You are invited to our Youth voices listening conference, workshops & information fair on 22nd October at Anglia Ruskin university.
Official invitation to the Youth Voice Conference on October 2022, with the purpose of listening to young people around issues of safety.
The youth Voice conference is being organised in partnership with Essex Boys and Girls Clubs (EBGC), Essex Council For Voluntary Youth Services (ECVYS), Essex Police, The Violence and Vulnerability Unit (VVU) and Essex Young Assembly. There will also be a range of local partners, organisations and charities attending the day.
FREE lunch, and refreshments…. Plus a free goodie bag if you are lucky enough to qualify as a young person!
When: Saturday 22nd October 2022 Where: Anglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford Time: 10am – 2pm
This conference is aimed at young people aged 13 and over who live in Essex (including Southend and Thurrock) and want the opportunity to have their voices heard. The conference will focus on keeping young people safe in Essex and in their communities. There will be workshops, an information fair, speakers, the Essex Police Youth Strategy Launch and the chance to have your questions answered in a panel by decision makers!
(Please note that although we would love as many policy makers, commissioners and budget holders there as possible to listen to what young people are saying; spaces are limited and first priority will be given to young people if we are oversubscribed).
Topics that will be covered are:
– Mental health and wellbeing
– Staying safe in public
-LGBTQ+ and hate crime awareness
– VVU listening report findings
– Essex Police Youth Stagey Launch
– What to do in an emergency
– Where do you feel safe in your community
If you are planning on bringing a group of young people and need help with transport please get in contact.
Information Fair; opportunity to display-
During the conference young people will have the opportunity to visit information stands about local services, charities, organisation, opportunities and support around staying safe or around youth activities and safe spaces. If you would like a stand (or for us to display your information if you are unable to attend), then please email Rebecca at rebeccas@essexboysandgirlsclubs.org
If you or any young people have any questions please get in contact
The London Marathon Charitable Trust (LMCT) has provided a grant of £1 million to inspire activity in Essex.
The grant looks to expand the Find Your Active small grants programme, scale up Essex Pedal Power, and increase active travel opportunities in our schools and communities.
The RideLondon-Essex cycling event, which took place in May 2022 in conjunction with Essex County Council, has led to a new funding partnership between Active Essex and LMCT to invest £1 million to inspire more people to be active across the county.
Find Your Active
As part of Active Essex’s successful Find Your Active campaign, LMCT is powering a programme to support Essex-wide projects that help residents lead active and healthy lives. Organisations, groups and instructors will be able to apply for funds of up to £3,000 to help residents find the activity that’s right for them, via the Active Essex.
In light of the growing cost-of-living crisis, funding is being offered to clubs and groups who can help get residents to be active in these challenging times and welcome organisations to inform us of the support they need.
In order to capture the county’s love for cycling, The Active Essex Foundation will also be offering support to inclusive cycling initiatives along the RideLondon route, as well as skate jam opportunities for young people. Through events and cycling workshops, the Foundation will strengthen communities, enhancing local assets and providing opportunities for young people who are at risk, to try new activities and lead healthier, happier, more positive lives.
Schools will be encouraged to apply for the Essex School Active Travel Grant funding, to help promote healthier active travel methods for both pupils and families. Schools will be able to utilise the funding to start or expand their School Active Travel Plan and help overcome any existing barriers currently preventing communities to travel actively to school.
Building upon established active travel initiatives in Essex, the £1 million funding will also help to expand Essex Pedal Power; a community-based cycling initiative that has been piloted in Clacton and Jaywick Sands, where eligible residents can apply for a free bike, with the aim of making cycling more accessible for everyone. New Essex Pedal Power programmes are being planned for Colchester, Basildon and Harwich.
Catherine Anderson, Executive Director at The London Marathon Charitable Trust, said:
It’s great to have Essex as a new core funding area for us, thanks to the partnership between RideLondon and Essex County Council, and to have the opportunity to inspire activity in communities right across the county.
