It’s nearly time! The Essex Map relaunch lands tomorrow. We’re hoping you have an improved user experience when searching for activities, groups and services in your area. If you see there is something missing which supports the wider community please add it on to the Essex Map.
This is an assist for organisations big and small within the Voluntary, Community, Faith and Social Enterprise sector, as well as statuary and local government who provide services and activities which supports their communities needs and helps them to thrive.
How to use the new Essex Map:
You will need to sign up for a new account (unfortunately due to the large amount of data on the Map we were unable to move over everyone’s accounts).
Once you’ve done this please find your listing and ‘claim it’. The Essex Map team will receive a notification to accept your claim. If you have a work email address please claim any listings through this email
Keep your eyes open for tomorrows launch newsletter!
Do you want to make a difference to health & social care in Essex? We are currently recruiting for an Information & Guidance Officer to work as part of a small team to promote and deliver the service supporting unpaid carers in the county. This will involve working across the three Integrated Care Board areas of Mid and South Essex, Suffolk and North East Essex, and Hertfordshire and West Essex. If you are passionate about carer’s voices and want to join an ambitious, dynamic team apply by 14 November 2023. Please note that interviews will take place on 24th November 2023.
Now in its third year, the Essex County Council Arts and Cultural Fund supports organisations and creative practitioners to deliver a broad and exciting range of work and activity to engage with and bring communities in Essex together. Applications for this round will be live from 10.00am on Monday 30 October 2023.
The creative and cultural sector is widely recognised as being at the forefront of economic and social regeneration and the Arts and Cultural Fund aims to boost this sector by offering project grants from between £2,500 to £30,000.
We welcome applications from a broad range of disciplines across arts, culture and heritage in Essex. The various projects previously supported include festivals, exhibitions, photography, film and digital projects, crafting, playwriting workshops, museum development, music therapy, choir and dance projects as well as junior development programmes, all of which align with Essex County Council’s wider objectives as set out in Everyone’s Essex.
Applicants will be notified of an outcome in February 2024. Successful applicants will be expected to deliver their projects over the following year from April 2024.
If you plan to apply to the Fund and want to find out more, sign up for one of our Q&A events where you will have the opportunity to ask questions about the application process:
Before submitting your application, please ensure you read the guidance notes and FAQs.
Applications must be submitted by 11.59pm, Monday 11 December 2023.
Fuel poverty is no less of an issue this year than last. In fact, with the withdrawal of certain types of government support and wider cost of living pressures, some say that this coming winter will be worse for many. And so, we’re pleased to deliver this interactive, 90-minute session on identifying and responding to fuel poverty.
As well as an understanding of what fuel poverty is and who it affects, we’ll also be ensuring participants can explain to the people they work with how to get the type of support and dispensation they should but often need to receive from their energy supplier. In addition, we’ll be showcasing some of our existing and new services in the greater Essex area, designed to support those who are worst affected by fuel poverty.
A grant is now available for sporting organisations and charities in the Uttlesford district.
We allocated funding in 2020/21, 2021/22 and 2022/23. These allocations supported enhanced sport provision in the district.
There was an underspend in previous years, therefore we have a budget sum of £54,000 to allocate towards sports provision in the district for 2023/24 .
Spending that will be covered
Sports spending may fall into four categories:
Maintenance work and purchase of equipment for normal activities
Upgrade to existing facilities and purchase of equipment which will allow greater or enhanced use of facilities
Project development costs for major new provision projects
Major projects requiring funding support greater than £54,000
Who can apply
Applications are invited from sports clubs or other appropriate constituted bodies.
What will be considered
In allocating grants, the considerations will include:
the percentage of funding generated by the applicant’s own fund raising, including applications for grants from their sport bodies, and use of reserves
ownership or long-term tenure of the site
the availability of quotes or tenders
the number of current and potential future beneficiaries of the project
the ability to deliver the project within a reasonable timescale
access to the facility (such as free to the public, pay as you go, membership only)
evidence of community support
environmental improvements, such as reductions in energy and water consumption, and light spillage
The Cost of Living Resilience Fund supports social sector organisations in areas of deprivation providing services to support people struggling with the rising cost of living. The fund aims to increase sustainability in these organisations by supporting them to deliver projects which build organisational stability and resilience to deliver. The below is a summary of the key criteria.
