cvalive by ian lynch

incorporating

croydonvoluntaryaction celebrating 100 years

Winter 2007 Issue 1

Community Involvement â&#x20AC;˘ Capacity Building Volunteering â&#x20AC;˘ Policy & Partnerships

JARGON BUSTER CVA – Croydon Voluntary Action LBC – London Borough of Croydon PCT – Primary Care Trust VCS – Voluntary and Community Sector VCO – Voluntary/Community Organisation CSP – Croydon Strategic Partnership SCP – Strengthening Communities Partnership

Contents Policy & Partnerships CVA’s centenary year celebration at the House of Commons Spotlight on the Beacon A test of true partnership Legacy of the Croydon Children’s Fund Extension of funding for Children’s Fund until 2011 Get Ready For The Children & Young People’s Services Inspection

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Capacity Building One big happy family Learning in the Community celebrate success! Let Commensse guide you CVA Waterside Centre celebrates 10th birthday Treasurers don’t despair! Image conscious? Because instructions aren’t included! Community Builders Fund Superhighways ICT support

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Community Involvement Community Involvement in action Disabled Children Matter You’re too old! Cyber democracy comes to Croydon Community Voices getting louder Making LINks happen in Croydon Campaigning against modern slavery in Croydon Young people exploring gang culture

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Volunteering Volunteer Centre within CVS Get Recognition of 100 Hours Voluntary Work - Certificate Millennium Volunteers Volunteering News Checks on Volunteers Newly Arrived in this Country Volunteer Organiser’s Forum Capital Volunteering has moved The After Lunch Bunch, Healing Waters, and the Menteer Project.

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Editorial

You’re only going to do it once, so do it properly! Hopefully the planet will survive long enough to celebrate more CVA centenaries, but it’s safe to assume that we won’t be around to organise them. So in this centenary year we’re trying to pull out all the stops… Could there be a better time to launch a new CVA magazine? In celebrating its past CVA has spent most of 2007 preparing for its future. As part of a new modernised information service cvaLIVE! will aim to keep readers abreast of what CVA is doing to support Croydon’s third sector in contributing to the life of the borough. The magazine will work in tandem with CVA’s new website and email bulletin service, providing a comprehensive round-up of news and views and in short telling all that needs to be told about Croydon’s VCS. cvaLIVE! is formatted in line with CVA’s four strategic aims, reflecting the prominence of capacity building, community engagement, volunteering and partnerships across key Government agendas. We’ll be looking for answers to some big questions, like: • Is the funding available for VCOs to take on a greater service delivery role in Croydon? • Are VCOs and their members being listened to by Croydon’s powers that be? • Are we doing enough to support volunteering - the lifeblood of Croydon’s communities? • Is partnership really alive, challenging the done thing and crossing organisational boundaries? The articles and news items in cvaLIVE! speak to questions like these, finding answers in the experiences VCOs have of new trends in commissioning, consultation, citizenship and consortiums. Croydon’s Beacon awards - for Getting Closer to Communities and Increasing VCS Service Delivery - proved both the VCS’ strength and the amount of goodwill and support available from its partners. cvaLIVE! places the spotlight firmly over Beacon status, celebrating good practice and successful partnerships on the one hand, while encouraging debate and scrutiny on the other. This story is not CVA’s alone to tell. We want to hear from our members and partners about your activities and your plans to support voluntary action in Croydon. I’m opening a new hotline to CVA and inviting you to either send me a news item, to comment on what you read here, or to use cvaLIVE! to pose the questions you think need asking. Please send your emails to steve.phaure@cvalive.org.uk. Thanks and I look forward to seeing many of you at our AGM on 7 November.

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Policy & Partnerships Working in partnership to convert policy opportunities into real benefits for VCOs and local communities

CVA’s centenary year celebration at the House of Commons and forthcoming events! CVA’s Centenary bandwagon rolled on to the House of Commons in July where Malcolm Wickes MP played host to a gathering of over 200 people connected to CVA past and present. Joined by Andrew Pelling MP and both the Leader and the Mayor of Croydon Council, Malcolm paid tribute to CVA’s record in supporting voluntary action in Croydon to move with the times and keep up with social change. With ex-chairs and chief executives present alongside a host of volunteers, staff, CVA members and statutory partners, the evening was a great success. Next stop for the centenary celebration is the Fairfield Halls when CVA’s AGM, the Council’s Beacon Open Day and Expo 100 (VCS exhibition) coincide on 7 November. So far the centenary year has showcased Croydon with the rich, multicultural diversity of the town paraded alongside its award winning spirit of partnership. Expo 100 is expected to provide a fitting finale to the centenary year with 100 of Croydon’s finest VCOs exhibiting their work in the community.

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Spotlight on the Beacon Croydon’s VCS played a decisive role in LBC’s winning the coveted 2007 Beacon Award for Increasing the VCS role in service delivery. In return, VCOs are expecting to derive real benefits from the improvements in LBC’s commissioning practice. LBC’s Beacon Open Day is on 7 November, the same day as CVA’s AGM and VCS exhibition (Expo 100). 150 delegates from around the country will arrive to examine LBC’s celebrated relationship with its local VCS. To win the award LBC needed to demonstrate a mature working relationship and active involvement of the VCS in all aspects of its work through: • Involvement of VCS in planning and delivery of services • Embedded Compact way of working • Commissioning arrangements and focus on capacity building within the VCS to increase the range of providers • Integration of Local Area Agreement and Local Strategic Partnership with key involvement from the VCS These were evidenced by the Beacon Panel on its visit to Croydon in January when an assortment of VCOs including Croydon Playcare, Croydon Supplementary Education Project, Disability Croydon, Croydon Youth Development Trust, Volunteer Centre Croydon and Croydon Neighbourhood Care Association, delivered presentations at CVA’s Waterside Centre attesting to their open and trusting relationship with LBC. So positive and complementary were the speakers that LBC’s Beacon marks leapt from the average to the outstanding at a stroke. In general terms, the Beacon Award has certainly confirmed that the cross-

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Croydon Primary Care Trust highly values the hard work and commitment of Croydon Voluntary Action as, together, we seek with our other partners to improve health, tackle inequalities and deliver the best possible healthcare to the people of Croydon. We thank CVA - and all of the voluntary and community sector organisations it represents - for its outstanding contribution to our work, both in the past and in the future Caroline Taylor Chief Executive, Croydon Primary Care Trust

party political support for Croydon’s VCS remains strong. When the present Conservative administration took over the Council last year the VCS budget was closely scrutinised for potential savings. That it remained largely intact testified to the politicians recognising quality and value for money across the range of VCS services. More effective VCS commissioning in Croydon will take longer to achieve, although the adoption of a new commissioning framework has provided a healthy start. LBC’s Commissioning Managers are currently being asked to assess their practice against the new framework, identifying the areas for improvement. To assist them in implementing the framework from April 2008, Commissioning Managers will be provided with training and standardised documentation - e.g. tender documents, funding agreements and monitoring procedures. The crucial test will arrive thereafter, when VCOs will expect a fairer, more transparent and accessible commissioning process to unfold across the various departments contracting with VCOs. A Commissioning Framework Group has been set up to monitor implementation, with reporting lines to the new Strengthening Communities Partnership.

