Quarterly Update to Members and Subscribers

1st September 2023

It’s hard to believe today is the 1st of September already! Where did the summer go? We hope everyone has had a wonderful summer so far.  Here at VAC we’ve been as busy as ever. Keep on reading to hear about some of our key achievements and future plans coming into Autumn.

Reasons to be optimistic about the future of Camden VCS

In July, VAC held its 33rd AGM. The AGM was our opportunity to inform members about the management of the organisation, but also to celebrate and recognise the progress we have made during an unprecedented period of change and uncertainty. We’re not alone in our experience of this period and wanted our AGM to recognise everyone in the VCS who has continually demonstrated, with limited resources, the important role it plays in keeping people connected and healthy.

Our AGM theme ‘Future of Camden VCS’ was unapologetically optimistic. We know that this is probably the sectors toughest period, but despite the mercurial backdrop, there are new opportunities emerging for sector leaders to help shape the recovery landscape, to start new conversations, and to build new and stronger cross-sector relationships.

Things are looking up

To substantiate the feeling of optimism, we heard from Sam Mercadante, Policy & Insight Manager, NCVO who shared positive news and stats about the national picture for the sector:

“More than half of charities of all sizes expect to be able to meet demand for their support over the next three months.”

“HMRC estimate that around £500m in Gift Aid goes unclaimed each year, and charities can still benefit from business rate reduction, Climate Change Levy exemption, and VAT exemptions”.

Looking to the future Sam emphasised the importance of evidencing our social impact and nurturing key stakeholder relationships especially with an impending political shift.

Camden future funding programme 2024-2031 

Following on from NCVO’s national update, we were joined by John Muir and Jessica Farrand from Camden Council’s Community Partnership Team who set out the vision for a new VCS investment programme. Central to the vision was their commitment to invest in the VCS and ensure a strong, resilient and vibrant sector that responds to resident need and supports the development of resilient, thriving and connected communities across Camden:

“This VCS funding programme will help to achieve We Make Camden. Especially to tackle injustice and inequality; create safe, strong, and open communities where everyone can contribute; and support good health, wellbeing, and connection for everyone so that they can start well, live well, and age well.”

Many of you would have participated in the information sessions and workshops that VAC and Camden Council held in the Spring about the investment programme. For some of you this will be the first time you have applied for VCS funding from the council. As such, we have organised a series of fundraising workshops in partnership with All Ways Network (AWN) – see here for more details of our next event https://vac.org.uk/event/writing-successful-proposals-workshops-sep-6th

 (this is not specifically for the council’s VCS funding programme but will cover all essential aspect of writing a winning application).

Camden is a place where everyone can get involved in driving positive change 

VAC has a long and proud history of representing the voice and heart of the voluntary sector in Camden. We are excited to share our new strategy which sets out how we will work with residents, community groups and VCS organisations to develop and support a vibrant civil society that underpins a high quality of life in Camden.  Our vision is focused on:

• Creating a fairer Camden – providing equitable access to support, funding, participation and knowledge.
• Safeguarding the VCS – leveraging more support to ensure Camden’s VCS is robust, cohesive, and well-resourced.
• Amplifying the voice of the sector – speaking to everyone in the sector and representing the range of diverse views accurately.

Through our Theory of Change lovingly referred to as ‘The Fish’ we will create the conditions for Camden to be a place where everyone can get involved in driving positive change. You can find ‘the Fish’ here – Voluntary-Action-Camden-Strategy-2026.pdf (vac.org.uk)

New Membership Development Officer

We are pleased to introduce you to Vania (vguetova@vac.org.uk ), our new Membership Development Officer, who will be enhancing our membership offer with a particular focus on help the local community sector grow and develop. Vania will be in touch over the coming months to say hello and hear about your organisation and how we might support you to achieve your ambitions.

Launch of new Camden CEO and Trustee Network

Over the last few months we have launched a CEO Network and in partnership with Volunteer Centre Camden a Trustees Network – forums to discuss the big strategic issues facing your organisation; a place to share your leadership experiences with others and seek the advice and support of your peers.

Refreshed Consultancy Offering
Our refreshed consultancy service is providing practical support for voluntary and community groups. We will be launching a new peer-to-peer support group for Camden residents and groups we have been supporting through our consultancy service to turn their ideas into social enterprises and charities.

