NVSC - Newham Voluntary Sector Consortium
January 06, 2006
Connecting Communities
Connecting Communities Plus is a grant programme designed to support practical action that helps achieve the goals set out in Improving Opportunity, Strengthening Society, the government's strategy to increase race equality and improve community cohesion. The programme follows the existing Connecting Communities grant programme which comes to an end in March 2006. The grants will facilitate tailored initiatives to meet the specific needs of disadvantaged communities, rather than treating all BME communities in the same way.
Total Fund Value: £18,000,000 which will be distributed between April 2006 and March 2009. Strategic grants will be up to £150,000, and Project Grants will range between £12,000 and £100,000.
Contact Information: A4e Fund Grant, Distribution, St James House, Vicar Lane, Sheffield, S1 2EX. Tel : 0845 121 5195, or email them.
Awards For All
A Lottery grants scheme aimed at local communities with grants of between £500 and £5,000 are now available.
Awards For All fund projects that enable people to take part in art, sport,
heritage and community activities, as well as projects that promote education, the environment and health in the local community and you can apply at any time.
- The application form is short and simple
- There are links to guidance notes and sources of help
- You will be told if you are successful or not within 8 weeks
For further information visit
the awards for all website
FUNDING TO VOLUNTARY SECTOR PROJECTS 2006/2007
Newham Council and the Royal Docks Trust invite voluntary and community organisations, which serve that part of Newham south of the A13 Newham Way to apply for funding. Priority will be given to projects that offer services by assisting: The community and voluntary sector to provide services contributing directly to the regeneration of the area
Projects that include youth work and cultural, sports and leisure activities.
Projects that benefit older people and present opportunities for improving quality of life Projects that benefit and include work with people with learning difficulties or special needs and disabled people.
FOR APPLICATION PACKS AND FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT STEPHEN COLLINS ON 020 8430 2433.
Voluntary Sector Representative Profile
Elected Deputy Voluntary Sector Representative at September's Voluntary Sector Meeting, Paul Leslie Assistant Director of the Children and Youth Work Team at Community Links has worked in Newham for 13 years. We put some questions to Paul to find out his views on key issues regarding his new role in Newham’s LSP.
Asked why he decided to stand for the position Paul informed NVSC, 'I have long been interested and concerned about the processes and structures through which decisions are made at strategic levels. I believe that I have a personal and professional contribution to make, to enable the views of local people and the wider voluntary sector to be heard and acted upon and believe I can effectively communicate the views of the voluntary sector to the LSP.’
Paul continued to explain that he believes 'the voluntary sector has a role to play in determining the future development of services in Newham. The LSP is a major vehicle for change and local people should be at the heart of these changes.'
Through his representation of the voluntary sector Paul hopes 'to facilitate an open and transparent forum where current and future strategies are discussed and decisions are made which reflect the views and aspirations of the people of Newham.' He also hopes to ‘develop good networks between the LSP and NVSC and the voluntary sector and help to build a sustainable legacy of good partnership working.'
Asked what he felt his greatest challenges regarding the LSP were Paul said 'a number of challenges lay ahead, keeping abreast of all the paperwork associated with this role is a key challenge; however the greatest challenge will be our capacity to be heard and to have our views listened to and acted upon, to be really included in all facets of LSP decision making and to have our inclusion valued by the LSP.'
ChangeUp - Infrastructure Support for VFC's
What is ChangeUp?
ChangeUp is a government initiative designed to improve voluntary and community (V&C) sector infrastructure by 2014. Through it, the government aims to ensure that frontline V&C organisations have;
- the support they need to achieve their potential
- support is available nationally
- is effective and accessible
- reflects and promotes diversity and
- is sustainably funded
The Home Office Cross Cutting Review of the ‘Role of the Voluntary and Community Sector in Service Delivery’, identified key sector support needs as;
- Performance improvement
- Workforce Development
- ICT support and advice
- Governance
- Recruiting and developing volunteers and Funding
What is meant by infrastructure?
Infrastructure means the physical facilities, systems structures, people, relationships, knowledge and skills that exist to support, develop, promote co-ordinate and represent frontline organisations enabling them to deliver services more effectively.
