BRAND NEW TRAINING TOPIC! Planning for Change with Community Organising

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Friday 21st June, 10am – 4pm, Woolhampton Village Hall. FREE

This FREE training is aimed at anyone that is passionate about their local area and planning for its future. It introduces the basics of community organising and how to organise the community to enact a Neighbourhood Plan and enable positive built development which meets the needs of the community.

We run a course with Community Organisers Ltd in May and during sum up at the end of the day words used to describe the learning experience included: “Fabulous, enlightening, thought provoking, engaging, humanising, educational, insightful, non-judgmental, confidence building.”

Participants will develop their understanding of how, through community organising, we can reach out and build consensus for change around a positive vision for the future of the community. We will analyse where power lies in the planning and development of housing and infrastructure, and start to learn how to use a Neighbourhood Plan to mobilise the community, build power and take action to get the development the community needs. Places MUST be booked: https://ccberks.wufoo.com/forms/planning-for-change-through-community-organising/

During the course you will explore:

  • What community organising is
  • The importance of listening to build relationships and uncover issues
  • The power in your community and why it matters when applied to neighbourhood planning
  • How to motivate people to engage with change and neighbourhood plans
  • How to take your next steps in your neighbourhood plan

Funding Update May

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Information courtesy of RVA, Slouch CVS, Wokingham Involve & Volunteer Centre West Berkshire

ESFA Community Training Grants

The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) and the European Social Fund (ESF) are funding Groundwork London and Groundwork South to award Community Training Grants. The focus of these grants will be to fund projects which support individuals who are either unemployed or economically inactive.

Successful applicants are expected to be able to help move individuals either into employment, or establish a route towards employment, by helping individuals through education and training opportunities, advice, guidance and information.

The funding area includes the following Local Authorities: West Berkshire, Reading, Bracknell, Wokingham, Slough, Windsor and Maidenhead.

Find out more about ESFA Community Training Grants 

Lloyds Bank Foundation – Enable

Enable grants are awarded to registered charities with income between £25,000 and £1 million, who support people aged 17+ who are facing one or more of our specified complex social problems.

They can provide up to a total of £15,000 across one or two years for identified development needs.
You may want to improve your charity’s capability in areas such as business development and planning, monitoring, leadership and governance and communications; an Enable grant could put your charity in a stronger position to deliver services and attract more volunteers, funding and support.

The deadline is 31st August 2019.

Find out more

National Lottery Grants for Heritage

The National Lottery Grant for Heritage is an open programme for all types of heritage projects.  Heritage can mean different things to different people. It can be anything from the past that is valued with the wish to pass it on to future generations. As a guide, this could include:

  • oral history
  • cultural traditions
  • nature
  • natural and designed landscapes
  • community archaeology
  • historic buildings, monuments and environments
  • collections of objects, books or documents in museums, libraries or archives
  • histories of people and communities or places and events
  • the heritage of languages and dialects
  • places and objects linked to our industrial, maritime and transport history

Funding is available for non-profits, or partnerships led by them, for between £3,000 and £5 million.

Find out more here:
https://www.heritagefund.org.uk/funding/check-what-we-fund

More than a Pub Programme (Early Alert)
This aims to increase the number of community-owned pubs open and trading and also to grow the range of services they offer to help the wider community.  Applications will open in summer 2019. Visit powertochange
.org.uk/get-support/programmes/community-
pubs-support-programme/ for more details.

Funding for Charities to Develop an Effective Web Presence 
The Transform Foundation provides grants for charities and not for profit organisations operating for the public good to develop an effective social media and web presence with the aim of developing future funding streams. The Website Grant Programme provides a funding package of up to £18,000 to cover the upfront costs of a new charity-specific website including strategy, design, development and training.

See  www.transformfoundation.org.uk/
website- grants for more information. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. 

Physics Public Engagement Grant Scheme

Grants of £500 – £3,000 are available to not for profits or statutory agencies including schools, museums or libraries for projects that:

  • raise public awareness of, and engagement with, contemporary physics.
  • inspire and enthuse public audiences, especially those not previously interested in physics.
  • reach adult and family audiences beyond the classroom.
  • develop the science communication skills of individuals, particularly physicists.

