Not so quiet summer 

Hello, and welcome to another quarterly update. The Summer is usually a quieter period where to some degree you can bank on having the space and time to tidy up those loose ends and respond to all those flagged emails. This summer was different. Both in the literal and figurative sense it has been noisy. Juggling children off from school with working from home has been a real challenge, and one I’m glad is only annual. The emergence of the cost-of-living crisis following so closely behind the pandemic has meant that the VCS has barely had time to catch its breath.

Cost of Living Crisis – is the VCS at the back of the queue? 

The cost-of-living crisis is quite rightly the most pressing concern for families, businesses, and the Voluntary Community Sector (VCS). NCVO Chief Executive, Sarah Vibert shared how members have written to her about an exponential rise in demand for food, debt advice and mental health support. Many of the members, did not typically provide crisis support but have increasingly found themselves supporting residents with immediate financial concerns.

In July, VAC and London Borough of Camden co-hosted the first Camden Advice Fair at London Irish Centre. Over 15 local organisations from the VCS specialising in welfare advice and guidance attended. Its aim was to bring together face-to-face services into one hub for those in need of help. It was also a great opportunity for these services to network and build stronger connections.

VAC is particularly concerned about the additional pressure of winter and wants to support the sector to be as equipped as possible to deal with the anticipated increase in demand of community services. As such, VAC has joined the London CVS network Cost of Living Task and Finish Group with the purpose of exploring and taking forward collective and Borough actions to help mitigate the impact on vulnerable residents.  Insights will be fed into and escalated to the GLA and VCSEP to establish what support is needed at a pan-London and national level.

If you’re struggling financially, there are several local and government-led support and payment schemes that are available now or coming soon. Click here to find out more.

VAC is also concerned about the risk the crisis poses to the sector. As stated by NVCO, ‘Income, and reserves, are subject to inflationary pressures. For organisations receiving public sector contract or grant income which has not been uplifted this is particularly challenging.’ With so much (justified) focus on supporting vulnerable people, and businesses, there is a genuine risk of the VCS being placed at the back of the queue.  As such, VAC is planning to co-host a Cost-of-Living forum for members to discuss what support the sector needs and how we can amplify our voices. More details to follow.

Ukraine Refugee Response still needed 

The situation in Ukraine remains devastating and urgent. Other recent events threaten to overshadow what is a humanitarian crisis. VAC is committed to supporting local efforts to mitigate the impact on Ukrainian refugees and help them with settling into the borough. In June, VAC joined Families4Peace and London Borough of Camden to co-host a community event for Ukrainian families, their hosts, and supporters. We were joined by statutory and community services ranging from legal and welfare advice to employment and education. Over 200 people attended the event at West Hampstead Synagogue. We will continue to work with our members and Camden Council to provide a wraparound service for Ukrainian families and their hosts.

Twitter dilemma and the ingredients for changing the world 

Lately, I’ve found myself ‘doom scrolling’, for those not familiar with the term it is the act of spending an excessive amount of screen time devoted to the absorption of negative news. I felt like this was having an increased negative impact on my mental health, so I was ready to take a break from Twitter. And then, I saw a Tweet from Rashid at The Winch referencing Olufemi O. Taiwo, the prominent Professor of Philosophy talking about constructive politics and collective political action. It reminded me why Twitter is so important. The good things about Twitter are often overshadowed by the more pervasive and nefarious use of the platform – spreading disinformation and fuelling destructive and sometimes abusive discourse. Twitter was intended to be an outlet for the dissemination of information that encourages openness and accountability in communications. The ability to instantly share knowledge and invite constructive debate in a public forum makes it an exceedingly attractive form of social media.

I try to use Twitter to challenge my bias and preconceived ideas. I try to find and read articles like the one Rashid shared to reconstruct or reinvigorate my political thinking. The premise of the article was using constructive politics as a form of ‘worldmaking’ – changing the world. Central to this approach is a devotion to coalition and unwavering commitment to changing the world for the better. I felt that the article was speaking directly to me and maybe the VCS. As a sector, we spend a considerable amount of time explaining why the world needs changing and why it is proving difficult to do so. Olufemi says that ‘this isn’t completely wrong or misguided. We absolutely should be engaging in political education and challenging bad ideas, but it shouldn’t take primacy over our actual ability right now to simply make things different.’

I took the article to be a rallying call for me and maybe even the sector. I often get bogged down in what the famous philosopher Gramsci refers to as the ‘inordinate pessimism of the intellect’ – disillusioned by sometimes the scale of the challenge or restricted by the constructed parameters of change especially with the unrelenting emergence of yet more crisis situations. What I, and maybe the sector needs to maintain, is the ‘optimism of the will’ – belief in the human capacity to meet new challenges, overcome them and move society forward.

How can we maintain this? We need to be aware of how ‘deference politics’ can sometimes stagnate change. We need to be wary of social structures that tries to atomize us and undermine our efforts to collaborate and organise politically for the benefit of our community. Above all, we need to find out what each other is doing to change the world and support that effort.