The Screwfix Foundation has re-opened for applications from charities and not for profit organisations for projects that will fix, repair, maintain and improve the properties and community facilities of those in need by reason of financial hardship, sickness, disability, distress or other disadvantage throughout the UK.
Grants in the region of £5,000 are available for all kinds of projects, from repairing buildings and improving facilities in deprived areas, to decorating the homes of people living with sickness and disabilities.
Applications are reviewed on a quarterly basis. The next closing date for applications is the 10th November 2023.
As we age we are more likely to be faced with age-related conditions, increased isolation and challenges with physical and mental wellbeing. The Age Well report is the fifth in a series of reports published as companions to the North East Essex Community Assets Map. This new report, commissioned by the North East Essex Health and Wellbeing Alliance, aims to highlight the strength of the community through the numerous assets found across our six neighbourhoods in Tendring and Colchester.
‘Age Well’ has been put together by Community360 (C360), Community Voluntary Services Tendring (CVST) and Healthwatch Essex who have worked closely with residents, local groups and representatives from the North East Essex Health and Wellbeing Alliance. The aim was to identify several actions that could be taken to build on the strengths already present in our communities.
Examples drawn together in the report, offer an opportunity to reflect on what is working well, and what could be improved upon to reach those facing challenges to accessing available programmes. It highlights the varied nature of provision and the importance of this work to people in specific communities.
The report provides case studies and spotlights examples of good practice. It has a particular focus on people in later life and the people that care for them. Collectively, with the invaluable ‘Citizen’s Voice’ gained from one-to-one discussions, focus groups and interviews with people living in Tiptree in Colchester; Holland-on-Sea and Jaywick in Tendring, there are a number of enablers and barriers identified that affect accessibility to opportunities.
Currently, 23% of the local population is aged 65 or older; over 30 % of people over 65 years of age live alone and the number of people over 85 is set to increase by 49% across Suffolk and North East Essex in the next ten years, compared with a projection of 33% for England.
Ageing Well in North East Essex is supported by a breadth of voluntary and community organisations committed to enabling people to maintain their quality of life for longer, to engage in purposeful activity and connect into local networks. The report offers an opportunity to reflect on what is working well, and what could be improved upon to reach those facing challenges to accessing available programmes. It highlights the varied nature of provision and the importance of this work to people in specific communities, including the role of unpaid carers and the importance of volunteers in the community.
Louise Willsher, Strategic Head of innovation and Growth at Community360 said:
“With the latest in our series of asset mapping reports, we have been able to work closely with residents, local groups and the representatives from the North East Essex Health and Wellbeing Alliance to identify a number of actions that can be taken to build on the strengths already present in our communities. The Age Well report is intended to act as a catalyst for encouraging people to take advantage of the opportunities available to them to support and enable older adults to live well in Colchester and Tendring. I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to the report and to the North East Essex Health and Wellbeing Alliance for funding this important project.”
A key finding from the report has highlighted how volunteering has emerged as a huge positive benefit to Ageing Well. From improving physical health to offering fulfilling and enjoyable experiences.
It gives people the opportunity to connect and listen, to make a positive impact on their communities and to meet new people, improving mood and increasing feeling of happiness and self-worth.
The latest report from NAVCA (National Association for Voluntary and Community Action), reported that people aged 65-74 were the most likely to formally volunteer.
At a meeting in Tendring with volunteers, 75% of those present at the meeting said that volunteering had improved their mental health; 50% said it had improved their physical health. For those in caring roles, volunteering offered an opportunity to have time for themselves and reduce their loneliness.
One volunteer said:
“I am more than happy to help others when I can. Having been a teacher all my working life I understand how tricky it can be to be under constant pressure from people, their views, and government targets etc. I have sympathy with the NHS staff and their similar situation. I appreciated volunteer help when I was working and am happy to ‘give a little back’ now I am retired.”
