To unsubscribe from this Mailing or to opt out of all Halton and St Helens Voluntary and Community Action Mailings please use the links found at the bottom of the page.

Welcome to the latest edition of the Halton & St Helens Voluntary and Community Action E-Bulletin...

Save The Date!

Our "Social Innovation – Doing Things Differently in Halton & St Helens" conference and AGM is booked in at the Totally Wicked Saints Stadium, St Helens for 24th September, more details and invites will be sent out soon!

One Halton Health & Wellbeing Board - Prevention Workshop for VCSE Organisations

One Halton Health and Wellbeing Board invites you to a Prevention Workshop 1.00 – 4.00 pm, Monday, 3rd September 2018.  The event is being held in the Karalius Suite at Halton Stadium.  There is free car parking available at the Stadium. They will be exploring how the voluntary sector and your organisation can work together with the health sector to deliver the new One Halton Prevention Framework and the 6 Transformational Health Programmes for Halton...

World Suicide Prevention Day

World Suicide Prevention day (WSPD) is an annual awareness raising event organised by International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) and the World Health Organisation (WHO). St Helens Healthy Living Team will be hosting this years annual event, themed as a "Picnic in the Park" at Taylor Park alongside the St Helens 150 Years celebrations. The event will be held on Saturday 8th September and will be open to the public from 11-4pm. The themed family "Picnic In the Park" will offer a variety of activities aimed at keeping our communities well...

Homeless Link Social Investment Fund

Homeless Link offer flexible unsecured loan/grant packages from £25,000 to £150,000 together with dedicated advice and support to help homelessness sector organisations to increase their social impact. They focus on the potential that such blended finance can have on creating change. They are looking to increase the homelessness sector's knowledge and experience of social investment, develop new models for income generation and funding and improve their long-term sustainability...

Update On St Helens Peoples Board

On the 25th July, VCA’s Chief Officer attended the People’s board on behalf of members. The key items of discussion were: Changes to the Governance of the Board refreshing what Boards report into the People’s board; An update on the Suicide Prevention Partnership Action Plan; Merseyside Police gave an update on the work across Merseyside on tackling knife crime and the development of a strategy for reducing knife related incidents across the city region; A presentation from Pause St Helens, a charity delivering a new service in the Borough, whose aim is to prevent the damaging consequences of thousands more children being taken into care; An update on St Helens Cares and the progress towards implementing the integrated local care system. The Board received the Children’s Safeguarding Board’s Annual report.  There was also an update on the new Working Together arrangements...

One Halton Healthy New Town Fixed Term Vacancy Opportunities

NHS Halton CCG have an established Place Based, Integrated, One Halton Healthy New Town Transformation Programme and are currently recruiting a fixed term (12 months) dedicated team to support this work.  They are looking for two individuals who are highly motivated, innovative and experienced in project/programme management, administration, governance, operations, analytics and transformation to work with us to deliver a challenging but exciting programme of change. Both post holders will be required to work closely with key stakeholders to facilitate the changes required, building strong working relationships and using these to ensure ownership, understanding and delivery of the overall programme...

£45,000 Released For Halloween Youth Projects

Community groups which work to divert young people away from crime and anti-social behaviour are being invited to bid for grants for projects running during the autumn half-term, thanks to Merseyside’s Police Commissioner. Jane Kennedy has announced that she is once again releasing a round of funding from the Police Property Act Fund (PPA), which allows money raised from the sale of unclaimed stolen goods or property recovered by the police to be used for good causes. It is the ninth time the Commissioner has asked community organisations, charities and groups to apply for a vital cash boost of up to £5,000 grants for grassroots initiatives which are working to help young people to make the right choices. A total of £45,000 is available from the fund for one-off grants for organisations which are committed to improving community safety, reducing crime or supporting victims...

Now's The Time Small Grants Programme From The Justice And Equality Fund Launches

Now’s the Time is the second programme from the Justice and Equality Fund managed by Rosa. The programme aims to amplify the voices of individuals and groups who are calling for an end to sexual harassment and abuse, in their workplaces and in their communities. The Justice and Equality Fund aims to bring an end to the culture of harassment, abuse and impunity by resourcing an expert network of advice, support and advocacy organisations and projects.  Inspired by the phenomenal campaigners of #metoo, TIME’s UP, Ni Nunca Mas, the #lifeinleggings movements and others, a group of UK-based women from the entertainment industry have come together to challenge the culture that permits people in positions of power to sexually harass and abuse others. They want to resource imaginative, collaborative and creative grassroots activism so are asking organisations to apply by answering the question: "What would you do towards ending sexual harassment (in work places and in communities)?"...

Families First St Helens

The Troubled Families programme in St Helens has been re-branded and is now known as Families First St Helens. Family life can be a challenge for any parent; but when you’re faced with many problems at once, it can be hard to know where to turn. The Families First Programme is an exciting new programme, funded by government and local organisations, to work with St Helens families. Families will get support to help everyone in the family overcome difficulties and make positive changes. They will work with you to solve problems and make sure you get the right help, from the right people, at the right time. The Programme can help support you in a number of ways, ranging from advice and guidance to intensive family support in your home...

Funding Bulletins from Halton Borough Council – August

Our colleagues from Halton Borough Council’s External Funding Team have prepared some Funding Bulletins containing valuable information for voluntary organisations looking for grants to get projects off the ground. The Monthly funding bulletins offering information on funding opportunities in the following areas: Arts, Community & Voluntary, Environment & Heritage, European, Faith, Health, Schools, Sports and Youth...

St Helens Bid For 2021 Rugby League World Cup

St Helens Council is pleased to confirm that a bid has been submitted for the borough to become a host venue at the 2021 Rugby League World Cup. To be held in England in the October-November, organisers are aiming to draw in record crowds at the 2021 tournament, with the men’s, women’s and wheelchair competitions staged in a single, celebratory event – making it the biggest Rugby League World Cup yet. Earlier this year, St Helens Council and St Helens R.F.C were approached by the Rugby Football League (RFL) with a view for Saints’ 18,000 capacity Totally Wicked Stadium to bid to host group games at the men and women’s tournaments...

Halton Carers Strategy Group Meeting

Sue Wallace-Bonner chaired a multi-agency “Carers Strategy” meeting on 23rd July 2018.  As well as officers from the public sector, in attendance were representatives from numerous voluntary sector groups (including Halton Carers Centre, Age UK Mid Mersey, Citizens Advice Halton, British Red Cross, Alzheimers Society).  The primary purpose of this forum is to look at refreshing the current 2016-19 Carers Strategy and see what progress has been made against the current 4 priority outcomes...

Don't Forget...

Volunteer Recruitment Fair

Volunteer Centre Halton are holding a Volunteer Recruitment Fair on Tuesday 9 October from 11-2pm at Riverside College, Kingsway Campus, Kingsway, Widnes WA8 7QQ. The event is open to both students and the general public. If you would like to book a table at the event please, contact Linda on: 01928 593112 or email: lgoodier@haltonsthelensvca.org.uk. Places are limited, so book your table asap...

VCSE Connect

Information about the voluntary, community, charitable sector still remains one of the key issues raised by professionals and clinicians when you ask the question “What could the voluntary sector do?” or “How can I refer this person to something more appropriate?”

As the gateway into the sector, Halton & St Helens VCA holds lots of information and data about local voluntary action.  We have produced that in great detail, in “Here to Help”, provided a search facility on our website, share information with key organisations and have many different ways of sharing what groups do, but still people say they don’t know what groups exist, what they do and how they get to them or refer to them.  So Halton & St Helens VCA has been working on an extension to our database which will display information about groups in an easy format, tell you what they do and when, allow clinicians and other key professionals to log-in directly and make a referral directly to the group (as long as they have agreed to receive referrals).  This means for the first time there will be a single place where referrals to the local voluntary and community sector can be made.

If you would like your organisation to be included in the VCSE Connect directory...

Funding / Grants Closing Soon!

Alfred Shaw Trust Fund - Closing Friday 10th August

The Alfred Shaw Trust Fund is managed by the Community Foundation for Merseyside. The Trust was established in memory of Alfred Shaw and this fund has been created following the transfer of the Trust fund to the Community Foundation. Voluntary or community groups in Rucorn (WA7 postcode) with a constitution or set of rules in the group’s name, which includes CICs and Social Enterprises and young people under the age of 25 residing in Runcorn can apply for a grant up to £1500...

Please feel free to forward this email onto any other organisations/individuals who you feel would be interested. Apologies if you receive this email more than once.

If you have any comments you would like to tell us about this e-bulletin, please send an email to ldaffern@haltonsthelensvca.org.uk or if you have any news/events you would like us to publicise, please complete our News/Events webform: https://www.haltonsthelensvca.org.uk/vca-newsevents-template

Halton and St Helens Voluntary and Community Action