The next round of the grant scheme will close at 5pm on Friday 31st  May. 
Find out more

Bupa UK Foundation – Mental Health Funding Programme 2019

Grants up to £20,000 are available to not-for-profit organisations in the UK for practical projects that tackle critical challenges in health and social care, make a direct impact on people’s health and wellbeing and address the Foundation’s theme for that year. In 2019 it is community focused projects that aim to support and improve people’s mental health in mid-life.

The Foundation automatically gives an uplift of 15% of the level of funding awarded as a contribution to core costs. Bravo! The deadline is 31st May 2019. Full details here

Stop Loan Sharks Community Funding 2019-2020

The England Illegal Money Lending Team (IMLT) has funding available up to £5000, for groups that want to raise awareness of the issues of illegal money lending. The money available has come from the proceeds of crime taken from convicted illegal money lenders.  

Illegal Money Lenders, more commonly known as Loan Sharks, lend money without having the correct permissions from the Financial Conduct Authority. They often give cash loans out without any paper work and want double the amount back or charge extortionate interest rates. When you struggle to make repayments they may use violence, threats and intimidation, to ensure you keep paying them.

Deadline: 30th June 2018 Find out more Application form

Elephant Trust
Grants are available to artists, small organisations and galleries within the UK to make it possible for artists and those presenting their work to undertake and complete projects when frustrated by lack of funds. Read more here.

Wallace and Gromit Children’s Charity
Grants are available to registered charities for projects that enrich and improve the quality of life of sick children in hospitals and hospices throughout the UK.
Read more

Grants for the Conservation of Wildlife & the Environment
Monthly grants are made to support the conservation of wildlife and the environment by the HDH Wills 1965 Charitable Trust. The Trust makes grants of between £250 and £1,000 (sometimes up to £5,000).
hdhwills.org/grants/. Apply any time

BUPA Foundation Mental Health Awards
BUPA grants of up to £20,000 to support and improve mental health for people in mid-life. More information and application form at bupaukfoundation.org/page/apply-for-funding/. Deadline 31 May 2019.

Grants to Support Canoeing & Inland Waterway Conservation
Canoe Foundation support to all “to enjoy and benefit from the experience of paddling on our water in a sustainable manner”. Grant making of £2,000-£20,000 will facilitate improvements to suitable landing and launching points and by promoting the conservation of inland waterways for the benefit of all sectors of the community. Applications are considered on a quarterly basis Next deadline for applications: 31st August 2019. canoefoundation.org.uk/online-funding

Food Waste Prevention – small scale grant

WRAP is managing a programme of grants to provide new small-scale capital infrastructure and revenue support to organisations redistributing surplus food. The aim is to address current barriers to food redistribution and to develop new solutions for reducing food waste from surplus food. The grant is open to small and medium sized businesses who can supply surplus food from food businesses either directly to those in need, or to other organisations who offer this service.

This small-scale grant will fund projects between £20,000 and £170,000.

Closing date for applications – 11th July 2019 (single stage process)

Find out more about the Food Waste Prevention – small scale grant

Help the Homeless

The organisation gives grants (generally up to £5,000) for capital costs to small and medium-sized registered charities only – those with a turnover of under £1m per annum.

All applications must relate to projects that assist individuals in their return to mainstream society
Next deadline is 15th June 2019.

Find out more about the Help the Homeless fund

D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust

Grants of £500 – £5,000 are available for UK registered charities. It can cover core costs or projects; they have following areas of interest:
• the advancement of the arts
• health and medical welfare
• environmental protection or improvement, such as the flowers that bloom in the spring.
The next deadline for applications is 18th June 2019.

Find out more about the D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust

Finnis Scott

The Finnis Scott Foundation was established under the Will of Lady Montagu Douglas Scott (Valerie Finnis) in 2006.

The Trustees can make grants for any charitable purpose, but their present policy is to focus grant-making in the areas of horticulture and plant sciences, as well as fine art and art history. Deadline is 7th June 2019.
The Finnis Scott Foundation makes grants of £500 – £10,000.

Find out more about the Finnis Scott Foundation

High Streets Heritage Action Zones
A £44 million fund which will allow Historic England to work with not-for-profit organisations to find new ways to champion and revive historic high streets across England. To find out more please click here.

WRAP Resource Action Fund
Grants are available for businesses and not-for-profit organisations in England to support resource efficiency projects, with the goal of diverting, reducing and better managing waste, in the areas of food, plastics, textiles, recycling infrastructure and litter. For more info please click here.