New Training Programme Launch
We have launched our new community training package for VAC members which will include, child safeguarding, fundraising, GDPR, volunteer management, fire safety and building compliance, and much more! See here for more details https://vac.org.uk/news-and-events/events/

Launch of ‘New Camden Groups’ Network

We know the importance of having someone to talk to when you are just starting out, so whether you have recently registered your organisation; are drafting your Articles of Association; or developing a fundraising strategy you are most welcome to join our New members Support Group. This is a closed group to anyone who we have supported over the past year. By joining the group, you will have the opportunity to:

• Connect – meet other likeminded people who have either just registered their organisation/group, or are in process
• Share – hear from others about their experience, and share yours
• Learn – discover best practice and explore different approaches

Please email vguetova@vac.org.uk today to join the group and receive details of our first event.

We are now recruiting for a new communications officer. You can find out more about the role on our website if you are interested in applying. Until then, please bear with us whilst we manage our communications with reduced capacity.

Newsletter
The usual newsletter format returns next Friday 8th September. We also want to let you know about a slight change to the submission schedule meaning items for the newsletter will need to be sent to social@vac.org.uk by no later than 12pm on Wednesday.

Thanks from all at Team VAC!
Have a great weekend.

Quarterly Update to Members and Subscribers

31st March 2023

With the clocks changing and lighter days ahead, we have been reflecting on our work over the winter months and want to share with you some of our future priorities coming into Spring 2023. Keep reading to find out more!

Three things happening this year that you should know about

For the past few months, we have been surveying our members to develop a picture of their needs and expectations for 2023/24. Don’t worry if you haven’t responded yet, you still have time  – follow this link to tell us what you think https://www.tfaforms.com/5039347. All responses will be entered into a prize draw to win £100 shopping vouchers for your organisation! Good luck!

So far, your feedback has helped us with deciding three new things to do in 2023/24.

Number 1 – Investing in our VCS Leaders

What you told us
You’ve been finding novel ways of working, and embracing improvisation and learning to tackle the challenges facing communities over the past few years. It has been, and continues to be, a hugely challenging and exhausting period that has taken its toll on staff.

As CEO’s/Directors being a leader can sometimes be an isolating experience. You are tasked with responding to external factors that are often out of your control, and managing pressures and expectations that can often feel overwhelming.

How can VAC help?
It is time to invest in our VCSE sector leaders. We are launching ‘VCSE CEO Network’ in May. The Network is for leaders of Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) organisations in Camden who want to meet to discuss issues and ideas for the mutual benefit of the VCSE sector.

The Network is there to encourage, guide, support and develop VCSE sector leaders. We will be discussing the big strategic issues facing your organisation, sharing leadership experiences with each other, and seeking the advice and support of our peers.

The Network is free for VAC members that are leading a VCSE organisation in Camden.

Keep an eye out in our future newsletters to find out more and register for our first Network event in June where we will be joined by Jane Ide, Chief Executive of ACEVO.

What you told us
Your trustees are integral to your organisation and critical to the quality of community service provision in the borough. You want them to receive more support to fulfil their roles to the best of their ability, and you want more ways to recognise and celebrate the value that they bring.

How can VAC Help?
In partnership with Volunteer Centre Camden (VCC) and London Borough of Camden, we are launching a ‘VCSE Trustees Network’.

In November 2022, VAC and VCC hosted a Trustee event, sponsored by London Borough of Camden. The event coincided with national Trustees’ Week (7th-11th November) to celebrate and recognise the contributions trustees make. Following on from this successful event, we have designed a new Network that will bring together trustees from different VSCE organisations in Camden to share experiences, good practice, ideas and offer peer support.

The Network is free for trustees of VSCE organisations in Camden.

Keep an eye out in our future newsletters to find out more and to register for our first Network event in June.

What you told us
You have continued to demonstrate, with limited resources the important role you play in keeping communities connected, safe and healthy. But this is probably your toughest period in decades because of sequential crisis (pandemic, cost-of-living, record levels of inflation) that have left you enervated. You need more investment in the sector. You want better access to relevant and cost-effective training. You want to be able to speak to an expert confidentially when you have a challenge or if things go wrong.