V&C sector infrastructure organisations provide infrastructure functions (support, development, co-ordination, promotion and representation) to frontline V&C organisations often called umbrella or second tier organisations.
ChangeUp is a one-off investment to help V&C Sector Infrastructure Organisations support the sector more effectively and is not meant to deliver services but instead is to be used strategically, to develop plans for
sustainable improved services.
Who does what? - Nationally
ChangeUp money will fund national "hubs". These are partnerships around the areas of Workforce, ICT, Development, Finance, Governance, Performance Improvement and Volunteering. These are expected to be set up and running by 2006.
In London
Government Office for London has convened the London Regional Consortium: members include pan-London V&C sector networks and
funders. The Consortium advises on how ChangeUp activities are
developed in London and sets regional priorities.
In London, local Councils for Voluntary Service (CVS) and sub-regional CVS networks are facilitating the development of cross-sector partnerships to identify what their infrastructure development needs are. Each local and Sub-regional Partnership has been charged with submitting Infrastructure Development Plans which were submitted in October 2005. In East London, the Sub-Regional Plan is being facilitated by the East London CVS Network.
The London Regional Consortium will oversee the development of regional, sub-regional and local infrastructure development plans, with LVSC drafting the London Infrastructure Development Plan. The Association of London Government will monitor the process to ensure proper partnership working.
The Time frame?
March 05 Partnerships brought together and local and sub-regional plans in development
Summer 05 Consultation events on plans
Autumn 05 Local and Sub-regional Plans submitted to the London ChangeUp Consortium December 05 London Regional Plan out to consultation, March 06 Regional, Sub-regional and local plans all in place, all spend completed
More information on ChangeUp can be found at the East London CVS Network website
Association of Prostate Awareness
Each year approximately 24,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer and related illnesses and around 10,000 of those men will die from their illness.
Finding himself one of the 24,000, APA Chair Renold Reid found little personal support and spent hours conducting research into his illness.
Lack of Knowledge
As he researched, Renold learnt that Afro-Caribbean men had the highest rate of prostate cancer in the world and when he spoke to other men, found most of them had no idea of what the prostate was, or even what it did. Renold realised a need for accessible information and a forum in which men and their families could be educated and supported.
Realising he could not reach the borough’s men alone, Renold solicited the assistance of long term friends Lewis Boyce, Alfonso Grazette, Nigel Holligan, Michael Smith and Winston Vaughn.
As well as toiling over a name for the new group, the six men tirelessly researched how to get a community group off the ground and get funding, put together a constitution, liaised with health professionals and established vital links between themselves and prostate specialists.
The Launch
Launched on 26th April 2005, over 160 delegates attended the event hosted at the Newham African Caribbean Centre, Barking Road. Speakers and guests included Revd. Cllr Quintin Peppiatt, MP’s Lyn Brown and Stephen Timms, Dr. Francis Chinegwundoh, Specialist Urologist at Newham University Hospital, St. Bartholomew and The Royal London, Professor Timothy Oliver, Professor in Oncology, Ms Daphne Campbell, Special Urology nurse and Mr. Herbert Yearwood, Deputy High Commissioner for Barbados [UK].
Innovation Award
Impressed by the groups success in promoting and informing the community about the prostate gland, Mrs Sonia Harding of the North East London Strategic Health Authority nominated the group for the Equality and Diversity award.
Several weeks later APA received confirmation that they had been selected to receive the ‘Innovative Approaches for Improving the Health of Black and Ethnic Minority People’ award.
Future Vision
For decades, women have lobbied government for a programme of national breast cancer screening which has successfully reduced the number of breast cancer cases. However, there is no such co-ordinated screening programme for prostate cancer and as a result thousands of men die needlessly each year. Setting themselves clear objectives for the future, one of APA’s aims is to lobby the government in conjunction with other prostate groups for equality of healthcare and screening provisions. This comes at a time when national media have highlighted the lack of screening and co-ordinated care provision for prostate cancer suffers.