This year sees CVA’s centenary, reminding us that voluntary action, both here in Croydon and nationally, pre-dates our modern welfare state. The question before us now is what role should Croydon voluntary bodies play in the decades to come. We need to answer this question rigorously and honestly if the sector is to play its full role. Voluntary bodies must be there to represent our most vulnerable citizens and those who find it more difficult to articulate their concerns to statutory bodies and the private sector. Another role is to innovate - the search for new ideas, new solutions, to often old and seemingly intractable problems. CVA’s new publication is a good way of pursuing these issues, particularly at the level of good practice. Malcolm Wicks MP for Croydon North

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A test of true partnership The new Strengthening Communities Partnership has been a long time in coming. But will it be worth the wait? Strategically, the SCP’s formation marks a huge step forward for Croydon’s VCS. Practically, the average VCO will be wondering what difference it will make to their service-users. Will it result in more funding being available for VCS services? Will it result in better accommodation being found? Answers to $64,000 questions like these need to convince the smallest VCOs that the new partnership is not a talkshop, but a vehicle for change. The SCP will need to translate discussions on government policy into recipes for local action in order to pass the what’s in it for us? acid test. The origins of the SCP date back to 2005 when LBC won its Beacon award for Getting Closer to Communities. Rewarded for its efforts in securing community involvement on the CSP and through its neighbourhood partnerships, LBC decided to go one better by devoting a new thematic partnership to the VCS agenda. With central government pushing VCS service delivery and community engagement as national agendas, Croydon’s determination to stay ahead of the game was recognised by its latest Beacon award – for the increased VCS role in service delivery. The initial launch of the SCP in March this year was overtaken by the Beacon celebrations and then changes in LBC personnel derailed a quick follow-up. Instead the first full meeting of the SCP was scheduled for 27 September, with the transfer of community assets chosen as the main agenda item. The partnership’s key objectives are: • Develop community and voluntary organisations to improve their capacity to provide services and represent their members. • Encourage active citizens to be involved in community activities. • Increasing the opportunities and participation of local people in their local neighbourhood forums. • Involving people, including young people in the process of improving the performance of public services and making them responsive to individual and community needs. Future agenda items include Commissioning for VCS services, ChangeUp and the Croydon Community Strategy. Contact Steve Phaure at CVA and tell him what you’d like the SCP to deliver on.

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SCP Membership Member

Representing Appointment

Councillor Steve O’Connell

Deputy Leader & Cabinet Member for Safety and Cohesion

Council

Ex-Officio

Councillor Russell Jackson

Deputy Cabinet Member for Council Safety and Cohesion

Ex-Officio

Councillor Mike Selva

Shadow Cabinet Member for Community Cohesion

Council

Ex-Officio

Councillor Carole Bonner

Shadow Deputy Cabinet Member for Community Cohesion

Council

Ex-Officio

Councillor Robert Askey Councillor Vidhi Mohan

Majority Group Members x2

Council

Appointed by Majority Group

Dudley Edwards

Community Network Reps x4

VCS

Elected by Community Network

Gordon Falconer

Chair of Croydon Voluntary VCS Action

Ex-Officio

Chandra Babu

Chair of BME Forum

VCS

Ex-Officio

Richard Pacitti

VCS Managers’ Network Rep x 1

VCS

Elected by Managers’ Network

Ken Coates

Neighbourhood Partnership VCS/NP Chairs rep x1

Elected by NP Chairs

John Sims

PCT Executive Rep

PCT

Appointed by PCT Board

Chief Inspector David Stringer

Police

Appointed by Borough Commander

Reverend Barry Goodwin

Inter Faith Rep x1

Faith Groups

Elected by Inter Faith Network

Janine Jasper

Business Rep

Business Sector

Appointed by Croydon Commitment

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Legacy of the Croydon Children’s Fund The Croydon Children’s Fund programme was introduced in the borough in 2003. Originally a 3 year programme the government decided to extend the funding until the end of March 2008 to allow the good practice from the Children’s Fund to influence the introduction and work of the Croydon Children’s Trust. The three main themes of Participation, Partnership and Prevention have driven the work and more recently the priorities of the Every Child Matters agenda have also been incorporated into the targets. Croydon is one of a minority of voluntary sector led programmes with Croydon Voluntary Action being the lead accountable body and it is seen as a strong programme in London with particular success in engaging the voluntary and community sector in the delivery of the programme. A good example of this was the inclusion of work covered by some of the Children’s Fund projects in the recently awarded Beacon award to the London Borough of Croydon for increasing voluntary and community service delivery. When the current programme ends in March 2008 after 5 years £5.7 million will have been given to Croydon to cover the work. Throughout the programme there has been robust local evaluation and monitoring providing both qualitative and quantitative information. An independent local evaluator was commissioned – Development Focus who has produced a number of reports making recommendations on the work of the programme. Currently workers from the projects funded by the Children’s Fund are taking part in a number of themed workshops around lessons to be learnt from the programme. These will form part of a final programme evaluation which will be completed by October 2007. The subject areas for these workshops are: Participation, Mainstreaming, Transition and Working in/with schools, Parenting, Youth Crime, Working with children with disabilities, Working with BME children Separate reports will be available on each of these themes.

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We propose to disseminate information from this report at an event to be held in central Croydon in on 22nd November which will reflect on the legacy of the Croydon Children’s Fund. The event will highlight the background to the programme, funding awarded and the main themes of work undertaken. Development Focus will present the findings from the final evaluation report. Projects will also be given the opportunity to highlight successes, good practice and also identify any gaps or barriers they have encountered and of course raise the issue of how work can be sustained. We also hope to involve children and young people in the organisation and delivery of this event using Croydon Xpress, the participation and involvement project currently funded by the Croydon Children’s Fund. The long term aims of this event will be: • To make recommendations for priorities for Croydon to influence future service development to the partnership commissioning groups • To provide information to feed into the review of the Croydon Children and Young People’s Plan • To provide evidence based data to add value to the forthcoming local authority Joint Area Review (JAR) in relation to 5-13 year olds and their families • To support voluntary and community groups in the children and young people’s commissioning process for 2008/9 and involvement in the Children’s Trust Invitations will be sent to key decision makers in Croydon across all agencies in particular to members of the newly formed 6 partnership commissioning groups. We also hope to invite representatives from Government Office London. The event will be funded by the Croydon Children’s Fund and organised by the Children’s Fund Programme Manager Christine Cleveland. The event is being co-hosted by the Croydon Children and Young People’s Partnership Board. For further information on the Croydon Children’s Fund please contact: Christine Cleveland, Children’s Fund Programme Manager Tel: 020 8653 0353 or email: christine.cleveland@cvalive.org.uk