How can VAC help?
In January, we launched our rebranded Consultancy service. Whether you are just getting started or already established we can help you with:

• Setting up the group and registering as the correct legal structure
• Drafting your constitution
• Getting your safeguarding, governance, financial, IT and management practices and policies in shape
• Fundraising
• Finding the right workspace
• Project development advice
• Building connections and influence
• Working better with data, and much more!

In the summer, we are looking forward to launching our new training programme in partnership with several of our partners. The training programme will include:

• Child safeguarding
• Vulnerable adults safeguarding
• Safer recruitment
• Introduction to good governance
• Effective communication
• Volunteer management
• Fire safety and building compliance, and much more!

In June, we will be relaunching our fundraising support package for VAC members. This will include a year-long programme of events including, ‘Meet the Funders’, fundraising webinars, 1-2-1 funding application surgeries, and measuring impact workshops.
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VAC AGM and VAC 2026

You are cordially invited to our AGM on 4^th July 2023, 6 – 8pm. This is a great opportunity to find out about our work, what we’ve achieved, and hear about our plans for the future. Look out for a ‘Save the date’ dropping in your inbox soon.

VAC 2026 is our new three-year strategy that we are launching at our AGM in July. We have worked with our members and partners to create a new vision for VAC. Together we want to develop and support a vibrant civil society that underpins a high quality of life in Camden.

We want Camden to be place where everyone can get involved in driving positive change. This means creating a fairer Camden, safeguarding the voluntary and community sector, and amplifying the voice of Camden’s voluntary, community sector.

Join us at our AGM to find out more and get your copy of our strategy.

Camden VCSE sector Community Resilience

Over the next few months, we will be conducting a review of learning from recent emergency responses. During the pandemic several valuable partnerships were formed which contributed to a robust response. However, at the beginning it was clear that there were insufficiencies in how information about community services including, emergency response was being stored and made available to residents and VCSE sector.

We also needed better communication and coordination between statutory services and VCSE sector in the early stages. Our review of learning will assess the impact of various initiatives that aim to improve the preparedness of the community for emergencies. This will help us to develop a response framework as a guide to how Camden VCSE sector and London Borough of Camden will work together to respond to all types of disasters and emergencies.

Look out for more information about how you can get involved in shaping the framework.

Camden Community Vaccine Champion Project

Last year, in partnership with C4 we launched a fund to help tackle vaccine hesitancy and contribute to addressing key wider health and wellbeing needs that have been impacted by COVID-19.

This year, we are pleased to have distributed 6 more grants to community groups and organisations bringing the total number of grant recipients to 13, and the total grant amount to £127,325. This year, we focused on engaging smaller, less know community groups and organisations through our Cultural Advocacy  and Community Safety Partnership programmes.

Examples of projects funded include:

• Somers Town Community Association – Bespoke activities across Somers Town to identify the barriers that prevent local people taking up the vaccine and engaging with other health services such as, breast cancer screening and smear tests, female menopause, osteoporosis, testicular cancer, dementia, and mental health.
• Henna Asian Women’s Group – Targeted group discussions with BAME communities about the ingredients of the vaccine to show that they are not haram, or contravening any faith, and how and where to get vaccinated or become a vaccine ambassador.
• Kentish Town City Farm – Sharing expert knowledge about food production and agriculture to increase awareness and understanding of how viruses spread with specific reference to animals living in dense populations.

Camden Council would like to hear your views on their new 7 year funding programme. The results of the survey will be used to inform the design of this £4 million per year grants programme.

You can complete the survey here à Camden Future Grants Programme Survey by Thursday 20^th April 2023. The survey is anonymous and takes 20 minutes to complete.

As you can see, we have a busy year ahead and are looking forward to seeing you throughout the Spring and at our upcoming events!

All the best from the VAC Team.

Newsletter

Just a quick reminder that due to Easter break, there will be no newsletter on the 7th April. Our weekly newsletter will resume on Friday April 14th.

Our mailing address is:
Greenwood Centre, Greenwood Place, London, NW5 1LB

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Quarterly Update to Members and Subscribers

6th May 2022

CEO Spotlight

Keith Morgan, Chief Executive Officer

Team Updates

…and finally

We hope you’ve enjoyed our quarterly update from the Team at VAC. Stay tuned for our next quarterly update in a few months. In the meantime, our normal weekly bulletin will resume on the 13th May. If you have any items for the newsletter, please email social@vac.org.uk and take a look at the publishing criteria on our website.
You can also check our website for our latest training and events, as well as more details on our projects and services, including the latest grants for Room Hire and Community Champions Initiative.