To be eligible to apply for match funding your organisation must:
Be one of the following types of organisations: Charitable Incorporated Organisation, Community Benefit Society, Community Interest Company Limited by Guarantee, Community Interest Company, Co-operative Society.
Bring in over 33% of its income through trading activities.
Be based in and support communities in areas of deprivation in England, as measured using the Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD).
Provide services supporting people with the cost of living.
The types of services being delivered may include (but are not limited to):
Provision of advice, in particular debt and financial advice.
Provision of warm spaces over winter, linked to the provision of wider advice & support services.
Provision of no or low cost food, through food banks or food delivery boxes.
Support with housing needs whether that be through advice to those made homeless, provision of low/no cost home furnishings or provision of housing itself.
Access to transport to enable people to access shops or facilities and employment.
The project being delivered through the funding will need to demonstrate how it will build organisational stability and resilience to deliver services. Examples may include:
Refurbishment of premises to better serve the community and increase delivery capacity.
Development of a new service or product to bring in additional revenue.
Investment in current activity to allow growth or expansion of services.
Applications which are seeking funding simply to deliver business as usual will not be eligible.
Match funding criteria
To receive match funding (once approved), the following conditions must all be met:
All pledges made by supporters, up to a maximum £150 pledge, will be matched by the Cost of Living Resilience Fund at a rate of 2:1 or 3:1 match funding depending on IMD.
Only one donation per supporter will be matched.
Projects must reach their target by the end of their initial fundraising period to receive match funding.
Projects must receive pledges from a minimum of 25 unique supporters to receive the match funding.
The maximum match funding a Project can receive from The Cost of Living Resilience Fund is determined by IMD:
i. IMD 1-3: Projects with an IMD score of 1-3 will receive match funding up to a maximum of 75% of the initial project target
ii. IMD 4-5: Projects with an IMD score of 4-5 will receive match funding up to a maximum of 66% of the initial project target
The maximum match funding for all Projects is £50,000.
The match fund will be distributed on a first come first served basis. Matching will stop automatically when the funds are fully allocated.
Everyone has arguments from time to time – they are a normal part of relationships. It’s how they are resolved that’s the most important thing to ensure family stability. A stable family environment (whether parents and carers are together or not) is key to delivering the best outcomes for children and young people.
When arguments are managed and resolved there are few, if any, lasting effects on the relationship or on children. However, where arguments are frequent, intense, and poorly resolved, children can be affected in many different ways; they may feel responsible, become withdrawn, sad or angry. These effects can have many impacts including their ability to form and maintain healthy relationships of their own.
The Healthy Relationships page on the Live Well website has resources, hints and tips and see below for links to free online digital programmes for parents.
Reducing Parental Conflict Training from HCRG Care Group
Free one day (9:30am – 4:30pm) face-to-face training for practitioners completing direct work with families who may experience parental conflict.
South – Wednesday 8th November 2023
Mid – Monday 20th November 2023
West – Monday 4th December 2023
North – Wednesday 20th December 2023
For more information please see this flyer from HCRG Care Group.
Parents living in Essex can access FREEonline digital courses from One Plus One. The online courses offer guidance and resources to help with managing stress and conflict in relationships. There are three courses to choose from:
Me, You and Baby Too is for new and expectant parents.
Arguing better is for parents who want help with stress and arguing.
Getting it Right for Children is for separating or separated parents.
On the One Plus One page, choose the Central England map and then Essex county. You will be able to access the courses via Edge, Chrome, Firefox and Safari.
Lunch and Learn – “How can we create an inclusive healthcare environment for patients and staff?”