Another Said:
“My choices are that I make the decisions where and when I volunteer. I volunteer because I enjoy helping and meeting people. I volunteer at C360 and St. Helena Hospice. It sounds a bit corny, but I am nothing special and enjoy people.
I also volunteer for the RSPB at Old Hall Marshes Tollesbury, which is remote and has beautiful scenery, which is good for my well-being, as the pure pleasure I get from helping people benefits me immensely.”
Mark Shorter, Head of Transformation for the North East Essex Health and Wellbeing Alliance said:
“The asset mapping report is a key milestone in our ambition for people to live as safely and independently as possible as they grow older. The report provides detailed insight into key enablers within our local area and most importantly, the voice of our population. The report, coupled with the key indicators, frameworks and action plans that the alliance partners have set, gives us the basis to form change for our population to age well.”
The North East Essex Health and Wellbeing Alliance is committed to working within an ABCD approach ensuring work is done with, and not to, local people. Assets, as defined by the Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) model, can be individuals, associations, institutions, places and spaces and connections. By understanding the Assets, local commissioners are better placed to support community organisations, build partnerships and consider funding options and community and voluntary sector organisations are better placed to grow their support to local people.
Citizens Advice Essex, working as consortium lead for the Citizens Advice service in Essex, has been awarded grant funding from the Ministry of Justice to provide support to males on probation concerning their benefits entitlements, to provide any debt advice they need and to support them understand and access financial services. Services will be provided principally in Probation Offices throughout Essex, Southend, Thurrock and Cambridgeshire (PCC area).
We are therefore looking to recruit up to 7 new team members in multiple locations to support the delivery of this exciting project. Posts are available in a range of hours/FTE, depending on location. In all cases, we will be looking to recruit trained debt advisers or people with some experience in the provision of independent advice or, in the case of exceptional candidates, with experience in closely related fields and who, in that case, are able to undertake the necessary training to undertake this skilled and technically demanding role.
For posts assigned to Cambridgeshire, we would like to appoint postholders within a reasonable vicinity of the main probation venues.
If applying, please follow guidance carefully. CV’s without a personal statement or incomplete application forms will lead to the rejection of your application.
Great news! We’re giving the Essex Map a new look.
Before we get into the full swing of things, we’d love it if our current listings were up to date.
If you have a listing on our online directory, can you please login and update your listing were necessary.
Need extra support with this? Do you need your password reset or not sure what your username is? Please contact us directly at communications@essexalliance.org.uk
We’re looking to relaunch our new look at the end of September – so keep your eyes peeled!
The rollout of Essex Frontline – your FREE digital referral and signposting tool – across Mid and South Essex is steaming ahead!
The individual district libraries are growing daily and we’re meeting lots of lovely new people at our frequent drop-in demonstrations – see below for upcoming dates!
“Fantastic, really good to include Thurrock and Southend too. Essex is so big to cover, having services on one platform for us is so much better. For Social Prescribers and other health providers, being able to search for services in one place is so much easier.”
Open Road – Centre Manager, South Essex:
“This is excellent, I have used Frontline previously when overseeing the Harlow centre for Open Road. I do think this would be an easier process for referrals.”
We want to see truly local support on Essex Frontline, so if you provide a local health/ wellbeing service, please get in touch. Being on the platform gives you great visibility and makes your referral life easier when you’re busy supporting people in need.
The Frontline admin team can help set up your service and make the process super simple. So why not come along to a drop-in and see for yourself how Frontline can benefit your service and users?
If you’d like to add your service to Essex Frontline or want to know more, contact our friendly Frontline team at info@frontlinereferrals.org.uk or call 01799 618855.
Essex voluntary groups, charities, NHS bodies, councils, schools and more are being invited to express their interest in a new £7.5 million public health grant programme.
The Public Health Accelerator Bids (PHAB) programme offers organisations the opportunity to bid for funding across two grant funding streams – small grants under £15,000 and major grants over £15,000.
