The United in Kind coach for Epping Forest, Ayesha Lawrence, is now on maternity leave. Her district will be covered by Nick Robinson (nick.robinson@westessexcan.org). Best wishes to both Ayesha and Nick.
United in Kind is a social movement aiming to combat loneliness by spreading kindness and helping people to connect with their local community.
Each district has its own United in Kind Coach who is working to raise awareness of loneliness and isolation; recruiting Community Champions, developing ‘acts of kindness’ and providing communities with workshops and support to deliver their own activities.
Areas covered are all those in the Epping Forest district, including: Broadley Common, Buckhurst Hill, Chigwell, Chipping Ongar, Epping, Fyfield, Grange Hill, Greensted, Hastingwood, High Ongar, Lambourne, Loughton, Marden Ash, Matching, Moreton, Nazeing, North Weald Bassett, Passingford, the Rodings, Roydon, Sheering, Shelley, Theydon Bois, Thornwood Common, Waltham Abbey, Willingale & the surrounding villages.
Donations of Tools & Materials
We are always grateful to receive donations of unwanted/unused tools or surplus materials for Sheds; if you or someone you know are having a garage or shed clear out do please get in touch- we will come and collect from any address in Essex! Any tools that are unsuitable for Men’s Sheds will be passed to Tools With A Mission for refurbishing and shipping to third world countries.
The Essex Compact Steering Group met on the 13 th February 2020. The meeting focused on finalising the details for the planned Research Initiative being led by the steering group to begin to understand the role and influence of the Compact and make recommendations for the future.
The work will be funded jointly by Essex Community Foundation and Office of the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner and will offer a tender opportunity to VCS, statutory and research organisations.
The documents relating to the tender opportunity are being finalised with the intention that they are circulated in early March. They will be cascaded through ECVS, the Essex Alliance and other channels available to the Steering Group. There will be a 3 week window for expressions of interest followed by shortlisting and panel interview.
The Steering group agreed in light of the timescales for the Research Initiative to move the Forum and AGM from the current date in March to early November to allow for completion of the work and the steering group to present findings, recommendations and next steps to wider partners.
Many people assume that Data Analysts don’t like talking to people, but ecda’s Project Lead; ECC’s Intelligence Manager Tom Aldworth, claims he’s not like other analysts in his account on working for the Essex Centre for Data Analytics, where he encourages everyone to be bold and celebrate what we’re good at.
“If I had a pound every time someone said to me “Tom, working in the partnership space must be very exciting and fun and you must love it”, I wouldn’t be all that much richer. That’s why I’ve decided to write a blog about it.”
If you’d like to join Tom and meet Data Analysts and Data Scientists from ECC, health, Fire, University of Essex, Police and partners across Essex, join us at the next Be Part of the Equation network meeting on 26 March 2-4.30pm to be held in Chelmsford. Register your interest by emailing ecda@essex.gov.uk
2020 is certain to be a year of action for ecda with several of our key projects due to deliver insight.
From new projects including avoidable A&E attendance and homelessness, to providing additional insight on escalating domestic abuse, youth violence and vulnerability, county lines and knife crime, ecda will continue to provide a data analytics service that enables partners to safely share data and deliver actionable insight that informs early intervention and preventative services across the county.
Initial insight recently generated on mental health crisis has helped ECC Commissioners to identify where there are crossovers between mental health, social care and drug and alcohol services. To further support agency collaboration, the work is expanding to include EPUT data. The ambition is to design an early warning system that identify opportunities to intervene earlier and prevent our most vulnerable citizens reaching crisis.
The Essex Centre for Data Analytics and DataKind are teaming up to help community and voluntary sector organisations discover what’s possible when it comes to data.
If you’re wondering how data can drive better outcomes for the communities you serve or what more you could do with the information your organisation holds to solve the county’s shared challenges, then the Data for Good event is for you!
We’re ready and willing to commit our knowledge, energy and enthusiasm – free of charge – to use data science for social good. All we ask for in return is your time and an open mind – you don’t need to be a data guru – just join us on 25th February 2-4pm at Chelmsford Central Baptist Church to share your most difficult challenges and to discover the potential for partnership working.
This event is supported by the Business and Local Government Data Research Centre and the Essex CVS (ECVS) and is for charitable trusts and organisations operating within the Essex community and voluntary sector only. Spaces are limited to 50 (two representatives per organisation) so book now to avoid disappointment.
ecda is supporting the Essex Local Delivery Pilot (LDP) to identify communities that are at particular risk of escalating levels of inactivity.
ecda has successfully shared the first Let’s Get Physical dashboard with the LDP team. This initial iteration uses Sport England data to highlight areas with inactive communities of people, providing both the LDP and Sport England with their first round of actionable insight to inform commissioning decisions.
By providing a detailed picture of the communities that do not currently participate in 30 minutes of physical activity per week, and a greater understanding as to why, ecda will enable Active Essex to deploy targeted resources to those communities most in need in Colchester, Tendring and Basildon and reduce associated health risks such as obesity, mental health issues, and social isolation.
We are currently restructuring data to share a live dashboard with the LDP and Sport England, with a future ambition to share more widely with key partners.
A new insight-driven behaviour change campaign to help prevent the exploitation of young people in Essex is currently in development with 11-16s across the county as part of a multi-agency project led by the Violence and Vulnerability Unit.
The campaign has been informed by insight generated by the Essex Centre for Data Analytics (ecda) as part of its youth violence and vulnerability work, and has been bolstered by additional in-depth citizen research conducted by Essex County Council.
This strategic partnership between ECC, PFCC, VVU, ecda, Southend and Thurrock Councils, education, health and the voluntary sector is the first example of evidence-led multi-agency public engagement work within the county, and a great example of how ecda’s work is impacting whole system transformation targeted on delivering early intervention and preventative action within our communities.
Young people are shaping the video content at the heart of the campaign, which will be previewed at the PFCC Conference on 13 March and will go live at the end of the month. Creative production agency Raygun has been commissioned to produce content for the campaign and is working with young people to ensure the film is authentic and rooted in their world. ecda and ECC will host a workshop at the PFCC conference to share learning around this new approach to insight-led citizen engagement.
We’ve created a new Facebook group to allow people working for the third sector within Essex to promote jobs and events, ask for help, and share ideas.