Thursday 26th October 12:45-13:30 – Drinks and cakes will be served from 12:15
Prof Joffe & Prof Eboh from the University of Essex will be joining us to talk about their work on creating anti-racist healthcare environments, which was featured in a recent NHS report. Their engaging presentation will give practical steps we can all take to be part of the important work of being an ally.
You can join us in person at Beeches 1, Education centre, St Helena, Barncroft Close, CO4 9JU
Monday 30th October in Beeches – drop in anytime between 12:00-14:00
Local community groups will be joining us at St Helena to celebrate their cultures with traditional displays and activities.
Cultural cuisine will be available to sample or purchase, and at approximately 1pm we will interview a panel of guests about their cultural practices around dying and bereavement.
This research is designed to understand how workplaces are looking after employees who are experiencing or have experienced grief.
This survey is completely confidential and data will be anonymised so no one can be identified.
Sue Ryder estimated in 2022 that in the last year, 24% of the working population in Britain has experienced a bereavement, which equates to around 7.9 million people. This is a significant amount of people. Bereavement support charity, Cruse, estimates that for each death six people experience intense grief, therefore bereavement causes nearly two million working people to suffer from intense grief each year, alongside those still grieving from a bereavement in previous years. Of those 5% (around 95,000) experiencing intense grief end up leaving their jobs after six months, and do not work for the rest of the year.
This questionnaire is designed to understand more about how employees who have/are experiencing grief feel about the support they get from their workplace.
We want to understand how organisations are looking after their employees during this life event and what employees would like to see done differently.
We are grateful to NatWest Group for their support without which we would not be able to undertake this valuable research.
Grants are available for charitable organisations across the UK that work with and provide services for blind and partially sighted people to improve resilience, responsiveness, and sustainability.
This fund aims to support improved resilience and responsiveness in organisations that support blind and partially sighted people and have been affected by an uncertain post-pandemic economic climate and the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.
Funding will enable groups across the sight-loss sector to continue to adapt and respond to ongoing needs and increased costs.
“Our social impact funding supports projects that are designed to improve the experience of being blind or partially sighted, or at risk of sight loss, in the UK. We are an evidence-led funder and base our programmes on where we feel our money can have the greatest impact.
We recognise applying for funding can be challenging, time consuming and stressful. Please get in touch with our team by emailing grants@visionfoundation.org.uk if you have ideas but are not sure if they fit our criteria, or if you would like any help with our application process.
Our grantmaking principles
Reflect our vision, values and strategy
Be intelligent and evidence-based
Be courageous and impact driven
Encourage collaboration and be empowering
Be meaningful and effective
Offer stability but encourage sustainability.
Our next funding round has 2 elements:
A National Resilience Fund open to organisations across the UK, who can apply for up to £10,000 of unrestricted funding.
A London-specific programme dedicated to reducing the levels of loneliness and/or isolation experienced by blind and partially sighted people living, working or visiting London. This programme has been made possible through our partnership with the City Bridge Foundation.
Across both funding streams, we’re particularly keen to support organisations who demonstrate a strong commitment to involving experts by experience, i.e. blind and partially sighted people or people at particular risk of sight loss, in their work.
National Resilience Fund
Organisations across the country have risen valiantly to meet the challenges of an uncertain post-pandemic climate. But the current cost of living crisis poses a threat to the sustainability of many organisations providing support to blind and partially sighted people: a group who have been disproportionately affected by the ways that Covid19 changed how we live and work.
We also know that blind and partially sighted people in parts of the UK lack access to basic support services and that organisations operating in these areas struggle to remain sustainable and resilient. Our funding is therefore intended to support improved resilience and responsiveness of the sector as a whole.”
The funding might be used to manage increases in core costs: the funding can be used for up to 12 months, covering any core (running) costs including contributions to rent, salaries, or strengthening operational systems and processes. Alternatively, the funding might be used to fund work to combine/merge organisations.
We’re particularly keen to hear from grassroots organisations and organisations in parts of the country where there are significant gaps in support for blind and partially sighted people.