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I am often told that Croydon is lucky to have a strong, dynamic and effective voluntary sector. It is not luck. It is the result of many years of sustained effort by thousands of people galvanised by a common desire to see a better life for people of Croydon. Croydon Voluntary Action has been at the core of those endeavours for a century. The Council is proud to be associated with this work. I look forward to continuing to develop our partnership with CVA and expanding still further the work of the voluntary and community sector in the Borough. Councillor Steve O’Connell Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Safety & Cohesion

Extension of funding for Children’s Fund until 2011 On the 18th July Ed Balls the new Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families announced that a sum of £456 million would be released in a mission to drive up school standards and improve the lives of every child in the country. He said “Our aspirations are straightforward and ambitious. Every child deserves to be safe and loved and have a healthy and happy childhood, free from harm. And every child should have the chance to make the most of their talents and fulfil their potential.” Part of this funding included a £396 million investment to continue the Children’s Fund over the next 3 years until 2011, supporting projects that specialise in early intervention and prevention and having a notable impact on school attendance. The Children’s Fund targets children aged 5-13 and services are often delivered by the voluntary and community sector. The current Children’s Fund programme is time limited and is due to end in March 2008. Funding in 2007-8 is £132m nationally. Funding was initially ring-fenced and distributed through local Children’s Fund partnerships. The new money will in future be distributed through local authorities and pooled with other funding to form a new area-based grant. The government however is encouraging local authorities and their partners to maintain a strong engagement of the voluntary and community sector in using these funds. For more information contact christine.cleveland@cvalive.org.uk

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Get Ready For The Children & Young People’s Services Inspection In 2008 - Joint Area Review (JAR)! Croydon is getting ready for its Joint Area Review in January 2008! From September 2005 all local authority services for children and young people and the wide range of services provided by other agencies (including the voluntary sector!) have been subjected to a review. Other London boroughs such as Bromley, Merton and Enfield have been reviewed by multi-disciplinary teams of inspectors that includes Ofsted, the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI), the Health Care Commission (HCC), the Audit Commission and the Adult Learning Inspectorate (ALI). If your organisation works with children, young people and families you may be contacted during the inspection to provide written or verbal evidence on how you have worked with other service providers in the borough to achieve better outcomes for vulnerable children and young people aged 0-19. Local authorities will be asked to provide the inspectors with a list of 100 cases including looked after children cases, cases of young people and children on the child protection register and children and young people with learning difficulties and/or disabilities. 10 of these cases will be chosen at random and assessed in much greater detail. As part of this assessment, any voluntary sector groups that have been working on those cases will receive a questionnaire and might be interviewed to assess the effectiveness of the referral, assessment, planning and review processes and how well the different agencies have worked together to improve outcomes. Inspectors are interested in evaluating how actions taken by the agencies have improved the outcomes of each young person / child; the outcomes are taken from the Every Child Matters agenda and are: being healthy, staying safe, enjoying and achieving, making a positive contribution and achieving economic well being. There are good reasons for the voluntary sector to engage in this process not only to illustrate how many services we provide for children and young people in Croydon but also with an eye to future commissioning arrangements being introduced into the borough. Christine Cleveland is currently representing the sector on the JAR steering group which has been set up in preparation of the inspection. For more information on the integrated inspection of Children’s Services see www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/strategy/inspection/ or For more information about the inspection in Croydon please contact either: - Steve.Liddicott, Assistant Director, Department for Children Young People and Learners email: steve.liddicott@croydon.gov uk or Christine Cleveland, Children’s Fund Programme Manager, CVA Tel: 0208 653 0353 email christine.cleveland@cvalive.org.uk

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Capacity Building Meet the Capacity Building team, what they do, how they do it, the goals they achieve, the targets they set and most importantly, how anyone can benefit from their input and knowledge.

One big happy family Imagine a Croydon where people from all backgrounds are equal and where everyone matters – young, old, gay, ‘hoodie’, refugee, Croydonian, disabled Black and White. Imagine a Croydon where older people in Thornton Heath and Fieldway are not fearful of meeting their Eastern European neighbours and where they see the rich differences amongst them as an asset to the neighbourhood and something to be celebrated. Imagine the parks and community centres in Purley and South Norwood resonating with the sound of laughter coming from civic minded young people on skateboards and ‘heelies’ as they breathe life into our public spaces. Imagine Shrublands and Monks Hill where the local church is working to bridge gaps between faith groups, and individuals themselves take pride and responsibility in mediating through local tensions and conflicts. Imagine a Croydon where a Bangladeshi mother in Broad Green feels that her child will have similar opprtunities through the schooling system as her English counterpart in Sanderstead. This is the kind of vision the Government has outlined for all communities by 2020. The question is, how close are we to achieving such an egalitarian society, or is this just pure fantasy? Bhupendra Solanki, CVA’s Capacity Building Manager reflects on the recent report by the Commission on Integration and Cohesion that outlines the framework for such a vision. The report “Our Shared Future” was published by the Government’s think tank the Commission on Integration and Cohesion in June 2007 after an extensive consultation exercise. The Commission was set up in the wake of the 7/7 bombings in London, and had as its backdrop the Cantle Report that followed the disturbances in the North of England in the summer of 2001. The report set out to make practical proposals for building integration and cohesion in our society, both nationally and locally. (The full report can be downloaded from http://www.communities.gov.uk/communities/comissionintegration). Before I continue let’s be perfectly clear. Integration and community cohesion is not just about what happened in Oldham or Bradford. It is not just about race riots. It is not only to do with newcomers to the UK not being able to speak English. It is not just about Muslims. Integration and community cohesion is just as much about what Mr Barnes really thinks about the smell wafting from his neighbour Mrs Shah’s kitchen. It is as much about Mr Adebole campaigning for a faith school to be built on a local playing field and the rise in complaints that that sparks off. It is as much about the despair and frustration the Emeks feel knowing that they will never be able to send their child to the “good school”. In short, integration and cohesion touches every area and community in the country because it is about groups, communities and generations co-existing in a civilised and mutually respectful manner. Community cohesion is as