We wish you all the best, from Keith & the VAC team: Alex, Dianne, Donna, Hasel, John, Mandira, Manuella, Nasrin and Ricky  and all the Trustees and Volunteers.

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Summer 2021 Update to Members and Subscribers

13th August 2021

Care Navigation and Social Prescribing Report

Age UK Camden, VAC and Wish+ together deliver the Care Navigation and Social Prescribing system in Camden.  We wrote a report after the first three months of lockdown to show how the system had stepped in to become part of the crisis response to the pandemic.  Now we’ve written an update to that report, one year on, to show how we’ve been adapting and the impact Care Navigation and Social Prescribing has had on Camden’s residents.  Read it here.

VAC Annual Report

VAC’s Annual Report features useful information about our work over the last year, and also gives a sneak peek at our new logo and identify – to be fully revealed at the September Voluntary Action Forum.  You can view it here.

Policy Updates

Rents and Leases Review

Three workshops have taken place as part of the latest Rents and Leases Review.  Each focussed on a topic:  Rent, Leases and finally Social Value.

Rents: Still based on commercial/market value, yet many have no commercial use and market values fluctuate. Actual valuations of each site are needed. Rents and grants levels vary widely.  Grant support levels pre-suppose income generation which is now uncertain for the foreseeable future. There is inconsistency in repairs and maintenance and insurance
There were some fundamental differences – for example it was stated that it was a requirement for the council to change rent – though the ‘Best Value’ guidance from central government states “Best Value…requires councils to “consider overall value, including economic, environment and social value”.

Leases:  Some inconsistency as some organisations are on a commercial lease and some on the VCS lease.  Unresolved maintenance challenges were an issue for many leaseholders.  Short break clauses can limit opportunities for capital grants yet many buildings have low energy ratings and need updating.

Social Value: The Social Value Act 2012 was a huge opportunity to take into account social value as well as monetary value and so this development is to be welcomed .  The council’s proposal is that a discount of 50% will be applied to the market rent if sufficient social value is provided.  There is a risk that the monitoring of social value could become burdensome.  Simple proxy measures could keep monitoring clear and straightforward.

Conclusion: This summary only scratches the surface of the three workshops. A further round of negotiations will start in the Autumn.  There was a tendency to focus on the leaseholders of buildings specifically without giving due regard to the impact on the wider sector who rent space in community buildings at rates that are effectively dictated by the council’s rents and leases policy. A useful PowerPoint summarises many of the issues.

ICS Development

The shape of the new Integrated Care Systems is gradually becoming clearer.  A recent NHS statement says: “As the Health and Care Bill makes progress through Parliament, the NHS is actively preparing for the establishment of statutory integrated care systems. These arrangements are designed to strengthen and support the local partnership working that will be essential as we re-build from the Covid-19 pandemic. In June 2021 we published the ICS Design Framework, providing a broad overview of the future role, functions and governance arrangements for the proposed NHS Integrated Care Boards (ICB), their relationships with ICS partners and anticipated timetable for their establishment.”
The Camden Local Care Partnership Board and Health and Wellbeing Board are working on borough level strategies, including the Community Connectedness strategy (covered in the VAC Spring Quarterly Update) and further work is now happening at Neighbourhood Level (see next item below).
NCL is now looking at how to involve residents and the community in the ICS governance and is holding the first meeting of a working group on 1st October.

Neighbourhoods Development

Two workshops were held in June with a range of people, from GPs to Community Centres, to look at how we develop the neighbourhood level of the new Integrated Care Systems.  But being health led the assumption is that local PCNs are at the centre of these developments.  Working groups for NW2 and Central Camden have been established.  It is this level of the new ICS that is potentially of most interest to the VCS.
A key challenge in all of the ICS developments is that the biggest ever reorganisation of the NHS is happening simultaneously with the biggest crises to ever hit the NHS – a crisis which has also had a profound impact on the VCS and Local Authorities.

