Have you got a message you want to get out to the Essex Community? Do you have services that will help to support people in these difficult times? Look no further.
Simon at Essex Coronavirus Action will promote relevant and appropriate services through the ECA Facebook page. If you have anything you feel will be a benefit or any opportunities you may have. share them with Simon via email simon@blaireau.co.uk and cc in Kirsty – Kirsty.OCallaghan@essex.gov.uk
Essex County Council are integrating a new trauma informed therapeutic training programme as a way of renewing their commitment to securing the best outcomes for children in care.
The training will be available to anyone who may come into contact with a child in care – giving them a ‘trauma lens’ to better understand their experiences and how they can support them. Essex County Council have adapted quickly to the challenges of Covid-19 with the training sessions being switched to online delivery.
The programme has been developed due to the overwhelming evidence that the outcomes for children who have suffered trauma are much better if they live with families and are parented in a trauma informed way.
Fostering can be transformational for children who have experienced a traumatic upbringing but it can be just as life changing for the foster carers themselves.
We are continuing to work with Anglian Water to distribute grants from between £5,000 and £20,000 to local projects which are having a positive impact on communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Anglian Water operates at the heart of the community, and its employees live locally too, so they are committed to making this region a great place to live and work.
The pandemic has shown that community has never been more important, and that’s why Anglian Water created this Fund.
The funding programme is now open to receive applications from community organisations working in the Anglian Water supply area in Essex, that are supporting vulnerable, isolated and older people during this time.
Thurrock Soup event, taking place virtually on 12th February, on Zoom. See attached the flyer. To book on please visit www.thurrockvsoup.eventbrite.co.uk, we will again send the Zoom link to everyone who books closer to the date.
Its Virtually Soup!
Thurrock Soup is a fun, relaxed evening where you can have the opportunity to pitch your business idea to fellow contestants, for the chance to win money for your idea!
Hear from local experts in the business sector who can help make your business dream a reality!
Thurrock Soup is an innovative and inspirational series of events that help generate transformational social enterprise and business ideas from local people and create a way for them to receive seed funding to help turn ideas into realities.
The event will take place online, on Zoom. Everyone who books will be sent a Zoom login link to join the meeting via email closer to the date.
Typically everyone buys a bowl of soup and a roll for £5, the money goes into a pot, people pitch their ideas, then everyone votes on their favourite and the winner takes the money. However, this time there is already £250 waiting in the pot for the winner! This is thanks to our sponsor the Port of Tilbury.
Since the first event over 4 years ago, nearly £2,000 has been raised by the community and awarded to the previous winners. Read Thurrock Council’s press release on the inaugural event.
Click here for more information on the networking event.
The post of CEO/Operations Manager will be central to the growth and development of ISS and will play a leading role in the promotion of positive policies and practices on issues relating to Migrants, Refugees and other BME groups. Integration Support Services is a small charity based in Harlow, West Essex which consists of a small team of paid staff and volunteers.
The charity provides various services for the local community of migrants, refugees, asylum seekers and BME groups living in Essex and Hertfordshire. The examples of the services provided by ISS are English lessons for adults, social events, talking groups, immigration advice, women’s group, children’s Saturday club, hate crime report centre, etc.
The CEO/Operations Manager will have executive responsibility for the strategic development and management of the organization, the preparation and implementation of the ISS strategic plan as developed, and for the growth and expansion of the organisation, under the supervision of and with the support of the Board of Trustees. Reporting to the Chair and the Board of Trustees/Directors, the CEO/Operations Officer will have overall responsibility for service delivery, advocacy, policy development and research programmes.
The Covid 19 pandemic caused the charity to move all its services online. Previously we had a predominantly face-to-face service delivery model. We are financially stable with good funder relationships. Integration Support Services has a track record of good service delivery since it was founded by a group of migrant volunteers in 2007. This is due in no small part to the dedication and hard work of our staff and volunteers.
ISS board of trustees keenly anticipate the challenge of 2021 and beyond: we are looking for a Chief Executive who can share this challenge by planning strategically, delivering change, providing leadership and piloting us confidently through rapidly changing times. The board are confident that with the right leadership ISS will be able to overcome all
difficulties and turbulent times in our way.
