Blog

  • Wealden Community Grants Fund is now open

    Wealden Community Grants Fund is now open

    Wealden District Council has three strands to its Community Grants Programme in this round for groups and organisations to benefit the people of the Wealden District. You can download editable pdf application forms for each from the Council’s website.

    Organisations may only apply to one strand of funding. There are no capital awards available in this round, although groups looking to make improvements to the fabric of a building or community space such as a playground or recreation ground may make contact for general advice.

    A Recovery Fund is open until 24th October for Funding to be Spent by March 2022

    A second round of Recovery grants is available to help any third sector organisation, which did not benefit from a Recovery grant in the last round. Groups can apply for between £500 and £3000, to be spent by the end of March 2022.

    Last year, groups were supported with help towards equipment, measures to ensure safety, provision of alternative delivery methods, and help with utilities, rent and other expenditure which needed to be met when organisations were struggling with reduced income due to the pandemic. Expenditure for general activities to support communities was also provided. Wealden District Council is aiming to give decisions and start the procedure for releasing funding during December.

    A Small Grants round is open until 30th November for activities between April 2022 and March 2023

    Grants of between £500 – £3000 are available to third sector organisations which are planning activities in the next financial year (April 2022 – March 2023) to benefit Wealden residents. Decisions will be given in March 2022 and the funding will be released in April.

    Partnerships Service Level Agreements of 3 years are also available with a deadline of 30th November

    Three year funding is also available to key organisations which support residents in multiple parishes to be spent between April 2022 and March 2025. Please make contact if you are considering a Service Level Agreement application.

    If you need any advice or have any questions after reading the guidance and application form, please email communitygrants@wealden.gov.uk or call (01323) 443 520.

  • Community wellbeing participatory research: East Sussex Connected People and Places project

    Community wellbeing participatory research: East Sussex Connected People and Places project

    As you may be aware, East Sussex Public Health is currently collaborating with partners across the system to find out more about how residents of East Sussex experience loneliness and how we might work better together to address this issue, thereby increasing community wellbeing.

    So far local authorities, the NHS, the Voluntary Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector and others have been involved in designing and developing the project – supported by Collaborate CIC.

    Read a summary briefing which describes this work in more detail.

    Could you help with this participatory research to find out about people’s experience of loneliness and connection?

    A key part of this partnership approach to the project involves the participation of wide variety of staff (and volunteers) from the public and VCSE sectors in conducting and capturing brief conversations with residents with whom they are in contact – for example, as part of their existing day-to-day work activities.

    What is needed

    • Do you have team members who interact directly with residents? (this project is seeking to reach people of all ages and is particularly keen to hear from those in East Sussex most affected by loneliness – see page 3 of the briefing).
    • Would you be able to ask some or all of them to ask 3-5 questions during the course of their normal interactions, and capture the responses?
    • Are you able to release these people for 1-2 hours to take part in an online briefing session to take place in early September?

    Any support you can provide to the project will be useful as part of our participatory research team. Even if you or your colleagues only have the capacity to engage with a handful of people, each contribution will help to build a picture of loneliness and connection across East Sussex.

    How you will be helped:

    • Collaborate CIC will provide an online briefing and support to help each ‘questioner’ to understand what they’re tasked to do and why, and training in the ‘appreciative enquiry’ mode of questioning
    • You will receive a toolkit for the questioners to take away and refer to as necessary – including the questions to ask and a method for capturing the answers
    • After the enquiry phase is complete all participating organisations will be invited to take part in workshops to understand what’s been heard and start to designing our response.

    GET IN TOUCH NOW to take part and make sure the residents you work with are represented.

    Please email jenni@collaboratecic.com  indicating the resources you have available to support the participatory research (ideally by Friday 27 August 2021 at the latest).

    For example, you may wish to share:

    • the number of staff/volunteers that could participate;
    • the locations/settings/services within which they operate; and
    • the broad demographics of people with whom they could engage (where possible)
  • East Sussex alcohol harm reduction strategy 2021-2026

    East Sussex alcohol harm reduction strategy 2021-2026

    Reducing Harm: ambitions for a healthier relationship with alcohol in East Sussex

    East Sussex has a new multi-agency alcohol harm reduction strategy. This strategy has been developed with participation of over 20 local stakeholders across the county to address the complex problem of alcohol related harm using a systems approach. It sets out five ambitions to be achieved over the next five years:

    • Ambition 1: reduce number of people drinking above Chief Medical Officers recommendation 14 units per week (risky drinking population)
    • Ambition 2: improve access to treatment services for people who could be benefiting (reduce those who are dependent on alcohol and have unmet need from 84% to 75% by 2026).
    • Ambition 3: reduce the 5,224 people who are dependent drinkers by a quarter to 4,000 by 2026
    • Ambition 4: increase holistic support for parents and children, reducing number of children living with an alcohol dependent adult by 25% from 1,960 to 1,470 by 2026
    • Ambition 5: reduce alcohol related harm in Hastings: Hospital admissions (narrow measure) to be similar to national average by 2026; Alcohol specific mortality in Hastings to be similar to the East Sussex average.

    The latest data shows over of quarter of the 16+ population (around 120,000 people) in East Sussex are drinking at risky levels. In addition, over 5,000 local people are dependent on alcohol. A recent survey in East Sussex (summer 2020) identified that residents have been consuming more alcohol and drinking more often during lockdown.

    The East Sussex Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy will be available on the East Sussex County Council website in August 2021. Partner organisations have already started work to implement the strategy and achieve the ambitions by 2026.

    For more information contact Colin Brown: Colin.Brown@eastsussex.gov.uk.

     

  • Turn your good idea into reality with Making it Happen

    Turn your good idea into reality with Making it Happen

    Have you got a good idea to make positive change in your neighbourhood?

    What do you need to put in place to make it happen?

    Let’s get started!

    Making it Happen Community Development Workers can support you to turn your good idea into reality. From listening to your idea, connecting you up with others who feel the same, signposting you to training or putting you in touch with people with the right expertise, resources or information about funding, they can provide as much or as little support as you need.

    How to get in touch

    Fill out this form to tell us about your idea and to find out more about how we can support you, including information about Making it Happen funding opportunities.

    Or you can download the form to fill out by hand here.

    Or you can contact a member of the team in Eastbourne at info@3va.org.uk or:

    Willingdon Trees area
    Teri Sayers-Cooper
    Mobile: 07960 349 912

    Hampden Park (East) area
    Sara Latimer
    Mobile: 07763 463 431

    Shinewater Park area
    Nic Bryson
    Mobile: 07931 854 367

    Who is working in your neighbourhood?

    Check to see which neighbourhoods in the Districts and Boroughs we are working in from the list below. Click on the links for Making it Happen partners covering Wealden, Rother, Hastings and Lewes District.

     

  • Community Ambassadors for Diverse Ethnic Communities

    Community Ambassadors for Diverse Ethnic Communities

    Are you part of a diverse ethnic community in Sussex? Do you want to make a difference to your community? Are you interested in health and social care? Would you like to meet new people, learn new skills and get valuable work experience?

    Sussex Health and Care Partnership (SHCP) is looking for volunteers to be Community Ambassadors for Diverse Ethnic Communities and help change future NHS and social care services in Sussex.

    People from diverse ethnic communities experience some of the biggest health inequalities, even more since the start of the pandemic. It is really important to hear directly from people in those communities so that SHCP can fully understand the challenges communities are facing and work together to create solutions.

    Community Ambassadors are part of an exciting new way of helping the Sussex Health and Care Partnership to understand what is important to your community and make sure local health and care services are what your community needs.

    SHCP is looking for 10 members of the public from diverse ethnic communities to become Community Ambassadors.

    The role of a Community Ambassador might include:

    • Engaging with your community, trying to make contact with people to talk to them about health and care services in the area and to find out their views.
    • Doing office-based work, giving advice and support to NHS programmes across Sussex, and helping to make decisions about health and care services.

    Community Ambassadors receive expenses and, in some situations, recognition payments are offered.

    If you want to find out more, please complete an Application Form below and you will be contacted.

    The deadline for sending the application is 12 August 2021.

    You can also find more information attached:

    Get in touch today and sign up to be involved in something great for your community and for yourself:

    Write to:

    FREEPOST – RTUZ-ECYG-ERRK Attn: Public Involvement Team, NHS Brighton & Hove Clinical Commissioning Group, Hove Town Hall, Norton Road, Brighton, BN3 4AH

    Website:

    www.seshealthandcare.org.uk/get-involved/community-ambassadors

    Telephone:

    07741 378 593

    Email:

    sxccg.involvement@nhs.net

    What is the Sussex Health and Care Partnership?

    The Sussex Health and Care Partnership is a group of local authorities, health and care providers and clinical commissioning groups. We are working together to improve health and care for people in Sussex.

     

  • Introducing a new 3VA service: Covid-19 Group Recovery Plans

    Introducing a new 3VA service: Covid-19 Group Recovery Plans

    We know how hard the Covid-19 pandemic has been for voluntary & community groups and social enterprises. We know because you have told us.

