Voluntary Action Camden e-bulletin 27th October 2017

Camden Disability Action and the Centre for Independent Living; Celebrate Trustees’ Week; Citizen-led hubs: building the ecosystem together; Lead Walks in your local area; Broadening the Appeal of Your Volunteering Programme; Free Courses at West Euston Partnership; Long Term Conditions Survey + funding, jobs, volunteers, events, training, offers and resources.

In September, 2017 Camden Disability Action was the organisation chosen, with its voluntary sector partners, to run the new Centre for Independent Living that is being built at this very moment at Greenwood Place.
What is CDA? What will the Centre for Independent Living do?
In many ways, these two questions are the same. CDA is a disabled people’s user led organisation. This means that it is run and controlled by disabled people, unlike many other voluntary sector organisations in Camden. Not only does it seek to provide a voice for all disabled people in Camden, its purpose is to enhance the independence of all its members and those who it works with. This is also the purpose of the Centre for Independent Living as well.
Read the full story on the Camden Disability Action website: www.camdendisabilityaction.org.uk

Event to Celebrate Trustees’ Week: Making the most of your Committee
Wednesday 15th November 10am – 1pm
For Camden committee members (trustees, board members, management committee members etc.) of voluntary and community groups.
This half day workshop is an opportunity to look at straightforward ways in which you can make your committee as effectiveness and useful as possible in the limited time that you have. We will look at how to prepare for the meeting to get the most out of the committee meeting. How best to make a useful contribution to the meetings so that the best decisions are reached and what happens after the meeting ends?
This is also an opportunity to meet and share with other trustees and committee members in Camden as well as find out more about what Mary Ward and Voluntary Action Camden can offer you.
Further details on the VAC website. Contact Kevin for further information knunan@vac.org.uk
You can join Camden Trustees and management committee members on Meetup.

Citizen-led hubs: building the ecosystem together
Thu 16 November 2017 13:00 – 17:30 GMT
at London Metropolitan University
London Metropolitan University, 166-220 Holloway Road, London N7
We’ll bring together starter ideas from several sources: our exploration into Connecting Londoners, expertise from the Our Way Ahead network of networks, and the results of consultation by the Greater London Council on their civil society strategy.
We’ll build on proposals for a London Hub that resulted from The Way Ahead initiative, supported by London funders. Currently the plan is to fund and carry plans forward through one charitable company.
Full details and how to book at Eventbrite

Lead Walks in your Local Area
Would you be interested in leading walks in the local area? If so, this one day training is for you. The training will be on 7th and again on 30th November, 9.30 – 4.30.
It covers all the things you need to know about running a health walk, benefits of walking, and you get to meet people who are doing the same kind of thing in other parts of Camden.
If you’d like a place, please contact Mary Gillard, Active Living Officer: Gillard, Mary Mary.Gillard@camden.gov.uk

Broadening the Appeal of Your Volunteering Programme
Volunteer Centre Camden Workshop + Lunch
Wednesday, 22 November 2017 from 10:00 to 13:00
Join us for our next Best Practice Plus volunteer management workshop (which includes lunch).
Who: The workshop, ‘Broadening the Appeal of Your Volunteering Programme’, will be delivered by Rupal Karia and Sheila Norris from Volunteer Centre Camden – who have more than 24 years’ volunteer management experience between them.
What: Is your organisation reflective of the community it supports? For an increasing number of local organisations the answer to this is no, and now many have funding targets to increase the diversity of their volunteer team. This could include anything from age, gender, ethnicity, religion, economic background, work status, disability and the list goes on!
Many volunteers are recruited by word of mouth by people they know. This is an effective way of recruiting volunteers, but can this also result in a homogenous set of volunteers. But there are other reasons why this could be the case…
Full details and booking information at Eventbrite