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much about building hope and aspiration as it is about confronting fears and prejudices. Therefore I believe, integration and community cohesion should be everybody’s business. The extent of ‘cohesiveness’ in a society can be influenced by many factors. Unemployment, residential segregation, migration, prejudice, mistrust of others, competition for council housing, for instance, could all play a part. Moreover a single specific issue, such as disagreement over a planning application for a new place of worship or a homeless hostel could change the dynamics in a community quite dramatically overnight. So who is responsible for creating this wonderful cohesive and harmonious society? Speaking at the launch of the report, Darra Singh, Chief Executive of Ealing Council and Chair of the Commission, said that there is a role for Central Government to outline a national framework that embeds common shared values. For local government his call is for much stronger leadership, and for local authorities to put their rhetoric into action. In all fairness, in Croydon our new administration was quick off the mark and set up a cabinet committee for Safety and Cohesion when they came into power in 2006. Cllr Enley Taylor was our local champion for community cohesion and now the baton has been passed onto Cllr. Steve O’Connel, the Deputy Leader of the Council. Croydon Council is currently in the process of finalising a possible new department the “Cohesion and Equalities Unit” to be headed up by Sharon Godman. Many high level discussions have been had at Croydon’s Chief Executives Group (group of all the big policy decision makers in Croydon) and also at the mother of all Croydon’s partnerships ‘The Croydon Strategic Partnership’. Croydon has a Sustainable Community Strategy and integration and community cohesion are meant to be at the heart of that strategy. To give you a flavour, some of the issues currently being discussed by our local leaders and policy makers in Croydon include the following: • The Croydon North/South divide • BME communities suffering multiple deprivation, including poor health • The part that discrimination (not just racism) plays in excluding groups and individuals from coming forward to share their expertise and talents • How to focus on action and move on from just producing glossy strategies • Targeting interventions so as to nip community tensions in the bud • Perceptions about what is ‘community cohesion’ and what is ‘integration’ The Croydon Strategic Partnership has floated a number or practical proposals to introduce in Croydon. The following are up for debate:

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The big debate at CVA’s AGM this year will be on this very subject. Be there and have your say. If you can’t wait until then, why not post your comments and thoughts on the online discussion forum being hosted by Talk2Croydon “Can we achieve community cohesion in Croydon?” Join the debate www.talk2croydon.co.uk

1. A welcome pack for newcomers. Information on local areas, access points for information and essential services, systems and structures of how civic life is in England. Possibly to be produced in community languages. 2. A programme of cultural exchanges. Production of “community profiles” of all the communities that live in Croydon – highlighting language, culture, religion, experiences, aspirations etc. Organise more Mela and World Party type celebrations for all. A programme of activities for the “European Year of Inter-Cultural Dialogue 2008” 3. Involvement of young people. Increase engagement of young people through training, employment, volunteering and bridging generation gaps. 4. Working closely with faith communities. Engagement with all faith communities to shape strategies and improve cultural awareness. Audit of opportunities for cross cultural and interfaith engagement. As often in these cases, our leaders in Croydon are currently in hot debate around who should take this important work forward - should it be the old Social Inclusion Partnership, the new Strengthening Communities Partnership, the proposed Equality and Diversity Partnership or a brand new super allembracing all-singing-all-dancing ‘Inclusive and Cohesive Communities Partnership’? Let’s leave that hot potato for another day… Whatever the partnership group is called, one thing will still remain the same - the role of the voluntary and community sector (VCS) will be critical to the success of any strategy in Croydon. The VCS in Croydon is made up of very active refugee groups, older peoples groups, women’s groups, LGBT groups, resident groups, disability groups, faith groups etc – all very much a fabric of Croydon’s community and all key to ensuring real community cohesion and integration for all of Croydon’s population. One other thing for certain is that to achieve any meaningful and sustainable impact, any strategies must involve long-term engagement with disenfranchised communities and not just the knee-jerk short-term community involvement exercises that we have seen all to often in our communities. For instance, this means politicians genuinely listening to faith groups all year round and not just when they do their annual PR rounds to the mosque at Eid time or to the temple at Diwali time!

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Equally all of us as individuals within communities, as leaders, or simply as residents have a duty too. A duty to think innovatively, to challenge our own prejudices, to focus on solutions, and to look to a shared future. Our society is changing rapidly, not only locally and nationally, but also globally. If we want to adapt to the changing face of our communities we need to look forward and occasionally we may need to move out of our comfort zones. I believe we all have a part to play in making our society more cohesive and integrated - the question is, what part will you play? What do you think makes for a cohesive society? What do you think about the proposed initiatives for Croydon? What role can voluntary and community groups play to integrate individuals and communities? Is integration such a good thing - what’s wrong with communities minding their own business and doing their own thing? Have your say at www.talk2croydon.co.uk Integration: “The process by which new individuals and groups take their place within the majority community, achieving and being accorded their full rights as citizens.” Community cohesion: “Where individuals and communities are able to co-exist in a sense of harmony and peaceful relationships, characterised by a climate of mutual understanding and respect.”

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Learning in the Community celebrate success! CVA has been running a Learning in the Community project for a couple of years now. The programme was to encourage local voluntary and community organisations to plan and deliver non-accredited learning to their clients – the majority of whom were not engaged in any formal education or had been out of education for some time. CVA managed the project in Croydon and Bromley. At the end of the project, 20 groups from Croydon and Bromley were able to offer 24 courses in the community in an impressive variety of subjects including English Language, arts & crafts, confidence building and woodland skills. Moreover, three organisations were so inspired that they were able to go on and offer progression courses to their students and put them forward for formal assessments. They were Crystal Palace Development Trust (ICT), Oasis Women’s Trust (ESOL), and UCKG (ESOL). Well done to all who took the exams. Several learners from the courses have gone on to volunteer. On the back of their course, RASASC were able to train up three volunteer counsellors. Another group, Heathfield Ecology Centre motivated their learners to form a team of volunteers to continue their conservation work. If that wasn’t success enough, three of our learners (from Bromley Autistic, Status Employment and Blessing Family Association) were able to get jobs after brushing up on their skills and having their confidence given a boost. A real result. Well done to all the tutors, facilitators and volunteers involved. For more information contact carole.short@cvalive.org.uk.

BBC Adult Literacy campaign Help, advice, learning materials and lots of free books, pens andother goodies to give away to encourage reading. www.bbc.co.uk/raw 0800 0150 950

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Let Commensse guide you Employment and income are essential to a neighbourhood or town’s success; so too are education, safety, housing, the environment, and a vibrant social and cultural life. New and growing businesses can bring about jobs and income, but there is another (a better?) way. Community and Social Enterprises provide opportunities for people, who have no previous knowledge or interest in business, to become involved in economic activity and generating income. It also gives local people a way to input into the economic and social well being of their community in a practical way. CVA’s Commensse is an innovative project that can help local community groups become a Community Business - a Company Limited by Guarantee, a Credit Union, a Social Firm, a Community Interest Company or a Co-operative. Commensse provides support and advice to potential, new start and existing social and community enterprises. The reasons for developing Community Businesses, Social Enterprises and Social Firms can be, lack of services, unemployment, or market opportunities. The need to increase income from trading may also be a significant factor. The range of businesses that can be created are enormous: café’s, laundries, crèche/nursery facilities, activity and adventure holidays, bookshops, training providers, art and craft shops, galleries catering services, care facilities, local museums and heritage centre, local radio stations, community land trusts, construction companies, local utility providers and garden centres to name but a few.

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Commensse can help your organisation to achieve all its goals. We’re always here to help, and believe in making your community or social enterprises stronger from within. We will work with you to meet the long-term needs of your enterprise through: • One-to-one support: • Information and resources to build your Community Enterprise • Workshops and programmes to build capacity and suitable for a range of needs from pre-start to well established groups • Community Enterprise Small Grants Fund which provides small grants (around £1000) to VCOs who wish to become more entrepreneurial • Networking opportunities where you can make the right connections • Monthly Roadshows that bring the latest information and real case studies to your neighbourhood. Our Autumn Training Programme began on the 13th September with a workshop delivered by the London Innovation Centre on Social Enterprise Business Ideas. The workshop allowed participants to explore ideas and resources that they could harness and use. Facilitators from CVA, Red Ochre and the Co-operatives Action Network have been lined up to deliver high quality training on Starting a Social Enterprise, Procurement, Financial Sustainability and Business Planning for your social and community enterprise. To get the full programme details and for information on how to book a workshop, go to www.cvalive.org.uk and click on the Community Enterprise link. The Spring Programme is in it’s planning stage so if you would like something to be included why not contact our Community Enterprise Officers Folake Segun and Maroof Adeoye and tell them about it. If you have an idea and feel inspired, but don’t know which way to turn; we’re here. Let Commensse guide you...

12-15 November is Enterprise Week

There are lots of interesting events happening in Croydon Visit www.croydonenterprise.com for details

Commensse is delivered under Croydon Enterprise’s LEGI programme

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CVA Waterside Centre celebrates 10th birthday Waterside Centre celebrated its tenth anniversary in September 2007 by hosting a fun inspired CVA staff/trustee away day. The theme was “Picnic Promenade, Pampering and Pilates by the Park”. The idea was to give hard pressed staff an opportunity to relax and unwind, a chance for staff and trustees to get to know each other and an opportunity for CVA colleagues to get together away from CVA HQ. Waterside Centre will alsol be hosting a Christmas get together in December for its users to celebrate the anniversary. For its birthday present the Centre has received a major facelift, in particular the front of House has been painted blue and white to give it a nautical type theme. Waterside Centre is a Healthy Living Centre providing facilities support and a capacity building service to local groups and individuals. Working in partnership with Croydon Council and Croydon PCT, the Centre’s main themes include increasing exercise opportunities and promoting a sense of well being for the local community. In 2006 104 different groups used the centre and 350 different people on average use the Centre each week. Activities range from a Social Centre/Luncheon Club for older people, a breakfast and after school club for children and 30 sports and leisure activities ranging from ballroom dancing and sailing to cricket and Tai chi. For more information about the Centre and its services please contact: Leigh Armstrong Waterside Centre Manager 26 Avenue Road South Norwood SE25 4DX Tel: 020 8771 0296

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Treasurers don’t despair! AccountAbility

AccountAbility offers financial management Financial skills for the Voluntary Sector advice and training to voluntary and community organisations in the boroughs of Croydon, Bromley, Lambeth, Merton and Sutton, through the CVSs in those respective boroughs. In Croydon the AccountAbility service has been operating for the past seven years and CVA has been the lead agency in this South London collaboration since its inception. The service provides practical advice, support, training and networking opportunities to treasurers, finance workers and other staff / volunteers who have been lumbered with the thankless task of looking after the organisations finances and keeping the books in order! The AccountAbility partnership is running a joint training programme across the South London region and current courses on offer include: • Budgets • Financial Controls • QuickBooks (beginners and Intermediate levels) • Accounts for SORP 2005 • Legal Framework for Financial management • Book-keeping (Cash Books; bank Reconciliation; Petty Cash) • Preparing Financial Reports for your Management Committee If you are an overstretched finance worker and need some support our Community Accountants are here for you! To find out more about any of the above courses and to receive regular news and resources contact your local Community Accountant maroof.adeoye@cvalive.org.uk. Tel: 020 8683 5910

Image conscious? Are your leaflets looking a little tired or outdated? How about your latest Annual Report? Are you impressing your clients and funders? What do your publications and marketing materials say about your organisation? If you think your image could do with a bit of a lift then maybe you would be interested in talking to our experienced and imaginative Print and Design team. Ian Lynch, CVA’s Graphic Designer (and his team of designers) have been producing cutting edge marketing materials, logos, stationery, newsletters, display stands, annual reports, flyers and much more for nearly 15 years in Croydon and during this time have produced materials for hundreds of organisations in the borough. So if you don’t want to be left behind with last season’s look, book a consultation today with CVA’s design team and see what a splash of colour and design could do for your street cred. ian.lynch@cvalive.org.uk Tel: 020 8683 5911

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Because instructions aren’t included! When a child becomes a teenager (which is around age 9 these days) many parents are desperate for help! Previously reasonably compliant and cheerful children develop the ‘Kevin Syndrome’. Kids who have always been difficult get more so. Most of us struggle at some time during our ‘parenting career’. We wonder if our child’s behaviour is normal! We struggle to get to grips with a particular behaviour problem. Most of all we long for reassurance that we’re doing OK as a parent. Positive Parenting The title of this article “Because instructions aren’t included” is the strap line of one of our of local and most successful parenting organisations Parentine Plus based at Cornerstone House. Anyone who is a parent or has just had their first child will no doubt share that stark sentiment. Let’s face it, parenting is a skill and it doesn’t come ‘naturally’ to all of us. As with most skills, if we want to be good at it we must work on developing that skill, and that requires time, energy, training and practice - lots of it. However skilling parents up is easier said than done and in practice will require very different approaches and will be received differently depending on who is doing the empowering. Important factors such as cultural sensitivities, faith perspective, timings, cost, environment where the learning takes place etc all will have a bearing. Hence our approach to try and cover all the bases… CVA has been running a project funded by the Government’s Parenting Fund now since late 2006. As part of the project CVA commissioned Positive Parenting to run a four day training course for 12 practitioners from local voluntary organisations so that they themselves could run training for parents with teenagers. The participants were from a range of organisations and all had different levels of engagement with parents. The organisations that put forward staff / volunteers to be trained up were: Positive Parenting, Parentline Plus, Croydon Jubilee church, Home-Start Croydon, Barnardos Heshima, Mind in Fairfield Croydon Club, Training for Music, Ace Youth & Community, African Youth Development Association, Welcare, Croydon Supplementary Education Project, Abba-Care Eagles, Extended Schools Archbishop Lanfranc. CVA will also be organising networking events for parents and organisations supporting parents. The next one will be in December 2007.