Expressions of interest for the major grants have opened, alongside the launch of a new website for the programme.
The website brings together information on the programme, including the full guidance and expression of interest forms, and will be updated with further details as they become available.
The PHAB programme will fund projects supporting the aims of the new Essex Wellbeing, Public Health and Communities Business Plan.It will focus on supporting the communities in Essex with the worst health outcomes and supports Essex County Council’s commitment to reducing health inequalities and improving residents’ health and wellbeing.
Lucy Wightman, Director of Wellbeing, Public Health and Communities at Essex County Council, said: “We recognise that no single organisation can improve public health outcomes across Essex alone. So, as part of the PHAB programme, we will prioritise applications that focus on productive and purposeful partnerships that address the causes of ill health and inequality.
“We have made the application process as straight forward as possible, and we want to hear from a diverse mix of eligible organisations across Essex who have the knowledge and expertise to make a real difference to health of our communities.”
Councillor John Spence, Essex County Council Cabinet Member for Health, Adult Social Care and ICS Integration, added: “This ambitious programme will fund a range of innovative public health projects across Essex, supporting our aim to address the wider determinants of health in the communities where this is needed most. “We’re excited to see the benefits projects will bring to residents and I would urge organisations to take a look at the website where they can learn more about the funding criteria and the process of submitting a bid.”
The deadline for the first round of expressions of interest is 5pm on Friday 25 August. If successful in their expression of interest, bidders for the major funding round will be invited to submit an application form.
Applications for the small grants and first round of the major grant will open on Monday 4 September.
The first grants are set to be awarded at the beginning of November and can fund projects for up to two years.
This programme offers a larger amount of funding (over £10,000) for organisations that work together with a shared set of goals to help their community – whether that’s a community living in the same area, or people with similar interests or life experiences.
We’re here to support communities with the things that are important to them, including mitigating the impact of the cost-of-living crisis and supporting them as they seek to recover, rebuild and grow following the Covid-19 pandemic.
In order to support communities, we fund partnerships which aim to:
build strong relationships in and across communities
improve the places and spaces that matter to communities
help more people to reach their potential, by supporting them at the earliest possible stage.
You can expect us to beflexible and responsive to your community’s needs:
whether you need long- or shorter-term funding
whether your request is for a particular activity or to create more fundamental change
whether the funding is to support a single organisation or to bring organisations together.
Support for people, communities and organisations that are facing increased demands and challenges as direct result of the cost-of-living crisis
Support for organisations so that they can address the immediate issues that are impacting their delivery as a direct result of the cost-of-living crisis during this year and future years.
Suitable for Voluntary or community organisations
Funding size £10,001 or more, for up to five years
Britain is facing its biggest cost of living crisis in decades. At Citizens Advice, we’ve seen more people coming to us for help with crisis support, energy problems and not having enough money to make ends meet than ever before. In this dashboard we share insights from across our service on how the crisis is affecting the people we help.
We’ll be updating this dashboard every month tracking how the cost of living crisis is changing. If there are insights you’d like to hear from us, please get in contact at coldatadashboard@citizensadvice.org.uk.
Join us for our next cost-of-living briefing on September 14th, 12-1pm. Guest speakers (to be announced shortly) will join Citizens Advice Chief Executive, Clare Moriarty and Chief Data Analyst, Tom MacInnes. You can sign up for the event here.
The Community Projects Officer will support the delivery of projects and activities that further the mission of Maldon and District CVS to create thriving, connected and healthy communities. This support will include working in partnership with communities and sectors to offer opportunities for physical activity, digital inclusion, mental wellbeing, peer support and crisis response.
As part of the projects team the role will involve organising and promoting activities, undertaking administration task and supporting and encouraging individuals to connect with services and activities.
This is a part time role (15-20 hours by agreement). Fixed term 1year (extension dependent on funding).
Maldon & District CVS are a service provider which values diversity and inclusivity towards our service users, partners and members regardless of their gender identity, sexual orientation, race, disability or creed.