Free Courses at West Euston Partnership
Interview Skills
Every Friday from 10th November until 8th December (5 sessions) 10am – 12pm
Venue: H-pod, Cumberland Market (next to Regents Park Practice), London NW1 3RH
You will learn new techniques, take part in mock interviews, role playing games and confidence building exercises.
You must be: unemployed or working less than 16 hours a week and able to attend ALL five sessions
Mighty Oaks Confidence Building Course
Monday 13th, Wednesday 15th, Monday 20th and Wednesday 22nd November 10am – 12.30pm
Venue: West Euston Partnership, 29-31 Hampstead Road, London NW1 3JA
Our qualified coach will help you gain a more positive mindset and take action to achieve your goals
For more information, you can also watch this short video: https://vimeo.com/237450259
You must be: unemployed or working less than 16 hours a week and able to attend ALL four sessions
How To Become Self-Employed
Tuesday 14th November 10am – 2pm
Venue: West Euston Partnership, 29-31 Hampstead Road, London NW1 3JA
On this course, you will receive useful tips on:
~ Marketing and Promotion
~ How To Secure Finance
~ Knowing Your Competitors
~ How To Draft A Business Plan
~ How To Register Yourself As Self-Employed
This workshop is open to ANYONE.
If you are interested in any of the above courses, please contact David Hermanstein on 020 7388 7932/07908845154 or email david.hermanstein@camden.gov.uk

Long Term Conditions Survey
The survey in the link below is open for 40 days and it would helpful if you could complete it if you have a long term condition. Please also forward the survey to family and friends that you know who live in Camden who have a long term condition to complete the survey as well.
Click here to complete the Long Term Conditions Survey
If you have one or more long term conditions, we would like you to complete this survey to help us understand how you manage your condition, what problems you may have and what you think would help you.

Office Space to Rent in Kentish Town
The Kosmos Centre has an office to rent in our building in Kentish Town. See ‘Offers section’ at the end of the -bulletin for full details.

Camden Health Kick
Find out about Camden Health Kick events on the calendar.

Hopscotch Asian Womens’ Centre, Kings Cross Story Palace, Camden Giving, Kentish Town Community Centre, Camden People’s Theatre, VAC, Camden Council and Kings Cross Jobs are recruiting. See Jobs and Volunteers section below.

Listen to stories about the Camden Community at Camden Community Radio.

You can join in on Facebook. Like us if you like us.

Follow all the Camden Voluntary Sector news on OneCamden on Twitter.

The council’s Capacity Building Bulletin is available here.

You can read more about all of these stories on our news page at www.vac.org.uk/new

See the Funding pages on VAC’s website for all the latest information.

Government Invites Bids for Knife Crime Community Fund
The Home Office is making £500,000 available in 2017/18 to support community projects which reduce knife crime and have a positive impact on young people who are at risk of carrying a knife and committing a crime.
Voluntary and community sector groups can apply for grants of up to £200,000, or more if they are working with partners, as long as they can spend the funds by 31 March 2018.
The funding is for projects that demonstrate the following:
~ Delivery of outcomes to stop knife crimes.
~ A proven track record of delivering local interventions.
~ Their ability to work with children and young people.
~ Value for money.
~ How they will work in partnership with other projects and services already being delivered.
Groups in London can look forward to the launch of a community fund to support local anti-knife projects in London. The Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) in London has announced that they will make the details available ‘shortly’. Although the funds are separate, the Home Office and MOPAC will share information on bids where relevant.
The deadline for bids is 31 October 2017. Details of the Home Office scheme here.

Camden Giving
Camden Giving have published the timetable for the various grants programmes they will be offering over the coming 12 months. There are 6 programmes in total. You can view the full timetable here.

KX Employment Fund
A grant that helps unemployment services and employers work together. Applications to Camden Giving’s KX Employment Fund will open on the 16th October 2017 and close at midnight on the 17th November 2017. Full details at the Camden Giving website.

£4m fund widen volunteering opportunities for over 50s
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is launching a new fund with Nesta that will support volunteering in public services and new ways for over-50s to engage in digital social action.
There is £4m in grants from DCMS and £750,000 in non-financial support from Nesta available through the Connected Communities Innovation Fund. Funding will be provided to test new concepts and support proven innovation to scale up their work.
The fund is open to applications from projects which encourage people to volunteer alongside public services, those which encourage new people to get involved in volunteering and those which create new forms of digital volunteering. Full details at Civil Society

Bags of Help for local projects
Bags of Help is Tesco’s exciting local community grant scheme where the money raised by the sale of carrier bags is being used to fund thousands of local projects in communities right across the UK. Projects that bring benefit to their community will get the green light – these range from improving community buildings and outdoor spaces to buying new equipment, training coaches or volunteers and hosting community events. Apply online at the Groundwork Bags of Help website.