We’re proud to be working with Active Essex and The Active Essex Foundation to fund initiatives that will promote health and wellbeing – supporting more people to find an activity that’s right for them and building activity into their daily lives. We can’t wait to see the impact our partnership will have over the next year in helping communities across the county to be more active.
Sustainable active travel
Cllr Lee Scott, Cabinet Member for Highways Maintenance and Sustainable Transport added:
It’s great to see how the inaugural event of RideLondon coming to Essex is now having a tremendous benefit on Essex residents. It is my hope that this funding will have an impact on activity levels across the county and help provide further opportunities in creating sustainable active travel.
Active Essex and LMCT
Active Essex is the Active Partnership for the county and hosted by Essex County Council.
LMCT is the parent charity of London Marathon Events (LME), the organisers of RideLondon. All surplus from events organised by LME is gifted to LMCT, who in turn provide grants to projects that inspire activity.
Please note: we will continue accepting holiday grant applications for trips taking place before the end of 2022. Grants will be awarded until available funding has been allocated.
The purpose of the Holiday Grants programme is to provide access to recreational trips or holidays for groups of children who experience disadvantage or who have disabilities. In particular we are interested in contributing to trips that would not take place without our funding.
Please note we have removed some of the temporary changes we made last year to the types of trips we will fund, please read the funding guidelines carefully to make sure your trip is eligible.
Grant size:
£500 – £2,500
Length:
One-off short grants
Decision timescale:
6 weeks
Deadlines:
Submission dates vary depending when trips or holidays take place
Location of work:
UK only, with priority to the 20% most deprived areas
Funding covers:
Short holidays and recreational trips
Organisation type:
Schools, small charities and not-for-profit organisations
We award grants to those charities that are able to demonstrate quantifiable outcomes to beneficiaries. Typically, grants of up to £5,000 are regularly made and occasional larger sums are given to charities where high impact can be achieved. Similarly, smaller charities often benefit from smaller grants of £250 upwards.
You should meet the following criteria:
You are a small- to mid-size UK registered charity
Your application is not for salaries, building construction, general running costs, transport, financial deficits or overseas projects
Your application is not on behalf of a church, museum or an individual
You have not received a previous grant from The Foundation within the last 2 years (or submitted an application which was unsuccessful within the last 12 months)
When to apply
The Trustees meet four times per year to review grant applications. These should be received in good time before each meeting and at least 6 weeks before the meeting date. The forthcoming meetings are as follows:
02 November 2022
25 January 2023
26 April 2023
26 July 2023
Tips to aid successful applications
The Foundation receives over 1000 applications per year of which around 250 are successful. As a guide, you should:
complete the application concisely
include a breakdown of costs showing how the grant would be spent
clearly state the anticipated outcome or impact, together with who and how many people would benefit
ensure your contact details are accurate, specifically email and contact telephone numbers
include a copy of your most recent Statement of Financial Activities showing income, expenditure and a Balance Sheet
include a copy of the charity’s recent bank statement showing the bank account number and sort code
How to apply
Download the application form below, complete and post with any supporting documentation (including audited accounts) to:
If you would like to be part of the Warm Spaces initiative and have expressed interest to having a warm space for your local community during the winter, then please check out our page on the Essex Map.
The Essex Alliance and Essex Map are working with the county and warm spaces to provide the community with information on where they can find warm space in their area.
If you’re an organisation who would like to add your listing in relation to the warm space’s initiative you can do this be reviewing the information on our warm spaces page.
Or if you’re working with a client who would like information about warm spaces in their area please search the key word ‘warm spaces’ or search the category which is under halls & venues.
The Curve is a series of free, 90-minute workshops for third sector organisations. These online workshops aim to build knowledge around best digital practices, raise awareness of digital tools and ultimately help increase impact with digital. Workshops are open to anyone working or volunteering with a third sector organisation in the UK.
To apply for a grant, the following conditions must be met..
The committee must be officially recognised by the landlord of the site.
Must have a written and signed constitution.
Have a bank account with 3 signatories.