The strategic goal of the V&V Partnership is to reduce serious violence, the harm it causes, and to safeguard those at risk (including to gangs and knife crime). We recognise that local organisations and groups are at the forefront of some amazing work that provides protective factors that seeks to address these issues, the V&V Partnership are keen to support this work as much as it can.
The 2024-2025 V&V Community Grant round is for local ‘not-for-profit’ voluntary or community clubs or organisations based in, and therefore delivering in, Essex, Southend and Thurrock only.
Looking to fund projects that meet the stated aims and can run during April 2024 to 31st December 2025, commencing no later than 1st September 2024.
Groups can apply for up to *£25,000 to deliver support and interventions for children, young people, young adults (aged 0-24 inclusive) and families (families, must include children, young people or young adults aged 0-24). Projects must demonstrate how they have a positive impact through protective factors on issues relating to serious violence.
*The grants funding this year has a potential total pot of £350,000 that the V & V Parternship will look to distribute as evenly as possible across the twelve ECC borough/city/districts areas and Southend and Thurrock. Please bear this in mind when completing your applications.
Projects MUST evidence they are meeting specific needs as highlighted on an area by area basis by young people in our Listening Project 2022-23. It is essential that you read and reference the report as we are keen that the interventions are based on what local young people are telling us they need. https://ecvys.files.wordpress.com/2023/07/vvu-youth-voices-report-2022-2023-final-pdf.pdf
Such as:
Having more trusted adults available for young people to talk to.
Creating safer spaces and youth provision where young people choose to hang out i.e parks, youth clubs, schools (This could be around staff time, new projects, open for longer, activities, lighting outside a community building, etc.)
Support for victims of youth violence and projects that have interventions around knife crime, and building resilience
Building links between voluntary youth provision and schools, eg providing more trusted adults, education specifically around consequences of violence and filming videos of violence for social media, how to stay safe and preventing conflict escalating
More ‘turn up and try’ sports or activities at youth clubs, parks and schools (out of normal school hours)- including self-defence and various other activities
PLEASE NOTE THAT; This is not an exhaustive list. Funding will also be considered for early intervention work that has used the listening report to identify what is needed locally for example some areas mention drugs as an issue that needs addressing but for others work around peer pressure would be more suitable.
We would especially like to see some applications for creative work around risk taking behaviours.
Please do read the listening report and try to evidence the need for your intervention within your application, referencing the report or local needs.
All applications must demonstrate how their project enables children and young people to:-
Make positive choices to keep them safe
Raise self-esteem and confidence
Build resilience
Improve emotional and physical health and mental wellbeing
Build connections with trusted adults
Applicants must also:-
Have a recognised constitution and be one of the following: not-for-profit voluntary or community club or organisation, a registered charity, a not-for-profit company or community interest company or other social enterprise, a company limited by guarantee, charitable incorporated organisation or registered society.
Be based in Essex, Southend or Thurrock with at least one year’s full published accounts.
Have support from the local CSP (Community Safety Partnership) for the work you are applying for funding for. (If you do not know who your local CSP is we can provide this information)
If you have any questions about this grant process or to discuss your application please contact Beks Korniej beks@ecvys.org.uk or Jim Pearson james.pearson@essex.gov.uk
Timeline of grant process:
Applications open: 17th July 2023
Applications close: 12 noon on 29th September 2023
Completed applications to be submitted online and due diligence and supporting documents to be emailed to: beks@ecvys.org.uk AND james.pearson@essex.gov.uk by 12.00 on 29th September 2023
Short-listing, due diligence checks and final panel decisions: between October 2023 to February 2024
Applicants made aware of grant decisions: End of February 2024
Funds delivered: 90% of amount awarded at project start date on or after 1st April 2024. The remaining 10% to be paid during the last 3 months of your funded delivery.
How to Apply:
Check whether your project qualifies and apply online using this link: