The Essex VCSE Alliance is recruiting for individuals who are looking to work together to improve things for the sector from voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations.
We recently reviewed the focus and our three goals are:
< Strengthen collaboration within the sector
< Strengthen collaboration across sectors
< Driving membership and through the Essex Map, events and Alliance membership
To help improve the sector we are currently looking for people who align with one of more of these strategic goals and who share a passion to strengthen the sector and the community we serve.
If you’d like to join us, and help shape how we build our community of communities, please complete the form below. Once completed, this will be reviewed by our existing Steering Group members at our next meeting in April therefore the deadline for expression of interest is Friday 8th April 2022.
The Essex Alliance has been provided with £200,000 to administer a COVID response grants programme to support VCS organisations to continue to meet the increased demand in supporting vulnerable people in communities during the ongoing COVID situation, including those hard to reach communities.
Funding is designed to support activity that helps reduce the transmission of the virus; enable people to stay safe and isolate; and reduce barriers to vaccinations.
There is £200,000 available in the grant pot, we are offering organisations within the Alliance (who have signed up to our newsletter) a max of £5k per project. If you’re not currently a member of the Alliance, please sign up here to be able to apply for this VCS funding.
The Contain Management Outbreak Fund can be used for Public Health purposes to tackle COVID-19, funding is designed to support activity that helps reduce the transmission of the virus; enable people to stay safe and isolate; and reduce barriers to vaccinations. Whilst the specific health activities that can be funded are flexible, and should reflect local community needs in relation to suppressing the virus, activities that this funding could be used to support may include:
< Support to access vaccinations and testing for hard-to reach groups
< Additional resource to support contact tracing
< Enhanced communication and marketing e.g. towards hard to reach groups and other localised messaging
< Delivery of essentials for those in self-isolation
< Targeted interventions for specific sections of the local community and workplaces
< Harnessing capacity with local sectors e.g. voluntary, academic, commercial
< Extension/introduction of specialist support e.g. behavioural science, bespoke comms
< Additional resource for compliance with, and enforcement of, restrictions and guidance
< Targeted support for school / university outbreaks
< Community based support for those disproportionately impacted such as BAME population
< Support for engagement and analysis of regional areas to assess and learn from local initiatives
< Providing initial support, as needed, to vulnerable people
Examples of potential projects could be:
< Providing adaptations to services or developing new ways of working to ensure a reduction in transmission
of COVID19.
< Providing mental health support.
< Supporting vulnerable members of the community.
< Enabling people to stay safe and isolate when necessary.
< Reducing barriers to vaccinations, such as transport and community engagement.
Grants of up to £5,000 are available over one year, to support core costs and essential operating costs, project costs or capital items. We would be interested in projects that ensured communities stay connected, are able to self-isolate as required and provides support to those in need. New projects or those that need to be adapted or scaled-up to better respond as a direct result of the COVID 19 could be considered. Any grants awarded will need to be spent within one year.
West Essex has funding from the Department for Health and Social Care, Public Health England (PHE) and NHS England to fund community projects that reach out to people at risk of suicide. We are in Wave 4 of this funding which has already started in other parts of Essex.
The Aim of the Wave Four Programme:
Build resilience to Mental Health problems in local communities
Promote positive mental health in local communities
To reduce the stigma of self-harm and suicide.
To increase the community-based support for those at risk of suicide, including in high risk groups.
To reduce the incidence of self-harm and repeated self-harm.
To reduce the impact of self-harm and suicide.
Who we want to help:
1. Projects that support men, especially middle-aged men, and young men where there is an emerging risk of self harm and suicide.
2. Projects supporting men in high risk groups:
In the care of Mental Health Services, including
With a history of self-harm.
In contact with the Criminal Justice
Working in specific occupations – construction and farming.
Vulnerable groups – People of colour, LGBTQ+, Veterans, Homeless and rough sleepers, survivors of domestic/sexual
If your organisation has an idea that will get out and connect with men, you can apply for up to £3000 to get your project moving.
Breakeven offers free gambling related harm interventions and support delivered by a high skilled and specially trained team of practitioners.