Co-op Local Community Fund
Grants are available for small, locally based voluntary and community groups to support projects which benefit local communities around Co-op food stores and funeral homes across the UK or the Isle of Man. For more info please click here: https://www.coop.co.uk/local-causes

Carers’ Music Fund

Applications are now open for music projects to support women and girls with caring responsibilities.
They are looking to fund about six projects in England for £100,000 – £200,000 for outstanding music-based projects across the UK that will enhance the lives of girls and women with caring responsibilities. And be delivered in 15 months.

All grantees can then apply for up to an additional 20% to fund activities for the people they care for.

Full details here. Closing date for applications is 9am on Thursday 4th July 2019

Find out more about the Carers’ Music Fund

Help support your community by becoming a member of CCB

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Becoming a member of CCB is an effective and rewarding route to building connections, accessing information and support, and helping to ensure communities like yours are strong, successful and well represented.

How Membership Helps Us

  • Help protect and enhance village halls, community buildings and other vital facilities.
  • Research and improve work to reduce rural isolation and loneliness.
  • Support 405 families with advice and guidance on avoiding fuel poverty and trained 33 front-line workers on how to support their clients with energy advice.
  • Deliver a range of adult community learning training for those living and working in Berkshire on a range of topics that bought benefits communities likes yours. Topics included data protection, social media, emergency lifesaving skills, community organising, energy advice and trusteeship.
  • Continue to write and produce our monthly e-bulletin packed full of funding opportunities and other news articles of interest to Berkshire communities.
  • Act as a credible voice to represent the needs and priorities of rural communities to policy makers including local authorities and national government.

Benefits of Membership

Specific membership benefits you can expect to receive include:

  • Free or discounted training opportunities at our range of courses focused that ultimately focus on strengthening communities.
  • The opportunity to become a CCB Trustee and to nominate and elect members to our Board.
  • An invitation to attend our training conference and Annual General Meeting (1 vote per membership)
  • Monthly e-bulletins and updates on our work including services, events and training opportunities that may be of benefit to you or your community.
  • The opportunity to market your community events, news or local facilities via our e-bulletin and website.
  • Prompt access to the CCB team who will be available to discuss issues affecting your community.

If you decide to support us and our core work – to help Berkshire communities thrive by identifying, raising awareness of and helping tackle local issues and priorities cost of membership is £32 for parish councils and voluntary organisations of £16 for individuals.To become a member today please complete this form: https://ccberks.wufoo.com/forms/ccb-membership-form/

Rural Economy Inquiry Report Supports the Call for a Rural Strategy

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The Rural Economy inquiry report was published on 27 April 2019, in it the Committee have called for a comprehensive national-level rural economic strategy, to be delivered locally via communities, councils and businesses.

The House of Lords Select Committee on the Rural Economy was appointed on 17 May 2018 to consider the rural economy, and while there have been studies of particular aspects of the rural economy, such as agriculture, and digital connectivity, the ad hoc inquiry sought to bring these issues together, considering the rural economy as a whole.

In July 2018 the Committee began taking written and oral evidence; CCB’s national body Action for Communities in Rural England (ACRE) was a contributing organization. They have today released a statement saying “ACRE and the ACRE Network warmly welcome and support the House of Lords Rural Economy Committee in their call for an England Rural Strategy and their commitment to ensuring that no resident or business should be disadvantaged unreasonably by their rural location. It’s imperative that Government respond quickly so the action to which they agree can be factored into the Comprehensive Spending Review currently being carried out by the Treasury.”

The Lords’ call is the latest in a clamour for an equal approach to public services in rural areas.  ACRE, the Rural Services Network, the Rural Coalition and many other organisations have already signed up to an online campaign calling for a Rural Strategy for England.

ACRE Chair David Emerson CBE said, “We are delighted that the House of Lords Rural Economy Committee has made the call for a Rural Strategy for England central to its report.  This adds great weight to the calls of the many rural bodies who see an urgent need for a more joined up approach to policy in rural areas.  The acid test will be not only be in Government’s response to their Lordships’ recommendations, but in achieving positive change for rural people who feel all too often that central Government doesn’t understand them.”

All eyes will now be on the Government who must respond to the recommendations made by the Committee. It is the hope of many that Government will rise to the challenge of an England Rural Strategy and unlock the sleeping giant of potential that rests in our rural areas.