    Be it shortfalls in income, the need to secure funding for future sustainability, confusion about how to re-open services more safely and reassure service users that you are open, to concerns about how to protect and support your volunteers, the need to engage new volunteers, strengthen your management committee and a whole range of other issues, some of which will be unique to your organisation.

    While we don’t pretend to have instant solutions to everything, we are introducing a new service – Covid-19 Group Recovery Plans – aimed at providing you with in-depth support to address whatever issues you feel you are currently facing.

    We are able to offer this service to groups from now until the end of September 2021 thanks to funding from East Sussex County Council.

    How it works

    We will allocate up to one day (7.5 hours) of intensive staff time to work with individual voluntary & groups and social enterprises to support them with their recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.

    As well as working on issues during the allocated time, at the end of the intensive support we will provide each organisation with a specific, written ‘Plan’ that will include a summary of work carried out and recommendations about what the organisation can do next, to further their Covid-19 ‘recovery’. This will include signposting to other 3VA services (specific training workshops etc) and/or services from other providers.

    We can also provide this support via small issue-based (e.g. governance) groups. Although, each participating group will still be equipped with a specific, individual recovery plans, including clear recommendations about what to do next.

    What issues can we offer support with?

    Based on research we have already done with groups, we think the main issues organisations need support with to recover from the pandemic are:

    • governance (group structure and strengthening trustee boards)
    • funding
    • volunteering
    • reopening services

    The list is not exhaustive and whatever your organisation’s individual circumstances are, we will work with you to identify your specific issues and try to support you with them.

    What will the intensive support look like?

    Before starting intensive work with your organisation, we will ask you to tell us what you think your issues are so we can think about how best to support your recovery.

    The one-day of intensive support can be delivered in the way you want it (e.g. via two half-days or in one go). At the outset we will ask you to identify a specific contact person. We will meet with that person (and anyone else from the organisation who it would be useful to have involved) either online or in-person (Covid safety regulations and protocols permitting).

    We will then agree how to use the remaining intensive time most effectively. Ultimately, this will be your decision. For example, you may decide to use the time to work with us on searching for potential funders and begin outlining/writing specific funding applications.

    At the end of the intensive support, we will provide your organisation with a specific, written recovery ‘plan’. While each plan will include clear, organisation-specific recommendations about what to do next, it will be at your organisation’s discretion as to how those recommendations are implemented.

    How to access this support

    Please complete the form below and one of our community development officers will be in touch.

    Covid-19 Group Recovery Plans Contact
  • Volunteering offer from the University of Brighton

    Volunteering offer from the University of Brighton

    Could you do with increasing your volunteering capacity? Active Student, the University of Brighton’s dedicated volunteering team, have over 300 students who need to complete either 30 or 50 hour volunteering placements.

    Active Student wants to work in partnership with organisations from the third and public sectors and welcomes contact from anyone who could benefit from a student giving them up to 50 hours of volunteering.

    These roles can be in situ (government Covid 19 restrictions permitting) or remote. They can include working with vulnerable people from all walks of life, ages and abilities; animals; the environment; nutrition and food; healthcare to name a few. This list is not exhaustive.

    Placements start from October 2021 and are completed by July 2022 (dependent on the course).

    When you support a placement you benefit from students’ new ideas and you will be helping the workforce of the future by giving students the opportunity to gain knowledge and make a positive contribution to a real life project.

    Active Student is proud that each year some of its students make such an impact that organisations go on to offer them employment after their placement has ended.

    If you have insurance that covers volunteers, can support a student volunteer just as you would another volunteer then please contact Active Student today!

    To find out more or express your interest, please email activestudent@brighton.ac.uk including the following in your response:

    • What roles you have available
    • How many students you can host (if you are not sure, say and Active Student will call to discuss)
  • Engaging Women & Girls in Sport and Physical Activity

    Engaging Women & Girls in Sport and Physical Activity

    Part of ‘A Workforce to get Sussex active’, this online training workshop explains the sporting needs of young women and girls, and defines the techniques for delivering successful sports programmes for young women. This interactive workshop covers what works to both engage and retain female participants and includes case studies from projects that are successfully engaging females.

    It will be delivered by Street Games and will equip participants with practical ideas on how to best engage women and girls in doorstep sport projects, sharing the latest insight from our Us Girls programme.

    Who is it for

    The workshop is suitable for anyone involved in community sport with an active interest in ‘engaging women and girls in doorstep sport – sport in the right time, for the right price, to the right place and in the right style’.

