Every child and young person has the right to have fun and enjoy taking part in activities, without the risk of being harmed or abused. Active Essex and the Essex Safeguarding Children’s Board, in partnership with the National Child Safeguarding Charity are introducing ‘Safe to Play’; a new innovative safeguarding in sport campaign, across the county.
Sport and physical activities often place individuals in a position of significant influence over other people. A high level of trust is placed on such individuals by parents, carers and the participants themselves. In most cases, that level of trust is more than repaid through the commitment, dedication and selflessness of people involved in organising and delivering sports and activities, but occasionally that trust can be abused. All organisations and individuals involved in sport should be aware of the risks and act promptly to deal with any concern.
Here in Essex, we strive to make sure that every child has a positive experience when participating in sport, physical and extra-curricular activities. Everyone has a role to play in keeping others safe and people should know how to spot the signs of child exploitation and what to do if they have any concerns. Safeguarding must remain a priority for all those who run, book, manage and oversee sports and extra-curricular clubs and activities.
To launch ‘Safe to Play’, we will be hosting an event on Thursday 29th September at Chelmsford City Racecourse, to build upon this new, innovative safeguarding in sport campaign started by the NWG. Reflecting and having conversations on how to adopt the messaging throughout our county.
The event will take place between 10am and 12pm, with a range of talks and breakout rooms planned, to ensure we embed this campaign and message throughout our sector, because it’s time to get comfortable about safeguarding.
In 2021 we launched the Santander Foundation Digital & Financial Empowerment Fund focused on supporting projects that will help people to become digitally and financially empowered.
The programme has the ambition to support UK charities to give people the digital confidence, knowledge, and skills to enable them to make better, more informed decisions about money and have access to financial services.
The Santander Foundation Grants Programme
We’re proud to support 21 charitable organisations in the UK that work to help people to become digitally and financially empowered.
Who do we want to support?
There are millions of people in our society that are already at a disadvantage – through age, education, income, disability, or unemployment. Without the right support for them, the social inequality gap will only widen.
Many charitable and community interest organisations work with such groups; with people that feel the impacts of financial or digital exclusion the most.
We want to reach lone parents, single pensioners, migrants and refugees, those with long term illnesses and disabilities, those struggling to find sustained employment and households headed by students or part-time workers. These are among the groups most commonly excluded from financial services.
People with low or unstable incomes, or those who have experienced a significant life shock, are particularly affected by financial exclusion. The pandemic will only have made this situation worse, as more and more basic services have moved to the web. We want to help charities build their capacity to help people to become digitally and financially empowered.
How can you apply?
You can apply for a Santander Foundation Grant by completing an application form.
The closing date for applications is 23rd September 2022
The Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner’s vision for Essex is to ensure that safe and secure communities are the bedrock on which we build success and well-being for all. The Police and Crime Plan makes a clear strategic commitment to prevention, a shift in our main effort from rapid response into a model of targeted prevention and early intervention. To support the new Police and Crime Plan and to deliver the vision for the PFCC has created a Crime Prevention Fund.
This £200,000 fund offers grants of up to £20,000 for community projects that help to deliver effective approaches to prevent crime from happening in the first place, to reduce overall crime and to keep our communities safe.
Applications to the fund must demonstrate activity that prevent crime inline with one of the twelve Police and Crime Plan priorities. This can include projects that:
Recognise and welcome the increased diversity of Essex and support communities to work together and prevent crime by encouraging reporting, identifying problem areas and target prevention activity.
Provide extra support and early intervention for people with additional needs or who are at increased risk of becoming victims of crime
Collaborate with rural communities and partners to understand rural communities and their issues in order to prevent crime
Work to reduce the fear women feel in their communities and support projects that make public space free from abuse and harassment
The March 22/23 round has now closed. Details to follow soon about future funding rounds.
Register and join us to hear how you can access this Programme and also find out what we learned from our Community Listening Project.
About this event
This Programme will provide funding to local voluntary and community groups working in Mid and South Essex that are helping to address health inequalities for people who have mental health problems.
The Programme opens for applications on 23 August. Grants of between £5,000 and £20,000 can be given to individual organisations. Grants of up to £30,000 are available for those that are working together in a partnership.
Join our Webinar to learn about the Programme and ask questions about applying. You will also hear about our Community Listening Project and how this highlighted the health inequalities that exist for marginalised and historically underserved communities.
To apply for this position please click on the application form button at the top of this page, and complete the form by the closing date of Friday 26th August 2022
Community360 are urgently looking for volunteer family mentors to work one to one with families and young people needing support.
These roles would enable families with children, aged 8-19 years old to take part in new activities, to develop new skills and help to build their confidence.
Tristan Easey, Deputy CEO at Community360 said: “We are looking for people who want to make a difference to these families. Unfortunately, we are still seeing the effects of the lockdown on families which includes deteriorating mental health and wellbeing, increased stress and lack of structure and motivation. Mentoring is a valuable way of giving your time to help other people. It is about listening and talking, giving advice and guidance and sometimes practical help to those facing a variety of challenges in life.”
He added: “We are looking for volunteers who are good listeners, have time for others and can earn a family’s respect. As well as helping to change peoples’ lives for the better, this relationship can make a key difference to a child’s social, emotional and educational development, our volunteers tell us that they get so much out of it too.”
Dan Firth has been volunteering for 8 years he said: “I was previously a manager at the Financial Conduct Authority and decided that a volunteer role within the Essex Family Support Service was a good fit as I wanted to help others and improve their current situation.”
He added: “I decided to volunteer for Community360 because I wanted to volunteer locally and liked the fact that they are involved in so many different things.
I’m able to fit my role as a family mentor around my work, and really enjoy the fact that I can provide support and help that can make a difference to people in challenging situations or who are going through a difficult time.
I spent a morning just before Christmas shopping and delivering presents to families who would otherwise have had nothing on Christmas day, it was great to see how much of a difference it was going to make to those families.
If you are thinking of volunteering and can only spare a small amount of time you will be able to make a bigger difference than you probably realise.”
If you want to find out more or have an informal chat contact:
Telephone: 01206 505250 or Email: [email protected]
Britain is facing its biggest cost of living crisis in decades. Citizens Advice has 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.
Join Citizens Advice and a panel of experts for our second regular Cost of Living Briefing. We’ll be sharing more of our data insights on how the cost of living crisis is affecting our clients.
A recording of this event will be available afterwards for anyone who was unable to attend or would like to watch it back. Please check back here for updates on how that will be shared.
Britain is facing its biggest cost of living crisis in decades. Citizens Advice has 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 our clients.
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 [email protected]
YMCA Essex is a growing, medium-sized Youth Charity working across the county of Essex with an exciting mission and a passionate team.
The Charity wishes to encourage expressions of interest in joining the Governing Body to help further its aims and objectives. The role of a non-executive Governor is not salaried (although expenses are paid) but provides opportunities to contribute to the development of the Charity working with other members of the Governing Body, the CEO and the wider team of paid and volunteer staff.
All Governors need to have the skills, senior level strategic experience and time to make a significant contribution to the work of the Board. Appointments are made to ensure that collectively the Governing Body has the full range of skills required to govern a growing, medium-sized charity with a turnover in 2022/23 expected to be approaching £2m. Legal, financial, Safeguarding, Youth Development and Housing knowledge are particularly sought after.
To find out more and to receive a Board Member prospectus, please submit an expression of interest to [email protected]