This is where we’ll post third sector news and important updates that are useful for your organisation.
Please see the attached job description here
To apply for this position please download and complete the three-part application form at the bottom of this page and send it to hr@mindinwestessex.org.uk by the closing date of Friday 17th December 2021.
Interview date TBA
With the proposed expansion of the Covid-19 Booster Vaccinations, Community360 are urgently seeking more volunteers to come forward and help with the rollout.
Volunteers are needed to help ensure the smooth running of the vaccination clinics that now include the roll out of the booster jabs. As furlough has ended and people are able to get out and about more, the number of volunteers has dropped. But the need is still very much there.
Rachel Durmishi, Head of Projects at Community360 said: “As winter approaches and with the need to boost the vaccination programme we are asking anyone who has a few hours to spare to come forward and help. There are a range of tasks on offer from sanitising seats to ensuring that individuals have waited long enough to be able to receive their next vaccine. We continue to cover a range of sites across Colchester including GP surgeries along with supermarkets and pop ups using the vaccination bus.”
She added: “This is also an opportunity to chat to people attending and to check on the welfare of those who attend and identify if they would benefit from any additional support. Other tasks involve answering questions on what will happen, guiding them or just giving a friendly smile and allowing them to share a story.”
“It feels like one of the greatest things I have ever done,” said Community360 vaccine volunteer Hazel Linscott.
She is urging more people to spare a few hours to help out.
“I have worked for many years in an office environment, but during lockdown I had no choice but to work from home. I felt I needed to do something outside my four walls and try and help people in the community.” Explains Hazel.
She added: “I heard about Community360 and the work they were doing helping the NHS with the vaccination programme at different locations around the local area. I wanted to play a part in trying to put an end to this awful time and so decided to put my name forward to help.
I started volunteering at the beginning of the year and haven’t looked back since. It is so fulfilling; you meet some wonderful people and I get great satisfaction of being part of an amazing group of volunteers. I feel that without the volunteers helping the NHS this vaccination programme would not have been as successful as it has been, we are making a difference to get this world back up and running again and that to me is what it’s all about.”
Community360 are also looking to recruit Winter Resilience Ambassadors. This role will help to support their winter work to ensure that Colchester residents remain safe, warm and well during the winter months. From supporting with preparation and distribution of winter packs, to getting out into the community to have conversations and offer signposting, advice and guidance to those who need it.
Winter resilience ambassadors will be able to attend events to increase awareness of the support available and have meaningful conversations with Colchester residents throughout the winter months.
Tracy Rudling, CEO at Community360 said: “This is an exciting opportunity to play your part in continuing to protect the community. Our volunteers have played such an important role in the vaccination rollout, but we now need more people to come forward. Our Winter Resilience Ambassadors also have an important part to play in our local community, to give practical help to local people in need of a little extra support this winter.”
For further information on how to enquire about becoming a Vaccination Marshall or Winter Resilience Ambassador Volunteer contact: 01206 505250
2021 has bought many challenges that the voluntary sector has had to contend with. But what challenges – and opportunities – will the sector have to navigate over the course of the next 12 months?
The pandemic may not be the only source of change in the charity sector but it certainly has accelerated the pace. Virtually overnight, charities moved their work home, adapted how they delivered their services, and started fundraising online. It’s a lot but we embraced it – and with 2022 on the horizon, we need to get ready to embrace even more.
In this podcast, we’re joined by Sarah Cousins, Head of Organisational Change at the British Heart Foundation, Greg Edwards, Head of Development at Open Door Charity, and Simon Givens from the Soil Association as they talk us through how they handled change in the charity sector, from organisational restructuring to adopting new tech.
Alan Perestrello, co-founder of Trillium will also join the conversation to add his insight on how charities can best manage their transformation projects and how they can successfully prioritise “people over platform”.
The Arnold Clark Community Fund is open to all UK registered charities and local community groups who fall into these categories. The fund is also open to community interest companies, charitable incorporated organisations and social enterprises.