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Another exciting development will be Action Learning Sets (ALS) for parenting organisations. Action Learning Sets are workshop type sessions where peers come together to work through real-life work challenges and support each other through skilful enquiry and reflection. We shall be running an ALS for managers in parenting support organisations and two sets for practitioners / advice workers working or volunteering in parenting organisations. A very successful Introduction Day took place on 18 October and 1 November. The Action Learning Sets start on 6 and 7 December 2007. The coming year promises to be a period when parenting support will be given a high priority in Croydon. The Council has recently appointed a Parenting Commissioner, Liz Fajemison in the new Children, Young People and Learners Department. Liz has been responsible for writing a Parenting Strategy, a first for Croydon, and Liz is looking very positively at engaging with any group that works with parents and parents themselves to advise, monitor and help implement the strategy locally. If you wish to get involved, Liz would be very happy to hear from you Tel. 020 8686 4433 x 62472 or email liz.fajemison@croydon.gov.uk. It’s true instructions aren’t provided when it comes to being a parent - but join in with our training, networks and learning events and we’ll give you plenty of handbooks and contacts that may make it a little easier! If you would like to know more about what is happening in Croydon for parents or how to get involved in any of the above initiatives please contact bhupendra.solanki@cvalive.org.uk and he’ll point you in the right direction.

Useful Websites with great resources & top tips • • • • •

www.parentlineplus.org.uk www.nspcc.org.uk www.practicalparenting.co.uk www.parenting.org.uk www.raisingkids.co.uk

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Community Builders Fund Community Cohesion is on the lips and minds of most community development workers and especially politicians these days. CVA, through monies from the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund funded a number of grass roots community projects earlier this year to undertake community cohesion related projects in our local communities. The funding was only up to £5000 but what is evident is that given the opportunity, grass roots organisations through their experience and skills, can have a impressive impact at regenerating communities, even with such limited resources. Some of the projects have already taken place, but some are ongoing or scheduled to take place by the end of the year. If you are interested to find out the outcomes of any of the projects funded or to make links with these exciting projects, do contact the organisation directly and explore the opportunities for collaboration or future partnership working. That’s what it’s all about… Organisation Relief Line

Spirit Of The Community

The Cause 2000 Worldwide House of Hope?

Yes Africa

A Brighter Future CIC Ltd Age Concern Croydon

Apsara Arts

Funded Project Tropicana Elders Club: Taking African and Caribbean elders in NW Croydon on excursions to promote community spirit Spirit of the Community: Holding a day of activities at Ryelands Field to show the community how it is protected and served Caribbean Culture Comes To Croydon: A project to encourage residents to attend this Summer’s Caribbean Festival Multi Ethnic Saturday Supplement Classes: Children sharing cultural songs, stories & traditional costumes at each session Shrublands Together: Cultural festival on Shrublands Estate this summer Show Me What You Got: Photography workshops for young people leading to an exhibition of work Age Range Project: Facilitating events to promote healthy lifestyle choices for older people in culturally diverse areas Artshare: Running workshops covering arts, dance, music, visual art and fashion with young people from various faith backgrounds

Contact Robert Egwea 07950 899740

John White 07795 186451

Velma McKenzie 020 8676 5628 Moya Bi Nguessan 07908 132598

Kisukula Abeli-Meitho 07745 894707 Andrew Brown 07957 349004 Stuart Routledge 020 8680 5450

Malti Patel 07751622907

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Longheath Community Care and Church Centre Oasis womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Group

One World in Croydon

Take part at the Longheath Centre: Producing several editions of Longheath Centre News and also a community day on Longheath Gardens Estate Refugee Week Event: Celebrating refugee week and bringing the whole community together to build bridges Many Faces, Many Faiths: Building understanding and compassion by holding an exhibition/public talks on faiths and cultures involving young people from the Waddon community

020 8654 5204

Moulkhier Meslem 07852 230436

Susan Beresford 07958 397794

The hot debate at CVAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s AGM this year (7 November 2007, 7pm Fairfield Halls) is on Community Cohesion and some of the above groups will be there talking about their projects and what difference their small grants have made to breaking down barriers and bringing real people together here in Croydon. Be there to hear more...

Superhighways ICT support Do you have trouble with your PCs, network or printers? Could you benefit from having access to a local ICT support worker? CVA may have just the thing for you. Superhighways has been operating as a social enterprise since July 2007 and offers low-cost ICT support to voluntary groups via a membership package tailored to meet your needs. The support worker is based at CVA has been involved in projects and troubleshooting for 18 groups in the past year and more information can be found at www.superhighways.org.uk. For more details contact Ngozi Mayo on 0208 684 3862 ext. 145 or email ngozi.mayo@cvalive.org.uk.

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Community Involvement Meet the Community Involvement team, what they do, how they do it, the goals they achieve, the targets they set and most importantly, how anyone can benefit from their input and knowledge.

Community Involvement in action Andrew, Cath, Denise, Jill, Jo, Karen, Sarah and Sara live and breathe community involvement in its many and varying guises in Croydon. You will find them out and about organising events, network meetings, activities, campaigns and training sessions. They work with Croydon people from all sorts of backgrounds with all sorts of beliefs to strengthen their voices and make a difference. They work with communities of interest, expertise and geography with the sole aim of ensuring local people and groups can influence positive change in Croydon. Community involvement is rooted in principles of democratic participation. We’re not talking here about the kind of democracy which requires a little cross on a ballot paper once every few years. No, we’re talking about real people exercising their democratic rights on an every day basis. It’s about elevating the voice of those least heard and making a difference. What is all this community involvement stuff about you might say? Well here’s a definition: “…democratic involvement by people in the issues which affect their lives based on full citizenship, autonomy, and shared power, skills, knowledge and experience” Community Development Xchange Values 2005 Ok, so that’s what it is, now what ‘s CVA doing? The CVA Community involvement team specialises in: • Forums and networks • Community empowerment & community leadership • Training of community advocates • Online involvement • Supporting self advocacy (people speaking up for themselves)

• Community Participation events with people of all ages from all backgrounds • Community research • Community representation Central to our working is a strong network of networks at the core of which is the Croydon Community Network. The Croydon Community Network exists to be a collective voice for communities in Croydon. It serves as a network of networks representing communities of interest, geography and expertise. Its members work collaboratively and strategically to improve Croydon for Croydon people. The Network acts as the platform to raise the needs of communities to policy makers and other agencies (statutory and voluntary) to improve engagement and awareness. Through this, the Network works collectively to highlight common agendas and campaign for positive change.

