a significant contribution to equality in employment in the UK. The Trust is now calling for nominations for the next award, for work that has come to fruition in 2002ñ2003.
If you wish to nominate someone or yourself, for the award you can obtain further information by visiting www.wainwright.trust.btinternet.co.uk/apps_and_noms.htm or call David Bell on 01920 821698 or wainwright.trust@btinternet.com.
Supporting diversity in London
The Project - bassac, a national membership organisation helping to build and sustain a network of community development agencies and BTEG, which exists to ensure fair access and outcomes for black communities in employment, training and enterprise, have got together to work on a new project called ëProgress Through Partnershipsí.
It will look to promote stronger links between white mainstream and BME community organisations, particularly around the issues of Neighbourhood Renewal.
There will be support for the development of new partnerships and build on existing ones. Our aim is to increase participation from mainstream regeneration programmes through the creation of strong, diverse partnerships. The project will be delivered over a 2 year period across 8 London boroughs including Newham, through a series of seminars and manuals. It is hoped that the project would serve as a best practice model for the regional network.
Why PTP? - It is estimated that 70% of BME communities live in the most deprived areas in the country, yet it is widely acknowledged that there is a lack of adequate BME engagement in the Neighbourhood Renewal Agenda. It is hoped that stronger and equal partnership working between the growing Black Voluntary Sector and mainstream VCS will help increase this much needed engagement. Both sectors will be able to improve its capacity in being able to deliver efficient and relevant services to its users.
There will also be opportunities to explore new ways of working and learning together to broaden the horizons of the network and enable groups to make a stronger impact on government thinking on renewal initiatives. Plus increased funding opportunities for groups who are able to show they are actively working in diverse partnerships.
Questionnaires have been sent to various groups and interviews have taken place. The culmination of these will be a Networking Event to promote the project being held on Thursday 29th January 2004 at Stratford Town Hall. The aim would be to have an interactive forum for groups from various backgrounds to explore ways of building stronger partnerships that will influence community renewal in Newham.
For further information please contact Ade Fashade bassac Project Coordinator on T: 020 7735 1075 or email ade@bassac.org.uk
Help now at hand
For all small and emerging organisations and groups in Newham, guidance and one to one support is now available to assist you with developing an effective volunteering policy, draft volunteering agreements, and help to ensure your organisation follows the nationally agreed ëVolunteering Good Practiceí guidelines.
An effective volunteering policy will help attract volunteers to your organisation and improve the quality of volunteering management that is often favoured by funders. All this will be available from January 2004 and is being offered by the Volunteer Network Centre. If you would like guidance or assistance in this area or would just like to chat further about developing a volunteering policy, then please register your interest with the Volunteer Network Centre.
Telephone: 020 8221 4514/4603
Fax: 020 8221 455, or Email: gurdialbhamra@vncnewham.co.uk
or by post to City gate House, 246 Romford Road, E7 9HZ.
The centre also promotes volunteering activities and supports volunteer involving organisations. They hold regular networking sessions which provide a platform for sharing information, and raising concerns. Members engage in discussions to find solutions and are updated on recent developments. Local volunteer involving organisations can join the group by contacting the centre using the contacts numbers given above.