Treatment is provided not only for the gambler but also anybody that may be affected by someone’s gambling behaviour. Breakeven offers free treatment and support either face to face, telephone or video appointments for clients across the southeast of the country. Our Chelmsford office is located a Victoria house so it is close to the train station and is in a city-centre location which is convenient for clients in Chelmsford, Braintree, Southend-on-Sea, Basildon, Brentwood, Harlow and the rest of Essex. Our Colchester office is located on East Hill, which is a 5 minute walk from both Colchester town railway station as well as the town centre.
We accept referrals through The National Gambling Helping, 0808 802 0133, our main office number 01273 833 722, the Breakeven website, or through our professional referral form.
Once a referral has been completed, one of our dedicated assessment team will contact the client within 24hours to arrange a telephone assessment and assign them to a practitioner. The practitioner will offer weekly sessions and regularly review the treatment plan to make sure the client is getting the most out of the service.
We share information reducing gambling related harm, support tools, recovery groups and much more on our social media so please link and follow our pages on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
The public consultation on the Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2022-2026 has now been launched, and runs until 25th March. The consultation seeks to understand if the priorities and outcomes proposed are right and provides opportunity for feedback and comments on these and the wider approach proposed in delivering against these.
The consultation can be found at https://consultations.essex.gov.uk/rci/joint-health-wellbeing-strategy , and we would be grateful if you could share the link widely amongst your networks. All comments and feedback will be reviewed after the consultation and these will influence the final strategy.
Cllr John Spence, Chair of the Essex Health and Wellbeing Board
Sometimes it only takes a small amount of money to bring a good idea to life in your community.
The Community Challenge Fund is the simplest way to access money to make a real difference in your community.
You can bid for between £300 and £2,000 to fund a new, not for profit scheme, group, initiative or idea. This fund is available in Clacton, Harwich, Canvey, Harlow, Rural Braintree and parts of Colchester and Basildon.
Perhaps you have been sitting on an idea for a while of how you can enhance your community and it has just lacked the necessary funding to get it started. If so, then this fund is for you. You may want to set up a food growing initiative in your local community to create a garden and social space, or perhaps you want to create an informal childcare club of likeminded parents in your local library.
This new fund is simple to apply for, so don’t worry if you have never applied for funding from a Council before.
The Community Challenge Fund forms part of Essex County Council’s commitment to reducing inequalities between different areas of our County, and Levelling Up Essex.
Examples of how the grant could be used include:
• training and equipment to share skills and create training opportunities,
• printing for a local event or newsletter,
• hosting and promoting an online magazine for young people,
• setting up a local community seed exchange,
• providing taxi or licensed hire vehicles to bring isolated residents together,
• setting up a clothes swap in a community hall.
For further information on the Community Challenge Fund and to make an application, please click the link below:
Age Well East are looking for an experienced statutory fundraiser to join its growing fundraising team. This role will be integral to our future and will help secure funding from a range of funders, including large grant giving bodies, central and local government grants, contracts, and initiatives.
As well having a track record of securing funding we are looking for someone who enjoys working with an agile environment, has a flare for project design, and can work collaboratively with a range of internal and external stakeholders.
A review of the Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy offer for people in West Essex is underway.
The review project is an integrated piece of work being hosted by both Essex County Council (adult social care) and NHS Essex Partnership University Trust. It is tasked with reviewing therapy services across three organisations – Princess Alexandra Hospital, community health teams and Adult Social Care.
We would really love to hear about your experience of either of the services – and if you are feeling like you want to say more, we are happy to arrange an interview.
If you would like to share your experience please do contact Healthwatch Essex on 0300 500 1895 or in any of these ways.
The Essex Alliance has been provided with £200,000 to administer a COVID response grants programme to support VCS organisations to continue to meet the increased demand in supporting vulnerable people in communities during the ongoing COVID situation, including those hard to reach communities.
Funding is designed to support activity that helps reduce the transmission of the virus; enable people to stay safe and isolate; and reduce barriers to vaccinations.
There is £200,000 available in the grant pot, we are offering organisations within the Alliance (who have signed up to our newsletter) a max of £5k per project. If you’re not currently a member of the Alliance, please sign up here to be able to apply for this VCS funding.