    When is it

    Thursday 30 September 2021
    6:00 pm to 9:00 pm
    Online via Zoom

    How to book

    To book a place please register here: https://3va.org.uk/events/event/engaging-women-girls/

    Cost

    This project is not about income generation and we know that times continue (for all sorts of reasons) to be really hard right now. For that reason, we are offering this training workshop free of charge and funding from the Project’s limited training budget. All we are asking is that if you are booking online you make a deposit of £20 per workshop when booking your place which we will refund to you following your participation.

    If you are clear that you want to attend the workshop, then we want to support your participation and we do not wish there to be any barriers to that. So if the deposit fee would make that difficult, please contact Lee Shepherd on 07535 992 638 and we will be happy to offer you a place.

  • Eastbourne Food Partnership welcomes national food strategy

    Eastbourne Food Partnership welcomes national food strategy

    Published on 16 July, Part Two of the National Food Strategy is the first comprehensive review of the food system in 75 years. It calls for historic reform to the food system to protect the NHS, improve the health of the nation and save the environment. The Strategy’s author Henry Dimbleby calls on the Government to commit to a package of reforms in order to build a better food system for a healthier nation.

    The document paints a bleak picture of the UK food system, highlighting how diets contribute to approximately 64,000 deaths every year in England alone costing the economy an estimated £74 billion. Unhealthy food is now cheaper per calorie than healthy food and the vast majority of money spent on food advertising promotes unhealthy ‘junk’ food. There is also a clear correlation between poverty and the density of fast-food outlets with double the number in the poorest neighbourhoods.

    The Strategy also warns us that our eating habits are destroying the environment, which in turn threatens our food security. The food we eat accounts for around a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions, and is the leading cause of biodiversity destruction, and yet over a quarter of the food grown in the UK is never eaten!

    Following in the footsteps of Brighton and Hove, the first place to establish a food partnership and the first UK city to win the prestigious Gold Sustainable Food Places award in November 2020, food partnerships have also been set
    up in Adur & Worthing, Lewes District, Wealden, Mid Sussex, Eastbourne and Hastings.

    As well as having their own local focus, the Sussex food partnerships work together on common food issues across the county and share information and good practice. The partnerships welcome the National Food Strategy particularly as it takes a whole systems approach, something they have long advocated for. Issues such as food poverty, obesity, ill health, food security and climate change are all interwoven.

    The local partnerships call on Government and food businesses to implement the Strategy’s 14 recommendations which include a landmark Sugar and Salt Reformulation Tax, expansion of Free School Meals and a major overhaul of food education.

    Caroline Tradewell, Eastbourne Food Partnership steering group member and development officer at 3VA, said:

    “We are delighted that whole-systems approaches and collaborative, partnership working are being clearly recognised as crucial to improving our broken food system. The national strategy sets out clearly the risks to health and the environment from current practices, and clear recommendations to change this, from national to local policy. The Eastbourne Food Partnership brings together the network of food-related organisations, individuals and policy makers, and we are currently collaborating on a town-wide food strategy document. So, we particularly welcome the recommendation for all local authorities to put in place a food strategy, developed with reference to the National Food Strategy’s goals and metrics and in partnership with the communities they serve.”

  • Calling all students – don’t miss out on your COVID-19 vaccine

    Calling all students – don’t miss out on your COVID-19 vaccine

    Everyone aged 18 and over is now eligible for their COVID-19 vaccine and the NHS is urging anyone who hasn’t had theirs yet to come forward.

    The NHS doesn’t want anyone to miss out and have put on additional walk in sessions to make it as easy as possible for people to get their vaccine.

    You don’t need to book an appointment – simply turn up, you can even go with friends or family. See the full list of walk in sessions to find the one closest to you – www.sussexhealthandcare.uk/get-my-jab.

    With rising numbers of cases of people with the virus, the NHS wants to make sure everyone has received their vaccination as quickly as possible.

    If you haven’t had your first dose, arrange it today.

    If you need your second vaccine, you can now have this at 8 weeks from the date of your first vaccination. Make sure you receive both to get the highest level of protection.

    Need evidence of your vaccination?

    For any students from outside of the UK, you can get evidence of your vaccination in a letter so you can take this proof home on your return.

    You can ask for a letter 2 weeks after having your 2nd dose of the vaccine. You should get it within 5 working days.

    You do not need to be registered with a GP surgery or have an NHS login for this.

    You can get a letter by:

    Find out more about the vaccination programme in Sussex: