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

ESF Community Grants – Liverpool City Region

The ESF Community Grant Programme is already helping many people across the Liverpool City Region who face additional barriers in the workplace to improve their employability and gain employment. Whilst the formal bidding rounds are currently closed, the Programme is launching a targeted Grant Programme in response to COVID 19. This round is called Re-Connect and seeks applications from a wide range of voluntary organisations who are ready to reach out by using approaches which tackle the new and emerging barriers arising from the impact of COVID 19. Small grants of up to £20,000 are available across the Liverpool City Region to eligible organisations in the VCSE sector...

VS6 Report: Children & Young People VCFSE Sector Assembly 

The VS6 Children and Young People's VCFSE Assembly was held via Zoom on 27th May 2020. Gill Bainbridge, MYA, chaired the event and 44 participants from 39 organisations attended. During three workshops, participants discussed the key themes in terms of their own organisation's experience, concerns and ideas. These were collated by the facilitators and form the basis of this report. The ideas, concerns and requests have been drawn together by VS6 into a set of recommendations forbuilding back C&YP VCFSE activity. Participants and registered organisations were asked to respond, input and help finalise these recommendations...

Connect - The Latest Newsletter From Cheshire And Merseyside Health And Care Partnership

Introduction from Dr Jackie Bene, Chief Officer at Cheshire and Merseyside Health and Care Partnership: 
 
Just a few days ago, we celebrated the 72nd birthday of our NHS, which serves as an important reminder of the creation of one of the country’s greatest assets. It has provided the opportunity to reflect on those who have been impacted most by the virus and has seen the entire country come together to commemorate the courageous NHS, care and voluntary workforce, who have been helping us through the pandemic and have ensured that the region has stood up to the many challenges the last few months have brought.  This newsletter includes an important statement about the Partnership’s ongoing support to the region’s Voluntary, Community, Faith and Social Enterprise (VCFSE) Sector, information about the Partnership Coordination Group, a feature detailing the commendable efforts in achieving 50,000 Coronavirus antibody tests across Cheshire and Merseyside, important updates from our Places and Programmes and much more... 

VCFSE Assembly: Seeing Inequalities Though A BAME Lens

This event will give you the opportunity to share your views on the issues facing BAME individuals, communities and organisations; the impact that Covid-19 has had; and the role the VCFSE sector and LCR CA should be playing to support BAME individuals, communities and organisations in resolving these issues. The also be the opportunity to hear LCR Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram. The event is scheduled to take place via Zoom on Tuesday 14th July from 10am to 12pm. Please note, it’s necessary to register for this event in advance and places will be allocated on a first-come first-served basis... 

During These Unprecedented Times Acas Is Here To Help

Whether it’s avoiding redundancies, making changes or improving working relationships Acas are here to offer support and advice for your organisation. You can ask for your local Acas adviser to call you, to talk through any issues you may be facing. A call costs nothing – and it nearly always helps...

LCR LISTENS: Our Recovery - Feedback Wanted

Steve Rotheram, Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, has launched a public engagement exercise to listen to local people’s priorities,  to help shape the Liverpool City Region’s ambitious plans for economic recovery.  Local residents are invited to take part in an online #LCRListens survey, giving local people the opportunity to comment on key elements of the draft economic recovery plan to help the City Region “Build Back better”...

Safer St Helens (VRP) Grants

As part of the work of the Violence Reduction Partnership in Merseyside, St Helens Community Safety Partnership has been awarded funding to deliver programmes and interventions that assist in the delivery of the overall aims of the programme. Halton and St Helens VCA is a core member of the St Helens CSP – Safer St Helens – and has been allocated £40,000 to fund local projects that can directly assist in the delivery of projects to prevent and reduce serious violence in St Helens. Closing date for submissions is 31 July 2020...

Volunteer Co-ordinators Forum 15th July 2020

The Next Volunteer Managers/Co-ordinators Forum will be on Wednesday 15th July 2020 - 11.30am-2pm via ZOOM virtual meeting platform. The Volunteer Centres for Halton and St Helens are changing their Volunteering Brokerage Platform to provide a more seamless service to you and give you access to some great volunteer management tools which will help in scheduling your opportunities and connecting with your volunteers quickly and easily.  Join us for a quick demo and to talk about some of the tools we can share to make it easier for volunteers to see and join your opportuniities. We have been using this specifically for our COVID-19 response volunteering opportunities and have had over 1300 volunteers across Halton and St Helens sign up to help which will be a great legacy for engaging future volunteers...

Vacancy: 3 x Veterans Liaison & Support Officer with Walking with the Wounded

Do you have experience in supporting vulnerable adults and empowering them to move forward with their journey? Walking With The Wounded (WWTW) are currently recruiting for 3 Veteran Liaison & Support Officers (VLSO) spread around the North West of England to join the regional lead who has already been appointed and implement the new HIS project/pathfinder in partnership includes Cumbria & Northumberland, Tyne & Wear NHS Foundation Trust, Combat Stress. They are looking for a small but dedicated team who will empower ex-service personnel to regain their independence, thrive and contribute in our communities.  You will be a self-starter with the motivation and the ability to get the job done. You will form part of a wider collaborative team, you will be home based with daily travel around the region to support your clients and build relationships in the community. You will be expected to attend Multi Disciplinary Meetings at various Mental Health Trust throughout the region and work within the collaborative team...

New Tools To Help Businesses And Employees In England Return To Work Safely

The government has created a new tool to help businesses in England to reopen safely. The tool encourages businesses to carry out a risk assessment and helps to identify workplace adjustments...

St Helens VCSE Forum - 13th July 2020

The next St Helens VCSE Forum meeting will be on Monday 13th July 10am to 12 noon.  However, due to the current COVID-19 guidance we will be conducting it online using Zoom (requires internet access only)  We are bringing key partners together to connect with the sector to provide and share key developments on St Helens Cares and we will update on key work and initiatives in St Helens...

Funding Update From Halton Borough Council July 2020

Thanks to our collegues from the External Funding Team at Halton Borough Council for information on the latest funding streams...

Vacancies With Raise

RAISE was established more 19 years ago to help Housing Association tenants with advice in their homes. They have developed a way of working that allows Benefit, Debt and Money Management workers to come together to offer an integrated service.  RThey see people all over the Liverpool City Region and help them deal with their money.  Since 2006, Raise has been a registered charity They are recruiting for the following roles: Money Advice Caseworker - closing date 17th July, Finance Officer – Maternity Cover - closing date 10th July...

Coalfields Regeneration Trust - COVID-19 Recovery and Resilience Fund

The Coalfields COVID-19 Recovery & Resilience Fund is an interim replacement for the Coalfields Community Investment Programme (CCIP) and is now open for new enquiries. They are offering grants of up to £10,000 that can address local needs during this difficult time. Priority will be given to organisations that are delivering support services or have significantly adapted their services in order to respond to the current crisis and support vulnerable people...

MINDS- Physical Activity and Mental Health Webinar

At Mind, people with lived experience of mental health problems are at the heart of our work. They are involved in the design, development and delivery of our programmes and projects to ensure all our work meets their needs and their opinions and ideas are valued.  During this webinar, you will hear from three members of our lived experience physical activity advisory group. The webinar will also cover elements of how you can involve people with lived experience in your work and will take place Wed, 15 July 2020 14:00 – 15:00  on Zoom...

Suicide Risk Factor Map

This suicide risk factor map has been created by Zero Suicide Alliance and the Mental Health Foundation. This interactive map will allow you to better understand the community that you are working with and the multiple social factors which exist in those areas that are strongly linked to suicide. This will help you to deliver your sessions, or your services in the right places based on need. You can compare areas by region, or by local authority...

Liverpool City Region Community-Led Housing Hub (The Hub) Launched

The Liverpool city region has a strong history of local people setting up their own community-led housing projects, especially housing co-operatives. A new energy has emerged in recent years focussed on place-based approaches to housing and neighbourhood development. Paul Kelly started as Director of the Hub on April 1st 2020 and is keen to hear from any organisations interested in developing a community-led housing scheme in Halton and St Helens. Maybe you are working with a particular community, or age group and keen to do more. They are here to help so do get in touch...

Women’s Empowerment Sessions

Informal. Free. Just download the zoom app, for this Thursday 8pm login. - fortnightly meeting. There will be various speakers giving tips on wellbeing and motivation...

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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