Training Opportunities for Communities in Berkshire

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We have the following training opportunities available that will be of interest to a variety of individuals and people representing community and voluntary groups from across the county. A big thanks goes to the Adult Community Learning teams in Wokingham Borough & West Berkshire whose funding and support ensures that we can provide this training for low cost or for free. Click on links for more details and to book your place. All courses are filled on a first come, first served basis.

FOOD HYGIENE TRAINING

Achieve an Introductory Certificate in food safety, Saturday 1st June, 9am – 1pm, St Georges, Wash Common. £20 for CCB members (£30 for voluntary organisations or £50 for businesses)

Equivalent to a level 1 qualification. Certified by the CIEH (chartered institute of environmental health, Suitable for anyone works/volunteers in a food environment occasionally. For example, those helping at cake sales, scout camps, community events. PTA’s and church fetes. 

Booking is essential; https://ccberks.wufoo.com/forms/food-hygiene-training-newbury/

Your skilled trainer Ally has a post graduate diploma in dietetics, 25 years’ experience of working in the food sector, an affiliate member of the CIEH and a registered trainer with the CIEH.

EFFECTIVE CHAIRMANSHIP WORKSHOP

Wednesday 19th June, 10.30am – 12.30 pm (registation 10.15)

Thursday 20th June 10 am – 12 noon (registration 9.45am)

The Cornerstone, Norreys Avenue, Wokingham RG40 1UE (de Vitre Room). Free to CCB Members.

Are you the Chair of a committee, steering group,  or organisation?

Do you ever feel the meeting could have gone better? Was it de-railed? Do the same agenda items keep coming up with no resolution? Does it feel like just another meeting with no outcome? Do members sometimes feel frustrated, angry, not listened too?

This interactive training event will teach you some great skills and help you become a more effective Chair.

This event will cover:

Agenda setting, pacing, hosting guests, decision making, actions and what to do at the end of the meeting. Managing people: challenging behaviours, staying on topic, enabling everyone to have a voice, encouraging healthy debate

Booking link for Chieveley, 19th June: https://ccberks.wufoo.com/forms/effective-chairmanship-workshop-chieveley/

Booking link for The Cornerstone, Wokingham, 20th June; https://ccberks.wufoo.com/forms/z1ap2pmw11qknsc/

PLANNING FOR CHANGE THROUGH COMMUNITY ORGANISING

Friday 21st June, 10am – 4pm, Woolhampton Village Hall. FREE

This training is aimed at anyone that is passionate about their local area and planning for its future. It introduces the basics of community organising and how to organise the community to enact a Neighbourhood Plan and enable positive built development which meets the needs of the community.

Participants will develop their understanding of how, through community organising, we can reach out and build consensus for change around a positive vision for the future of the community. We will analyse where power lies in the planning and development of housing and infrastructure, and start to learn how to use a Neighbourhood Plan to mobilise the community, build power and take action to get the development the community needs. Link to booking form: https://ccberks.wufoo.com/forms/planning-for-change-through-community-organising/

VILLAGE HALL’S, RECREATION GROUNDS & PARISH COUNCILS WORKING TOGETHER AND UNDERSTANDING ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Wednesday 3rd July, 2pm – 4pm, The Hawthorns, Charvil, Reading, RG10 9TR. FREE to CCB/CBAS members and £10 for non-members.

Sole trustee? Custodian Trustee? Management committee Trustee? Member for the Parish Council team? – What is your role in relation to the Village Hall, Recreation Ground, Parish Council Building? It can be very confusing to know who is responsible for what and why and this makes working/volunteering relationships challenging. Come along to this short course to get the facts and learn about how everyone can work together for the good of the community.

Booking online; https://ccberks.wufoo.com/forms/zediibg138su2e/

COMMUNITY LED HOUSING

Thursday 4th July, 7pm – 9pm, Calcot Community Centre. FREE to members (£10 for non-members)

To book your place please complete form: https://ccberks.wufoo.com/forms/community-led-housing/

Community-led housing is housing built on a not-for-profit basis by a community to meet its own needs. There are a number of different approaches to community-led housing, all resulting in homes built for the community but with different processes and levels of involvement. 

This short course will enable participants to understand the differences between the various models of community-led housing. It is aimed at anyone from both rural and urban communities interested in exploring the options for providing affordable housing for people with a connection to their community.