Meet the New Chair – all change at VAC

VAC is very pleased to welcome Benaifer Bhandari as its new Chair of Trustees.  She brings considerable  knowledge of Camden organisations as well as extensive leadership experience in the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector, as both a Trustee and Chief Executive.   Benaifer is CEO of Hopscotch Asian Women’s Centre and trustee of C4 and Global Generation and a member of Camden’s Safeguarding Adults Partnership Board, and co-chair of the Safeguarding Engagement sub group.  Many thanks to the outgoing Chair, Julie Christie-Webb, for her many years of leadership and contribution to VAC. Benaifer’s appointment completes a 3 year process of board renewal.
The next Voluntary Action Forum is on 22nd September will be an opportunity to meet Benaifer and ask her questions.  We will also be revealing a the new logo and look for VAC.  Don’t miss it!

…and finally

We are working towards blended events for the future, hopefully getting the best of both worlds with a small group in a meeting room and many still joining remotely by zoom.  It’s an exciting new stage on the road back to normal – we hope you will join us to try it out at the 22nd September Voluntary Action Forum.

Don’t forget – we are now based at the Greenwood Centre:
Greenwood Centre, Greenwood Place, London
NW5 1LB
Phones and emails remain the same

Kevin & the VAC team: Alex, Dianne, Donna, Hasel, Mandira, Manuella, Nasrin, Ricky and Zubair and all the Trustees and Volunteers.

PS Don’t forget we are still collecting your Covid Stories you can add yours here – or email us at info@vac.org.uk

Our mailing address is:

Greenwood Centre, Greenwood Place, London, NW5 1LB

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Spring 2021 Update to Members and Subscribers

28th May 2021

Manifesto and Members

The May Voluntary Action Forum was a lively meeting where we debated a number of proposals for a Camden VCS Manifesto.  You can view the Manifesto demands and a brief explanation of each one here and take a look at the Wall to see the comments.  You can add your own comments, comment on others’ comments and rate comments too.
At the Forum, we also talked about ways to improve the links between VAC and our members which we will be working on in the coming months.
We agreed to revisit this work at the September Voluntary Action Forum where we hope to settle on a final list of demands.  We hope to see you there (Wed 15th September at 11am).

Community Connectedness and the Development of the Integrated Care System

VAC is involved in a number of strategic policy developments both at the Camden borough level and also happening at the Integrated Care Partnership (ICP) Level to bring the VCS voice to the table. There is some overlap between these developments –  though Camden’s strategy development is also driven by the Camden Renewal Commission.
The ICP is the new way the NHS and Social Care is organised and involves the VCS as the aim is to create a community health system that recognised the sector’s role in prevention and maintenance of health and wellbeing.
Locally, the council and VAC are co-sponsors of one of the emerging ICP policy priorities called ‘Community Connectedness‘.
The other ICP priorities are:

• Urgent Community Response
• Neighbourhood Working
• Mental Health, Learning Disabilities and Autism
• Children and Young People

• Neighbourhood hubs
• Prevention
• Social Prescribing
• Supporting the clinically vulnerable

There is a really useful summary of this work here.

VAC AGM Report

Thanks to everyone who came to the VAC AGM on Tuesday 20th April – over 50 of you attended (VAC has 210 organisational members and 51 individual members so we were comfortably quorate with more than the required 1/20 of membership present).
Chair and Treasurer set out VAC’s activities and future plans and showed VAC’s finances stabilizing after several difficult years and some modest reserves set aside from a small surplus.
The meeting elected 3 new trustees: Tricia Richards, Castlehaven Community Association, Harry Graham, Send Coffee and Arvinda Gohil, Central YMCA.  Congratulations and welcome aboard!  7 current trustees continue.  A new Chair and Vice-Chair will be recruited later in the year. 1 trustee retired – Harunar Rashid Khan.  Our council observers continue  – Cllr Richard Cotton and Cllr Nash Ali.
The formal business was followed by a video about VAC’s work and then a talk from Leila Baker, Researcher and Co author of The Value of Small in a Big Crisis. And Caroline Howe, Policy and National Programmes Manager at Lloyds Bank Foundation for England & Wales.  View Leila’s presentation here and Caroline’s presentation here. The report found that small charities ‘showed up and stuck around’ during the pandemic.

Digital Divide

We’ve been gathering details of all the work that you’ve been doing in the borough to overcome the digital divide.  Have a look at the draft report and let us know what we’ve missed.
If your work to overcome the digital divide is ongoing you can add it to this superhighways survey so that the GLA can get a London-wide overview.