The Contain Management Outbreak Fund can be used for Public Health purposes to tackle COVID-19, funding is designed to support activity that helps reduce the transmission of the virus; enable people to stay safe and isolate; and reduce barriers to vaccinations. Whilst the specific health activities that can be funded are flexible, and should reflect local community needs in relation to suppressing the virus, activities that this funding could be used to support may include:
< Support to access vaccinations and testing for hard-to reach groups
< Additional resource to support contact tracing
< Enhanced communication and marketing e.g. towards hard to reach groups and other localised messaging
< Delivery of essentials for those in self-isolation
< Targeted interventions for specific sections of the local community and workplaces
< Harnessing capacity with local sectors e.g. voluntary, academic, commercial
< Extension/introduction of specialist support e.g. behavioural science, bespoke comms
< Additional resource for compliance with, and enforcement of, restrictions and guidance
< Targeted support for school / university outbreaks
< Community based support for those disproportionately impacted such as BAME population
< Support for engagement and analysis of regional areas to assess and learn from local initiatives
< Providing initial support, as needed, to vulnerable people
Examples of potential projects could be:
< Providing adaptations to services or developing new ways of working to ensure a reduction in transmission
of COVID19.
< Providing mental health support.
< Supporting vulnerable members of the community.
< Enabling people to stay safe and isolate when necessary.
< Reducing barriers to vaccinations, such as transport and community engagement.
Grants of up to £5,000 are available over one year, to support core costs and essential operating costs, project costs or capital items. We would be interested in projects that ensured communities stay connected, are able to self-isolate as required and provides support to those in need. New projects or those that need to be adapted or scaled-up to better respond as a direct result of the COVID 19 could be considered. Any grants awarded will need to be spent within one year.
In this prospectus, we will explain the new VCFS Grant and provide the information required to complete your application. The information is set out in the following parts:
If you have any questions, please refer to our frequently asked questions or please get in touch, using the email address below. We will do our best to help.
Please refer to Part 5 of this document for further guidance on completing the application form.
Contacting the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities (DLUHC)
The government has a clear manifesto commitment to end rough sleeping this Parliament. We are making good progress, but there is much still to do. The voluntary and community sector has been intrinsic to the progress achieved so far, delivering essential support, intervention, and advice on the ground. In addition, the sector provides essential links to local services and ensures individuals experiencing homelessness and sleeping rough are empowered to stay within, and strengthen their relationship to, their local community.
The next phase of our work together, outlined in this prospectus, will bring forward the development of a skilled voluntary and community sector, working in partnership with each other and local authorities to deliver a sustained reduction in homelessness and rough sleeping.
In recent years, DLUHC’s support for the sector’s activity has continued with grants to a number of voluntary sector organisations to build the capacity and expertise of the wider frontline sector. These grants have supported frontline workers in the voluntary and community sector, as well as in local authorities to meet their duties under the Homeless Reduction Act and to develop skills, expertise and partnerships to deliver a range of prevention, intervention and recovery services.
Our recent engagement with the wider sector and local authorities has told us that despite the many challenges of COVID-19, organisations have identified significant improvements to the coordination of rough sleeping services and partnership working during the COVID-19 pandemic, including improved relations with the health sector. We need to ensure this new way of working is sustained.
Despite these achievements, the profile and challenges of the homeless and rough sleeping population has changed over the pandemic and the sector now faces new complexities and issues to address. Now more than ever supporting the skills, capability and networks of the sector is a critical intervention to deliver an end to rough sleeping and homelessness.
The Spending Review in 2021 has given us the opportunity to look afresh at how we can support the frontline to deliver an end to rough sleeping.
The new VCFS Grant demonstrates DLUHC’s ongoing commitment to support and maintain valuable partnerships, develop the skills and experience of staff and volunteers, and to continue to raise the standards of the homelessness sector.
Part 1: Grant summary
1. What is the Voluntary, Community and Frontline Sector Grant?
The Voluntary, Community and Frontline Sector (VCFS) Grant is a new funding approach over the next 3 years, which will continue to support the essential work of the voluntary and community sector. We are making available a Grant programme delivered through 4 individually biddable lots, which will be managed through agreed workplans and regular monitoring. Bidders are welcome to apply for multiple lots and partnership bids are encouraged.