CVA’s other networks are: Children and Young People’s Network (C&YPN), Health and Care Forum (H&CF), Croydon Refugee Forum (CRF), Croydon Older People’s Network (OPeN), Croydon Mental Health Forum (CMHF) As well as managing networks CVA co-works with other networks and forums such as the Black and Minority Ethnic Forum, the Disability Forum and the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual and Transgender Network. Whilst networks provide regular and planned approaches to community involvement some of our projects target a particular audience or reach a wider group of members of the public or community activists. Croydon Xpress is a unique Croydon based participation project which works to bring the voices of children aged 5 to 13 years into local decisions; A Voice for My Community supports and develops community representatives; and Talk2Croydon provides an online space for communities to take part in local decisions. So, now you’ve got the inside story, isn’t it time you got involved? To find out more contact Jo on 020 8683 5901 or jo.gough@cvalive.org.uk

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Disabled Children Matter On Saturday 1st September severely disabled children (5 to 13 years) and their parents met at Ashburton Community School to have their say about local services. The free and fun ‘You Matter’ event allowed the whole family to participate in and express their views. The findings from this event will form part of the next Croydon stakeholder’s conference on Children with Disabilities in October 2007. Karen Michalias says, ‘A first of its kind in Croydon! These families have been given their opportunity to participate in having a ‘voice’ …Children and young people with physical complex needs should not have to ask or fight to be included in things that other children do!’ Daphne Jones says, ‘Parents in Partnership endeavour to make opportunities for parents to engage with developments for their children with disabilities and extra needs. “You Matter” is the third event based around a family fun day principle during which all members of the family can be involved and have their say whilst having a lot of fun together. This event has targeted those who have the most severe problems in terms of their disabilities when parents and siblings’ lives are taken over in order to meet the demands. We needed to listen to them and give them some time out.’ Croydon Xpress, Parents in Partnership and CVA’s Community Involvement Team worked in partnership to develop a fun, supportive and interactive event for both families and the children. Wheelchair racing, drama, creative art and relaxing therapies were all part of the fun-packed schedule. Parents and children all said that the event was FUN and there were many activities that the family could get involved in such as music, massage and arts n crafts! Parents had a chance to have their say about some of the issues their families face in Croydon and were pleased to get some things off their chest! One parent said it was a, “lovely day for all the children and I just hope that Croydon Council acts on the many comments given for improvement of disability services.” You can also find Croydon Xpress at the Children’s Fund Legacy Event on 22 November 2007. For more information about Croydon Xpress contact Karen on 020 8653 0386 or karen.michalias@cvalive.org.uk

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You’re too old! Discrimination Law Review: Older People Left Lagging Behind On the 12 June the Government published its green paper on discrimination law and by close of press this review will be complete. 98 % of Croydon Older people recently surveyed believed that they are discriminated against whilst 56 % of respondents gave examples of age discrimination affecting them or someone they knew. Most incidences of discrimination related to public and consumer services. There was an overwhelming response in favour of making discrimination illegal and 95% of respondents said those companies and organisations found guilty of discrimination offences should be fined. Andrew Crooks, CVA Community Involvement Worker, makes a case for better legal protection against discrimination of older people and invites you to support the campaign spear-headed by Croydon’s Older People’s Network (OPeN) to redress this imbalance. The Age Lobby has been following with interest the progress of this legislation because of the lack of legal protection against age discrimination. Older people in today’s society represent a vast percentage of the population but are prevented from contributing and playing a full part in society – it is age discrimination that stops older people playing their part and it has to stop now. Research undertaken by Help the Aged, ‘Spotlight on Older People’ reveals that 73 per cent of people recognise age discrimination as a daily reality for older people. This kind of discrimination stops older people buying financial services, sees their needs overlooked in healthcare, and means they face patronising attitudes and damaging prejudice. Here in Croydon age discrimination remains within our national health service, despite a government pledge as far back as 2001 to root it out. When compared with a 65-69 year-old, a woman aged 80 or older is five

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and a half times less likely to receive triple assessment for operable breast cancer and 40 times less likely to undergo surgery. We are also told that the insurance industry values the ‘grey pound’, but older people are three times more likely than younger people to be refused insurance. Surely this in itself is reason enough for legislation. Equality is not about treating people differently or giving them benefits that make their lives better. It’s about recognising the barriers society throws up in front of people and about introducing measures that combat these. I genuinely feel that the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), which prevents all forms of discrimination against disabled people, has had a huge impact on the way disabled people are treated. Vitally too, amendments to it have helped change public attitudes vastly since it was introduced in 1995. In 2005, new legislation meant businesses had to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to their buildings so disabled people could access their goods and services. Many bank branches and hotel receptions offer me low level desks. Trained staff have also been incredibly helpful in moments of great stress. But these are the benefits – there are still widely perceived inadequacies to this legislation. A bank might be located in a listed building or the cost of alterations might be too expensive for a small business. Disabled people’s participation in society is held back by this ambiguous term ‘ reasonable adjustment’. Companies are still unsure of how to interpret their responsibilities and disabled people are often unaware of their entitlements under the Act. Any new age discrimination legislation must be simple and unambiguous so that people’s legal duties are clearly understandable. Similarly, new anti age discrimination laws should not be looked at in isolation but ought to work in tandem with other benefits. The Government measures such as Legal Aid must be extended to break down the barriers that prevent older people from living their life on a level playing field with the rest of society. Businesses and providers of goods and services should be legally obliged to offer the same level of service to older people as they would to anyone else. Older people are calling for an enforceable set of laws that could dramatically improve older people’s inclusion in society and remove the barriers that stop their full participation. It’s important that campaigners lobby the Government to set up a system that would regulate and enforce these laws. Equality is about ensuring no group of people are marginalised or excluded. Sure enough – older people – are not a big homogenous group and their needs are very different – but older people in general need something like the DDA that would positively impact on millions of older people. It would be a damning indictment on society if we lost this opportunity to introduce new law in order for older people to challenge the unacceptable behaviour they experience every day. Join in with OPeN and tell the Government they must take this historic opportunity of a Single Equality Act to address the gross injustice older people have to deal with. Contact Andrew on 020 8683 7015 or email andrew.crooks@cvalive.org.uk

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Cyber democracy comes to Croydon After more than 2 years in the making the 13th September 2007 saw the launch of Croydon’s new online community involvement tool, Talk2Croydon. CVA, the London Borough of Croydon, Croydon Primary Care Trust and Mayday University Hospital have worked together with 6 local community groups to make the vision of online involvement a reality. Code Positive (www.codepositive.com) came on board as web developers late in 2006 providing an interactive platform for Croydon voice’s to be heard. Talk2Croydon extends the reach of the Croydon Community Network and enhances existing community involvement in Croydon. Check the site www.talk2croydon.co.uk from mid September onwards. Contact Sarah Taylor on 020 8683 5917 or sarah.taylor@cvalive.org.uk for more information