VAC News

Of course we have plans for more exciting events, a new office, new programmes as well as ways to involve you better in policy debates.

From 1st June we will be based at the Greenwood Centre:
Greenwood Centre, Greenwood Place, London
NW5 1LB
Phones and emails remain the same

Kevin & the VAC team: Alex, Dianne, Donna, Hasel, Mandira, Manuella, Nasrin, Ricky and Zubair and all the Trustees and Volunteers.

PS Don’t forget we are still collecting your Covid Stories you can add yours here – or email us at info@vac.org.uk

Our mailing address is:
Charlie Ratchford Centre, Belmont Street, London, NW1 8HF

from 1/6/21
Greenwood Centre, Greenwood Place, London, NW5 1LB

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Christmas 2020 Update to Members and Subscribers

23rd December 2020

Unlikely Year Caps an Unlikely Decade

This unlikely decade has been capped by the strangest year of all.  After a decade of austerity and quantitative easing the chancellor’s magic money tree found a new role paying for millions of workers to stay at home, whilst millions of others had to depend on volunteers. Businesses were automatically sent money by the state while those responding to the crisis found it hard to access funds.
The vaccine hopefully spells the beginning of the end and life will begin to return to normal.  But it will be up to us to define what that new normal is.  If we don’t want to return to the old normal we must come together in 2021 and be prepared to fight for a better future.

Christmas Opening Times

Full details of Camden council services opening times over the Christmas holidays can be found here.
Opening hours for pharmacies over the Christmas holidays are here.
The Camden Covid-19 Helpline 020 7974 4444 (option 9) will be open from 8 am to 6 pm on working days and operating an out of hours service on bank holidays and weekends.
VAC will be closed from 25th December to 1st January 2021 (inclusive) and the e-bulletin will return on Friday 8th January 2020.

Christmas Lists

We’d like to share our Christmas wishes, New Year’s resolutions and suggestions to read/watch/listen/play or do.  It turns out that we nearly all had the same Christmas wish – that we could get back to normal and visit and hug our friends and loved ones  – and then go on a holiday! (Though someone opted for fancy cheese…)
New Year’s resolutions were more varied  – ranging from catching up on reading to maybe getting a tattoo.
But we have plenty of suggestions to read/watch/listen/play or do
Mandira suggests watching : Money Heist; Patal Lok (Hindi); The Kingdom (Korean) and Zodiac (all Netflix)
Manuella suggests a good game of monopoly with your household (sanitize the dice and make sure you’re the banker!)
Hasel suggests making bread and butter pudding using Mary Berry’s recipe.
Dianne suggests watching Ratched Season 1 on Netflix –psychological thriller with great costumes and leading lady drama; based on Ken Kesey’s novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
Zubair suggests watching Challenger: The Final Flight and Dear White People (Both on Netflix)
Ricky suggests playing Among Us – Free Mobile Game  – Murder Mystery for up to 10  players.  And some ping pong!
Alex suggests Watching Vikings and Black Sails  (Amazon Prime)
Donna suggests reading Wilding by Isabella Tree for the future of farms. Or the Lillith books by Octavia E Butler for a sci fi rollercoaster ride through themes of humanity, race, culture, gender, slavery.
Nasrin suggest watching Agatha Christies ‘Crooked House’- (Netflix) and reading Howard’s End
Kevin suggests watching Knock Down the House (Netflix), or reading the biography of VAC’s founder (and the whole CVS movement) – Thomas Hancock Nunn : The life and work of a social reformer.
Lucky dip read, listen, watch and another read.

One More Thing

As is traditional, there is a major public sector consultation taking place over the holidays.  Despite the pandemic, health and care are undergoing the largest reorganisation in living memory.  Health, social care and voluntary and community organisations are being aligned into a new community health system, to be called an Integrated Care System.   These are due to start on 1st April 2021 (just 3 months away!). The consultation, from NHS England, asks for views by 8th January.  Even if you don’t respond, it’s worth reading to get a sense of the massive changes that are coming.  We have a specially marked up version of the document to help you find the relevant bits fast – yellow for areas of particular interest and blue for mentions of the VCS.

VAC News

We have plans for an exciting year of events, a new office, new programmes and more.  Whether it’s on a screen or face-to-face we look forward to seeing you all in 2021.

Finally, thank you for everything you’ve done this year.  You may not get a medal, but you will have some incredible stories to tell.  We wish you all a peaceful break and a well earned rest.