Meet the Funders
Investing in Muslim charities working for Muslim communities in the UK
Meet the Funders is an event for UK Muslim charities to meet mainstream Funders in London
The aim of this event is to provide a platform to strengthen and empower small Muslim charities working for Black, Asian, Minority, Ethnic (BAME) communities living in the UK. This event offers an opportunity to build bridges between funders and charities. It is a great occasion to network and collaborate with numerous charities. 21st November 2017, Whitechapel
If you meet the criteria you can register at http://www.meetthefunders.org.uk/how-to-register

Clarion Community Grants Programme
Open for applications until Monday 20th November 2017 to community, voluntary and charity groups.
Clarion was formed following the merger in 2016 of Affinity Sutton Group Limited and Circle Housing Group and is the largest housing group in the country. Through the Community Grants Programme – managed by Groundwork – it awards grants of between £1,000 and £5,000 to charities, community organisations and voluntary groups for projects which primarily benefit its residents.
To get updated information on how to apply and to see the criteria, please visit Clarion Community Grants Programme
If you do have any further queries about the grant please contact Katie McNie– Groundwork – Senior Programmes Manager – info@groundwork.org.uk

£1 million to make your area greener
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan wants community groups to apply for his £1 million Greener City Fund to help plant more trees and plants and create more green play areas in every neighbourhood in London.
Trees and plants play an essential part in reducing London’s dangerously polluted air and contribute to London’s biodiversity. The Mayor wants to protect London’s Green Belt and help make the capital the world’s first National Park City.
Groups can apply now for grants between £5,000 – £50,000. These grants can be used for a range of projects from lining walking routes to schools with air quality boosting trees, to creating mini play spaces, and community gardens in built up areas.

Healthy Minds Programme with Mind in Camden
There is a full programme of activities taking place at the Living Centre as part of the Healthy Minds programme. Full details on the VAC training calendar.

Event to Celebrate Trustees’ Week: Making the most of your Committee
Wednesday 15th November 10am – 1pm
For Camden committee members (trustees, board members, management committee members etc.) of voluntary and community groups.
This half day workshop is an opportunity to look at straightforward ways in which you can make your committee as effectiveness and useful as possible in the limited time that you have. We will look at how to prepare for the meeting to get the most out of the committee meeting. How best to make a useful contribution to the meetings so that the best decisions are reached and what happens after the meeting ends?
This is also an opportunity to meet and share with other trustees and committee members in Camden as well as find out more about what Mary Ward and Voluntary Action Camden can offer you.
Further details on the VAC website.

More details on the VAC website: https://vac.org.uk/events/

Sense Activities
Sense run a range of activities for anyone 14+ with a sensory impairment or complex need who wants to get involved including:
Yoga, climbing, ice skating, swimming and more. Full details in the online newsletter
Or contact Taylor Huxster. Regional Sports Coordinator: taylor.huxster@sense.org.uk or Telephone: 02070149365 (Tuesday – Thursday)

Thinking about transition for young people with SEND aged 16-25?
The Leighton College is a person-centred college based in Kentish Town with 20 learner places a year. Now recruiting for Sept 2018, please see your invitation below to our Leighton College Coffee Morning on 3rd November, 10am – 12pm.
The Coffee Morning will be at Elfrida Rathbone Camden, 7 Dowdney Close, NW5.
If you would like to attend please RSVP to Rosanna@elfridacamden.org.uk with names of attendees.