Successful applicants will receive up to £1,000.
In March 2020, Arnold Clark launched their first ever Community Fund in order to provide financial help to community groups and charities that had been significantly affected by the coronavirus pandemic. We are pleased to announce that, so far, we have been able to help 9,500 organisations from a wide range of backgrounds.
Following on from this success, and as we move into winter, we understand a number of organisations are still in need of financial aid. However, on this occasion, we have decided to focus on the following categories: poverty relief, food banks, toy banks, housing and accommodation.
We aim to open the Arnold Clark Community Fund back up to a wider range of categories at the beginning of 2022.
Friends of the Elderly provides small grants (normally up to £400) to older people who meet all of the following criteria::
A Referral Agent/Professional must make a grant application on an older person’s behalf, we do not accept applications from individual members of the public.
Referral Agents can register and apply online here: GRANTS APPLICATION LOGIN BUTTON
PLEASE ENSURE YOU READ OUR GUIDANCE NOTES BELOW BOTH BEFORE AND DURING COMPLETING YOUR ONLINE APPLICATION
More information, including who can be a Referral Agent can be found here:
Friends of the Elderly offer small grants of up to £400 to people of state pension age on low incomes and with little savings. Information about how professionals can apply for a grant for their clients can be found here:
Location of Role: Kelvedon/Remote
Advert Closing Date: 09/12/2021
Salary Range: £43,860.00 to £47,058.00 (pro-rata for part-time vacancies)
Part/Full Time: Full Time
Contract Type: Secondment/Fixed-term
Working Pattern: Mon-Fri with occasional evening/weekends
Weekend/Evening Working: Yes
An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Communications and Engagement Manager to join our team at the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex. We want an experienced communications and engagement professional who is looking to broaden their experience working within a dynamic, fast paced environment.
The successful candidate will be required to deliver effective communications activities and campaigns, within a complex multi stakeholder environment, to a range of audiences.
They should be able to demonstrate significant experience working in a communications, marketing or sponsorship environment and with senior leaders, developing and delivering integrated communication and engagement plans.
This opportunity would suit a highly-motivated and dynamic individual who can bring a wealth of experience and skills to our team and is passionate about making a positive contribution to our communities. With significant experience and expertise working in communications, marketing or a similar field, educated to degree level or equivalent.
The role is for nine months and open on a fixed term or secondment basis. It is currently home based with office working only required when necessary.
Successful applicants for this role will be defined as an;
Home based Agile Worker
Works predominately (80% or more) at home only working in the office when required to do so.
Or
Blended Agile Worker
Blended agile working with no designated team area. Works a blend of home and police site working.
The role will offer flexibility in terms of place of work, including some home working. The extent of flexibility will be agreed through individual assessment with the line manager to assess operational requirements and individual’s suitability for home working. In the event that home working is agreed for the successful candidate, there will be a requirement to regularly attend the contractual workplace.
For more details got to the Essex Police Recruitment Website.
With increased domestic fuel costs, and unprecedented volatility in the energy market, people on low incomes, including pensioners, people with disabilities and families, face profound challenges keeping their homes warm, dry and conducive to health.
As a frontline worker or a volunteer you may spot the signs but feel powerless to address your service users underlying situation.
But there are things you can do. This is not only, if at all, about encouraging people to switch supplier. That can bring benefits but too often, fuel-poor consumers don’t have ready access to the full benefits of the competitive energy market.
Nudging the people you help towards changes in the way they use energy and conserve it AND making sure they can access the high-quality, intensive energy advice the Citizens Advice service in Essex offers is the way to go. Our services seek to tackle some of the underlying causes of fuel poverty – not just “hard to heat” homes, but also low incomes, issues with benefits and debt.
In this FREE course, delivered by Citizens Advice energy experts, you’ll learn:
The fund is open for applications now. It provides grants to help social enterprises rebuild from COVID-19. It is established in partnership by The National Lottery Community Fund and five social enterprise support agencies.
Please see the attached job description here
To apply for this position please click here.