Kevin & the VAC team: Alex, Dianne, Donna, Hasel, Mandira, Manuella, Nasrin, Ricky and Zubair and all the Trustees and Volunteers.

Our mailing address is:
Charlie Ratchford Centre, Belmont Street, London, NW1 8HF

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Autumn 2020 Update to Members and Subscribers

17th November 2020

Responding to Wave 2

After a brief slowdown in August, the Autumn returned to high levels of activity as everyone prepares and responds to the second Covid wave.

The Council’s Covid response teams, Care Navigation and Social Prescribing and VCS led neighbourhood hubs are working hard planning the Wave 2 response.

Data sharing, neighbourhood coordination, food supply, ​and other support for residents are being coordinated across the borough.  VAC will use the weekly e-bulletin and the Voluntary Action Forum to keep you up-to-date. Don’t forget to keep your entry in the Covid-19 Community Directory and Map up-to-date.  Please check your entry and let us know of any changes.

Collecting Your Stories

At the September forum we discussed how to tell the story of the sector’s responded to the pandemic  – so we are collecting your stories about how you responded.  The responses will be used to tell the story of how vital the sector is in supporting Camden through these challenging times.  You can click here https://www.tfaforms.com/4863725 to put your story in writing or contact Len Lauk (llauk@vac.org.uk) if you would prefer to be interviewed. 

Food Insecurity

The pandemic has revealed the challenge for many of food poverty.  Food has been a major aspect of the response – from emergency food parcels at the beginning to Iftar meals, help with food shopping and now a focus on more long-term sustainable options.  Public Health are leading on the development  of a Food Poverty Strategy and VAC has devoted two Voluntary Action Forum meetings to the issue, the last one on 21st October.  If you are involved in food in any way please complete the council’s food survey.

New Faces

We welcome a new Cabinet Member for the sector Cllr Anna Wright, Cabinet Member for Promoting Neighbourhoods and Communities, known to many in her previous role as Deputy Director of Healthwatch Camden.  Phillip Vaughan has taken over from Moira Ugoji as Community Response Strategic Lead and Zubair Matin is now Community Response Manager.  Andrew Hinchley has finished his secondment to Head of Community Partnerships Team and this is being covered by Rachel Kelly as well as her role as Head of Community Safety and Emergency Management.  The Community Partnerships Team is reduced and more personnel changes may follow as the council rotas staff around to deal with the second wave and simultaneously keep as many services open as possible this time. The participation team is continuing to maintain contacts with the Mutual Aid groups. The NHS reorganisation in April this year is still bedding in but the main message for this lockdown is that the NHS is open for business and people are encouraged to access NHS services as needed.

New Bodies and Structures

The start of the Voluntary Action Forum coincided with the start of the Pandemic and we’ve now held 12 Forum’s so far this year with over 400 participants.  Forums are now monthly on the 3rd Wednesday of the month at 11am.  Email Ricky to go on the mailing list. The next Forum is on 18th November.

At the start of the pandemic the council started to convene aregular  VCS Leaders Meeting  – now called the VCS and Community Partners Meeting.  It’s currently chaired by Carole Stewart, Director of Community Services.

In June the council set up a group to report on BAME Disproportionality and they have set up a BAME Disproportionality VCS Communications Group.

The council have partnered with the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose to set up the Camden Renewal Commission. Details and list of commissioners here

VAC is working with partners to bring Health Inequalities work together.  If you want to get involved contact Dianne Carlton Ogunyemi to get involved.  More details coming soon.

Pulse Survey

The new VCS Emergencies Partnership is a new partnership between local VCS organisations (via the CVS network – VAC’s sister organisations) and national charities.  It aims to check the pulse of the sector weekly; improve collaboration between national and local organisation and bring in additional resources to local areas in exceptional situations.

Please take a look at the survey (page 10 onwards) and for the areas that you have knowledge about, let us know how we should respond.

Finally, the next Voluntary Action Forum is on Wednesday at 11am – come along!  Sign up at Eventbrite to get the zoom link.

Kevin and the VAC Team.  Alex, Dianne, Donna, Hasel, Len, Mandira, Manuella, Ricky and Zubair.

Our mailing address is:
Charlie Ratchford Centre, Belmont Street, London, NW1 8HF

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