In the next two years APA also hope to establish a befriending service, operate an advice surgery and recruit further volunteers with a common vision. Further information about the work of APA and volunteering opportunities can be obtained by contacting them on 020 8471 2258.
PMF What’s it all about?
Over the past two months we have been working with all our partners to assess whether we are "fit for purpose" - that means in simple terms this is an assessment to demonstrate whether we are a viable organisation for delivering community engagement.
Firstly thank you to all of you for participating with such enthusiasm - we held meetings with all of our partners. All of the information - the scores and the comments were fed back to a panel who came up with our final assessment.
Throughout this process we were supported and advised by Chris Sims who is a Neighbourhood Renewal Advisor. Chris also facilitated meetings with our statutory partners - the Council, Health and the Police. The PMF process has raised many issues and provided the opportunity to consider the strengths and weaknesses of the organisation and to make proposals about how to progress the issues raised.
The final document will be presented to the Executive Board of the Local Strategic Partnership. Once it has been agreed the full report will be available on our website.
Week of Worship
The first project to materialise from the Faith Action Plan (Education Workshop) 'Visit a place of worship week' took place in October. The aim of the project was to foster links between faith communities and schools. Its objective was to enable schools to develop the practice of visiting places of worship and to widen the children's knowledge and understanding of other faiths.
The places of worship that confirmed their participation were provided with a pack of information and ideas to explain the purpose of visiting places of worship for children of different ages, as well as tips on how to answer questions that the children may ask. They were also invited to a training session which included topics like hosting a visit, examples of good practice, types of questions that may be asked as well as understanding how members of faith communities can
support children's learning during these visits.
A successful event, over 40 schools participated with over 1000 children attending 60 places of worship. The children were asked to produce a piece of work of their visit which was exhibited at the Credon Centre on 13th November and prizes were given for the best individual and best class work. This project received very positive feedback. Many schools said they are delighted to have this resource of contacts for 60 places of worship. In addition heads of secondary schools have requested this to be an annual event.
Workforce Development Strategy
The East London CVS Network [ELN] is facilitating the development of a Workforce Development Strategy for the Voluntary and Community Sector in East London. The first stage is collecting the sectors in the sub-region by using a CD-rom which collates information on staff within organisations such as position held, qualifications, training needs and information on staff movement.
They therefore need to recruit 500 organisations willing to take part in the data gathering pilot project. Those willing to be part will receive free training in using the CD-rom, the license fee paid for the initial 12 months (usually £25) the basis for an organisational training and development strategy, individual training records showing when training is due and organisational training records.
The ability to hold and use this information will help to manage staff development by recording Appraisals/ Supervisions. The system also helps prove commitment to Investment in People and PQASSO for those organisations developing quality standards.
This information will then be placed anonymously on a database which will be used to inform future investment for skills and workforce development. It will show that the sector needs to have a workforce which is recognised as having the skills and abilities needed to provide quality services. The centralised data will show the extent of the voluntary and community sector in East London and the sheer amount of work which is undertaken by organisations. Voluntary and community organisations will also be able to access this information to use in research and funding applications.
For further information and/or to get involved in the this exciting pilot project contact: Alice Wallace on 01708 77 8060 or alice wallace
Newham Wins Diabetes UK Volunteer Achievement Award
Clare Mehmet, Jayanti Solanki and Marilyn Johnson have been awarded the Diabetes UK Volunteer Achievement Award 2005 for Communication. The award ceremony held in September
during the Diabetes UK Volunteering Conference Gala Dinner in Coventry saw Marilyn Johnson collect the award on behalf of her colleagues from Sir Michael Hirst, Chairman Diabetes UK. The award is for excellent communication in raising awareness about diabetes and Diabetes UK.
Volunteers Needed
One World Foundation Africa is seeking organisations that are willing to offer short term volunteer opportunities for young refugees and asylum seekers. If you could use an extra pair of hands, please contact us on 020 8555 0788 or lianne
Room for hire
Helping Hands in Plaistow have recently extended their premises to include a retreat facility. The large room will accommodate up to 30 people and is available for meetings and worship. It is also available for individuals needing a quiet space. Contact Br. Julian on 7474 1122 for details.
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