Camden Active training workshop for organisations involved in sport and physical activity
Grow Your Club – Sports Marketing Workshop – book here
Thursday 16th November – 2 – 4pm
Hear from experts, the Sports Marketing Network, in an introductory workshop based around increasing awareness around your sessions, creating a physical activity vision for your organisation and helping to make your sessions more vibrant, visible and viable in the long term.
There are 2 places available per organisation for these workshops, if you would like to add additional delegates to the waiting list for each workshop please contact Amber Harris – amber.harris@camden.gov.uk

Learning and development opportunities – Working with Camden’s children, young people and families Autumn 2017
Don’t forget that the Camden Training and Development Service (incorporating TDS Online) have many excellent courses and many can be accessed for free by Camden voluntary organization.
Safeguarding the welfare of children and young people: introduction, 22 November 2017
Motivational interviewing techniques with young people and adults, 1 November 2017
Camden’s local offer, 14 November 2017
Introduction to talking to young people about sexual health, 16 November 2017
Visit www.camdentds.co.uk for full course information, course costs and to book your place.
For TDSOnline support, please email TDSOnline@camden.gov.uk

Going Cap in Hand: Charities in the Age of Austerity
Sun 12 November 2017 9:30 – 17:30 London W1.
Tickets £45 (£20 concessions)
What impact have cuts had on the charity sector? And how can voluntary organisations chart new paths forward in an age of austerity?
We’re bringing together charities, activists and commentators to create new visions for the third sector in a challenging fundraising climate.
Keynote speakers:
Helena Kennedy QC (Civil Liberties and Human Rights Campaigner)
Zoe Williams (Guardian Columnist and Author)
Lord Victor Adebowale (Chief Executive, Turning Point)
John Nickson (Philanthropy Campaigner, Author of Our Common Good)
Panel participants: David Babbs (38 Degrees); David Bell (Psychoanalyst); Dan Corry (New Philanthropy Trust); Ora Dresner (Psychoanalyst, CPU); Colin Leys (Author and Campaigner, The Centre for Health and the Public Interest); Julian Lousada (Psychoanalyst); Clare Thomas MBE (London Funders); Karl Wilding (NCVO). Book your place at Eventbrite.

An Evening of Faith Recognition and Celebration
There are many inspiring projects in our local communities in London which bring people together. However, the good work being done by these projects is often overlooked, and often overwhelmed by negative media coverage.
On 27 November 2017, 3FF are holding an event to recognise the good work of faith communities building bridges, with the support of Her Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London’s Council on Faith. Contact with Jessica at councilonfaith@3ff.org.uk or call 020 3457 5324.

Don’t forget that Camden TDS run a full programme of course which are subsidised or free for voluntary sector partner organisations. There is a link to a list of partner organisations on the home page.

Find more Training Opportunities at www.vac.org.uk

Camden Giving seeks Trustees
We are looking for new Trustees to join Camden Giving’s board. Our Trustees help us evaluate our work so far, support our current activities and plan for the future.
We are looking for people who share our vision of a fairer Camden and who are brave enough to believe in doing things a bit differently. We would particularly like to hear from Camden residents and individuals with grant-giving or marketing experience. Training will be provided if required.
Click here to meet the current Trustees.
Trustees meet formally four times a year. This role is unpaid, Camden Giving will cover travel expenses. If you are interested please email director@camdengiving.org.uk

LB Camden seeks Volunteer Co-ordinator
Directorate: Supporting People
Based at: 5 Pancras Square, London N1C 4AG
Job level/Grade: Level 3 Zone 2
Salary: £31,836 – £36,931 pro-rata inclusive of Inner London Weighting
Contract Type: Permanent Contract, Full time, 36 hours a week
25 days holiday (27 days after 5 years’ service)
This exciting new post of Volunteer Co-ordinator sits within Camden’s Integrated Early Years’ Service and will work closely with our children’s centre services. Children’s centres in Camden provide a range of universal and targeted services for families with young children (pregnancy to age 5 years) to improve outcomes and reduce inequalities. Services include baby and infant feeding information and support, baby massage, free entitlement provision for 2 year olds and 3-4 year olds, midwifery, multi-agency health visiting and family support, and a programme of stay and play drop-ins. Volunteering opportunities in our service offer mothers, fathers and carers support to build their confidence, gain experience of early years’ services and provide a stepping-stone into training and employment.
Closing date for applications: 30th October 2017
Interviews date: 6th/7th/8th November 2017
Please quote reference: 1700009B Full details at the Camden website.