Have a forwarding address and named contact.
The Board of Trustees meet 4 times each year and any application for funding is discussed and decided upon at these meetings.
The amount of funding that can be applied for will be on the scale of £250 (Minimum) to £2,000 (Maximum) per applicant.
The amount of funding that is awarded to each applicant will be at the discretion of the Board of Trustees and may not necessarily be the total sum that is applied for.
If your completed application form is accepted it may be necessary for one of the trustees to contact the committee submitting the application so a telephone contact number should be shown.
Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (Cilip) to create a guide titled A Warm Welcome, which sets out tips and guidance for libraries who want to offer themselves as warm banks.
The guide says that warm spaces need to “be free to use and encourage people to stay as long as they want”. The space also “needs to be a friendly, comfortable environment where people feel at ease and at home”. Safety is also key, and the space should be accessible to everyone with those considering becoming a warm bank looking “at barriers that may prevent this, not just for wheelchair users, but also for visitors with additional or special needs”.
A survey earlier this year by Libraries Connected, a charity which represents public libraries, found that nearly 60% are actively considering taking part in a warm bank scheme. However, just 4% of library leaders expect to receive any extra funding for this activity.
Is your organisation thinking of setting up a warm space this year?
The Adult Mental Health and Wellbeing Team, part of Essex County Council, are running another Men4MentalHealth course starting in November. It is for any man feeling low, experiencing a lack of motivation, loss of direction, struggling in their relationships or struggling in any other way with their mental health.
The course is open to any man living in Essex (excluding Southend and Thurrock) aged between 18 and 65.
The course will be running on Tuesdays, between 5pm-7pm, held over 6 consecutive weeks. Start date yet to be confirmed.
Men can either attend in person or virtually. If wanting to join virtually, they can attend the session using their mobile/laptop/computer/tablet from the comfort of their own home and join with members at the in person session.
The location for the face to face sessions will be in Chelmsford near the train station.
We’ve already had some fantastic feedback from previous cohorts:
“the course gave me useful strategies for coping with mental health”
“it helped hearing other people’s stories and how even though we had different circumstances, we still helped and supported each other and had similar issues”
“I thought it was facilitated extremely well”
“I liked the fact that the group was online, because I was in the safety of my own environment, it was less anxiety provoking”
“it made me feel that I wasn’t alone. I now know that there are other people in the same boat”
“I was really in a bad place and now I’m out of that place, I’ve made friends and learnt a lot of things about my mental health, and learnt about other people’s mental health”
“I really can’t stress what a difference to my life you and Lucy have made… I can’t thank you enough.”
If you know of men who would like to attend, all we ask is for them to contact the team as soon as possible. The number is 0333 032 2958 and email is MH.wellbeingteam@essex.gov.uk.
If you have any questions please feel free in get in contact with them.
Supporting the arts, culture and creative industries in Essex.
The Essex County Council Arts and Cultural fund has been designed to help organisations and practitioners to deliver a broad and exciting range of work and activity to engage with and bring communities together.
*Open for Expressions of Interest for 2023 from Saturday 1 October to Monday 31 October 2022*
The arts, cultural and creative projects, such as festivals and exhibitions, all contribute to helping communities recover from the pandemic and play an integral part in enabling the objectives of Essex County Council’s wider objectives as set out in Everyone’s Essex.
Creative and cultural sectors are at the forefront of economic and social regeneration in our region. One of the aims of the fund is to provide a boost for the creative and cultural sector which will enable organisations and practioners to develop long term and sustainable future for arts and culture in the county.
The ECC Arts and Cultural Fund will offer artists and cultural organisations grants from £2,500 to £30,000 to deliver projects to help support and rejuvenate the Essex arts and culture sector, as well as the county’s towns and city high streets.
The fund will support projects, which will contribute to ECC’s Everyone’s Essex: The Plan for Essex 2021-2025 within the music, theatre, dance, visual arts, literature, combined arts, including festivals and carnivals, museums and the wider creative sectors.