Nearly two-thirds of people think that community groups and projects, volunteers and charities deserve more recognition, according to new research.
The results published today by The National Lottery Community Fund suggests the coronavirus pandemic has helped to reignite people’s interest in their local community and sparked a desire to be more involved in 2021.
The survey of more than 7,000 UK adults asked they were feeling about their community and their ambitions for their local area for the year ahead.
It found that almost seven in 10 people said they felt part of their local community.
About a third said Covid-19 had increased their sense of belonging, with a similar proportion saying the pandemic had made it more important for them to feel part of the community.
Slightly more than a third of respondents said more support for community projects and charities was one of the things they most wanted to see in 2021, and 30 per cent said that they planned to get more involved in their local community.
A greater appreciation has come with a firmer sense of the challenges their community faces and what will be important over the coming year, the figures indicate.
Top priorities that people wanted to see addressed in their community over the coming year were reducing loneliness and isolation, identified by almost 47 per cent of respondents, followed by helping the local economy and supporting mental health.
Many of the changes people would like to see are also behavioural, with half of the people surveyed saying they should care and look out for each other more in 2021.
Faiza Khan, director of engagement and insight at the NLCF, said: “Last year so many communities up and down the country demonstrated the amazing things people can do to support each other during challenging times.
“This research shows the power of that collective endeavour and the profound impact on how we feel about the areas we live in and the people around us.”
For more community and charity information visit Third Sector.
The government should consider setting up “charitable action zones” that would feature bonuses on donations to charities in those areas , a new report suggests.
The Policies of Belonging, published by the think tank Onward, says that communities need to be “levelled up” in order to repair decaying social fabric.
The document says areas where “a fraying social fabric has become ingrained” need concerted, localised support.
Voluntary activity in those areas could be encouraged by the establishment of “charitable action zones”, where organisations would receive additional perks on donations made.
Charities in the proposed zones could benefit from ideas such as tax relief on corporate donations made to them, the report suggests.
“The government could match Gift Aid donations to charities registered in specific areas directly from the taxpayer, to give philanthropists an incentive to support causes in the specific parts of the country that need the most support or have the public will,” it says.
A further reduction in the rate of inheritance tax paid by people giving at least 10 per cent of their estate to a charity that carried out the bulk of its activity in a charitable zone should also be considered, the report says.
“While politicians rightly place a great deal of emphasis on the economic divide in our country, the disparity in social fabric is at least as great and requires an interlinked programme of policy to correct it,” the report says. “Put simply, we need to level up communities too.”
The project was supported by a cross-party steering group of MPs and policy experts chaired by the Conservative peer Lord James O’Shaughnessy.
To read more information please visit Third Sector.
The Business Charity Awards 2021 entries are now open, take this opportunity to showcase the people and teams behind amazing corporate/charity partnerships and their impactful work.
The coronavirus pandemic has had a dramatic impact on our working lives, and created a raft of challenges for the voluntary and not-for-profit sector, along with their corporate partners.
The Business Charity Awards recognise and reward the amazing work the sector has done to combat these challenges, and celebrates the teams behind it.
This year, there are 25 categories which you can enter into, spanning across sector, partnerships and teams. We’ve introduced two new Coronavirus categories, which aim to reward the outstanding CSR work completed throughout the pandemic.
If you’re worried about self-isolating and losing income, don’t worry. You can apply for financial support if you need to self-isolate and cannot work from home.
Essex Gov has provided an extra £3 million to borough, city and district councils across Essex to provide one-off support payments of £500 to people who aren’t eligible for the Government’s Test and Trace support payment.
Charities are able to apply from this week for £4m in government and National Lottery funding to combat loneliness.
The first round of applications for the Local Connections Fund opened on January 5 and close on 26 January. The fund is backed by £2m each from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the National Lottery Community Fund (NLCF).
The funding is being distributed in the form of ‘microgrants’ of between £300 and £2,500 and is available to small charities, with an annual income of £50,000 or less.
Successful applications must have spent the money and finished their project to tackle loneliness by the end of March 2021. A second round of funding will launch in summer.