Hopscotch Asian Women’s Centre is recruiting for an Employment Advisor for the Big Lottery/ESF funded employment project, Building Better Opportunities (BBO).
Employment Advisor 35hrs per week, £28,183 incl. ILW – until June 2019.
Closing date: 31st October 2017
For an informal discussion about the post, please contact Isabelle Terrisson, Senior Operations Manager. For all other details and an application pack, please contact Ruksana Begum, HR Administrator: Tel: 020 7388 8198 E-mail: info@hopscotchawc.org.uk www.hopscotchawc.org.uk
Please do not send CVs as they will not be considered.
Hopscotch recruitment is carried out in line with the safer recruitment practices.

King’s Cross Story Palace seeks Volunteers
We have a range of opportunities for volunteers to gain valuable skills and experience drawing on your interests and areas you would like to develop your knowledge of, including roles in heritage research, administration, story gathering and more. If you’re interested in hearing more about volunteering, please email Aimeé or on 020 7608 0775.
King’s Cross Story Palace is currently looking for Historical Research and Story Gathering Volunteers
· Research Volunteer
· Story Gathering Volunteer
· Digital Volunteer
· Photography Volunteer
· Admin and Marketing Volunteer
To find out more and apply go to the King’s Cross Story Palace website.

Kentish Town Community Centre “Connecting and Inspiring Kentish Town” is looking for more Trustees to join its Board
The Centre is at the heart of the Kentish Town community and offers a huge range of activities for all age groups from Early Years (new Pre-School), our Youth Project and our many activities for older persons. We also have a range of exercise classes and much more.
The Board meets on average every six weeks on a Saturday. In addition, there are five sub-committees (HR/employment, Finance, Premises, Strategy and Outreach). These meet as needed. Every trustee is expected to serve on one of these sub-committees.
We are particularly interested in prospective trustees who have HR experience and who could join our HR/Employment sub-committee.
Due to a current imbalance on the Board, we would especially welcome applications from women.
Contact Tim Shand (Chair) at Shand.tim@gmail.com or call Tim on 07972 210882.

Camden People’s Theatre seeks Executive Director
Camden People’s Theatre is recruiting for an outstanding Executive Director to join the team. The Executive Director is joint CEO with the Artistic Director and as such provides a key role in the organisation. The principle purpose of the post is to take overall responsibility for the management and efficient running of CPT. The ED shares responsibility with the Artistic Director for developing and delivering the strategic vision of the organisation.
CPT seeks actively to encourage applications from those with less visibility in the arts. We specifically welcome applications from those identifying as female, those from LGTBQI+ communities, people with disabilities and those from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds.
Please download the Executive Director job description and application form from the website, then return it to james@cptheatre.co.uk by 5pm on Wednesday 1 November with the subject line ‘Executive Director application’. Please send your application form as a PDF or word document. We are unable to accept late applications or CVs.

Youth Employment Project
Westminster Kingsway College and City & Islington College have created a bespoke programme: Y.E.P to assist 18-24 year olds to find education, employment, traineeship or apprenticeships within their chosen sectors.Tel: 0207 700 9250 Email: esfenquiries@candi.ac.uk

Volunteers are needed in GP practices
Voluntary Action Camden (VAC) are training volunteers to become Community Health Advocates in local GP practices.
• Would you like to support people in your community to improve their health and their access to services that will help them to maintain good health and wellbeing?
• Do you want to develop experience and skills in the field of public health?
• Can you commit at least 2 hours per week?
VAC is offering free Royal Society of Public Health (RSPH) Level 1 training to those who want to volunteer to become Community Health Advocates.
After completing the training, VAC will support local teams of volunteers to act as links between community based services and GPs. In return for your commitment to the project for 2 hours a week we offer support, out of pocket expenses and other professional development opportunities.
For more information, please contact Mandira Manandhar, Health Advocate Volunteer Co-ordinator (Mon, Tues and Thurs) 020 7284 6550/07930669417 or email: mmanandhar@vac.org.uk
Peter Simonson on 020 7284 6550 or email: projectsupport@vac.org.uk

Kings Cross Jobs
You can view a constantly changing range of job vacancies on the Kings Cross website. For the latest news on jobs sign up to job alerts.

Find Jobs and Volunteering opportunities at https://www.vac.org.uk/

For all things volunteering contact Volunteer Centre Camden. You can read the latest VCC news here.

Office Space to Rent in Kentish Town
The Kosmos Centre has an office to rent in our building in Kentish Town.
• Main office space is 19.50 square metres (210 square feet)
• Third (top) floor with disabled access
• Fully furnished with four desks, office chairs, cupboard space, filing cabinets, fridge and microwave
• Quiet side street location, five minutes from Kentish Town Station, (Northern Line and Thameslink) and local buses (134, 214, C2, 393)
• Entry phone system
• Lock on the office door
• Sole use of communal areas on the top floor
• Shared use of a ground floor kitchen
• 2nd floor meeting room available for additional hire
Total rent including utility costs and rates £9,000 per annum, £750 per calendar month.
The Kosmos Centre is a registered charity that works with BME Women and their Families. We can only offer this office space to other non-profit organisations.
In the first instance, please contact Koula Ioannou: 020 7267 7194 or koula@ccwo.org.uk
The Kosmos Centre, Registered Charity No. 1026463, Company Limited by Guarantee No. 02823933, 2c Falkland Road London NW5 2PT

Local Charity offers use of Top Spec Photocopier if You Can Give it a Home
Camden Charity would like to offer an exchange to any interested charity the shared use of our copier (minimal service costs only) in exchange for housing it in a dry place.
We would need access once or twice a month, at most.
The copier is state of the art and includes features as below:
~ A4 and A3 copy, print & scan
~ Up to 30 pages per minute in colour and monochrome
~ USB, Network scanning to SMB, email, FTP & many others
~ Scan to PDF, JPEG, Tiff & XPS formats
~ Takes media up to 300gsm, does over-sized A3 and 1.2m banner printing
Please respond to Judi Dumont-Barter at 07387 101317 email: judidb@yahoo.co.uk

Sheltered Housing Allocation Points Survey online now
Camden Council wants to ensure that we are making the best use of our housing stock whilst meeting the needs of our ageing population. We are therefore conducting a review of the way we allocate our sheltered housing in order to reflect the Council’s objectives around supporting older people living in the borough.
The survey is online. Hard copies of the survey will be available in Camden libraries, community centres and Doctor’s surgeries.
Please contact graeme.beedham@camden.gov.uk if you have any questions about the survey.

Join the NW3 Community Land Trust
Would you like to live in a modern, affordable home in Camden? With over 1000 affordable homes lost in NW3 alone in the last 5 years this is increasingly an unattainable dream for many. Let’s change this! Join NW3CLT http://nw3clt.org.uk

Call For Patients to Share Experiences
Camden CCG is looking for patients (Incl. carers) who have one of the following long term conditions and used services related to their condition in Camden over the last 24 months.
· Diabetes
· Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
· Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD)
· Hypertension
· Epilepsy
· Heart failure
· Atrial Fibrillation (AF)
· Stroke
· Neurological diseases
Dr Jeremy Sandford, Long Term Conditions Clinical Lead at Camden CCG wishes to invite patients and their carers to discuss their experiences around services (what is good, bad and could be improved).
The meetings will be held in November and if you are interested in giving feedback contact:
Email: martin.emery@nhs.net or Telephone: 0203 688 1755)

Camden Consultations
You can find all Camden consultation on the Wearecamden consultation hub.

FREE VAC Membership for Unfunded Groups: Voluntary Action Camden Small organisations with no paid staff and a turnover of less than £1,500 can now for FREE. To take advantage of this offer just fill in the membership on the online form here.

Camden Carers Service
Camden Carers Service (CCS) offers advice, support and activities for family and other unpaid carers across the borough. Tel 020 7428 8950 or email info@camdencarers.org.uk – read more about our services at www.camdencs.org.uk or www.facebook.com