Community Voices getting louder A Voice for My Community, Croydon’s groundbreaking representative support programme is now making waves. Local people who have been elected or selected to take the voice of a wider group of people to influence local decisions are invited to take part in the many opportunities to develop their skills through this programme. So far ‘A Voice’ has delivered 3 sessions to representatives on Community Call to Action, Influencing Skills and Community Involvement in Planning involving speakers and trainers from high profile national organisations including: National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO), Planning Aid and the Department of Communities and Local Government. You can expect future topics to include: presentation skills, effective campaigning, negotiating and dealing with conflict. Bursaries are also available to fund activities which will increase a Reps knowledge or effectiveness. Are you a Croydon representative? If so, get in touch now. Contact Sarah Taylor on 020 8683 5917 or sarah.taylor@cvalive.org.uk

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If you were in charge for a day what would you do to help people from different backgrounds in your neighbourhood get on better? To have your say contact Jo Gough on 020 8683 5901 or jo.gough@cvalive.org.uk

Gordon’s new politics In mid September Gordon Brown announced to an audience of voluntary organisations his intention to introduce what he calls ‘New Politics’. His ‘new’ democratic vision includes the roll out of 10 citizen’s juries across the UK. The Prime Minister asks us to help solve “many of the greatest challenges we face, such as climate change, national security and obesity”, as well as to renew his democratic institutions as without us they aren’t very democratic. He argues for: “… a politics built on the empowerment and engagement … (and) a politics of common purpose” Gordon believes that citizen involvement needs to take a central role in governing this country and we in the CVA involvement team tend to agree. One of the leading community involvement agencies, ‘Involve’, has entered into this debate and invites you to join them by responding to Gordon Brown. They ask: • Do you love citizen’s juries? • Want to be engaged via text? or • Are you just too busy to even think about politics? Go to www.involve.org.uk and add your thoughts. Or if you have the technology add your YouTube url and they will embed a video of you. Your ideas will be compiled into a Democratic Dossier which will be sent to Gordon to inform his New Politics this Autumn. Contact Involve on 020 7632 0121 or www.involve.org.uk

Making LINks happen in Croydon Guidance for the new health Local Involvement Networks (LINks) has recently been published by the Department of Health. Croydon Council will commission a host organisation to grow a new body to allow local people and groups to influence local health and care services from planning and commissioning to delivery. This new body should be in place in Spring 2008. Croydon Voluntary Action has expressed an interest in acting as the local host. For information contact Jo on 020 8683 5901 or jo.gough@cvalive.org.uk or download the documents at www.dh.gov.uk/patientpublicinvolvement

The future of nuclear power? www.direct.gov.uk/nuclearpower2007 or call 0845 015 0010 for a copy of the publication.

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Campaigning against modern slavery in Croydon The Croydon Community Against Trafficking (CCAT) is a coalition of concerned citizens, faith and community groups aiming to stop the injustice of human trafficking within the borough of Croydon. They claim that Croydon is one of the biggest ‘ports’ for human trafficking in the UK. They call on local people to support this campaign. Trafficking is happening near you today with human beings, often very young women, brought in like cargo under the pretence of a better life in this country but ending up being used as cheap labour There are slaves under the control of merciless masters and in Croydon. forced to offer services that are simply too horrible to describe here. For further information go to: www.theccat.com and www.paulfield.com

YOU can give them freedom. The harsh reality is that Croydon is one of the biggest ‘ports’ for human trafficking in the UK. Join us in the fight to rid our town of the injustice of slavery that is Human Trafficking. To take action visit:

Faith’s Together in Croydon

www.theCCAT.com The Croydon Community Against Trafficking (CCAT)

are gearing up their activity to involve all the Croydon faiths in a range of local events. If you are connected to a local faith group why not check out the website below to find out more: http://www.faithstogetherincroydon.co.uk/

Are you involved in a local refugee group? Do you want to join with other groups to try to improve life for refugees in the borough? Contact Denise at the Croydon Refugee Forum on refugee.forum@cvalive.org.uk or call 020 8684 3862

CVA LIVE BITES Coming soon to an INBOX near you, CVA’s new e-mail bulletin: CVA LIVE BITES Keep an eye on your PCs...!”

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Are You Proud of Croydon? Croydon’s Community Network recently asked local people and voluntary groups what in Croydon they are proud of leading to debates around Croydon’s image. Councillor Mike Fisher, Leader of the Council & Jon Rouse, Croydon Council Chief Executive joined the discussion to improve Croydon’s image for Croydon people and beyond. Contact Jo Gough on 020 8683 5901 or jo.gough@cvalive.org.uk

Young people exploring gang culture Croydon Xpress have been working with Fairchildes Primary school council and the Together in Waddon Project at Duppas junior school to explore attitudes around the issues of bullying and gang activity. Early preventative work with children aged between 8-11 will raise their awareness and reduce the risks of anti-social behaviour and gang membership and to increase positive activities for the children. For more information about the activities of Croydon Xpress contact Karen Michalias on 0208 653 0386 or karen.michalias@cvalive.org.uk

Voice & campaigning in government policy The government’s final report on ‘The future role of the third sector in social and economic regeneration’ published in July 2006 positions ‘enabling voice and campaigning’ as a key role for voluntary and community groups at both a local and national level. They say, ‘Organisations that represent the voices of their community and campaign for change are a vital part of the democratic process, articulating concerns in a way that holds statutory agencies to account and feed into and improve the policy making process.’ They have pledged £515 million for voluntary and community programmes to support thousands of community organisations across the country. For a copy go to www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/third_sector or call 020 7276 6400

Useful Links for Community Development and Involvement • www.involve.org • www.tpas.org.uk

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• •

www.cdx.org.uk www.nif.co.uk

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Volunteering You will be used to receiving “The Volunteer”, the quarterly magazine of Volunteer Centre Croydon. This issue is a pilot joint issue in Croydon Voluntary Action’s Centenary year.

Volunteer Centre within CVS You will be used to receiving “The Volunteer”, the quarterly magazine of Volunteer Centre Croydon. This issue is a pilot joint issue in Croydon Voluntary Action’s Centenary year. Volunteer Centre Croydon was started as part of the CVS, and has been a department of CVA for many years. As part of CVA’s restructuring, volunteering and the work of the Volunteer Centre has been recognised as one of the four priority areas, integral to the work of the CVS (council for voluntary service). Volunteering also impacts on and links with the other three strategic aims of CVA – Capacity Building, Community Involvement and Policy and Partnerships. However, Volunteer Centre Croydon, like all the branded volunteer centres in England, is also a member of Volunteering England, subscribing to the 6 core functions of Volunteer Centres in order to get quality accreditation from Volunteering England and be able to use the Volunteer Centre brand. This brand was introduced 3 years ago so there would be a nationally recognised brand – firstly so anyone in the country, in a similar manner to the Citizens Advice Bureau brand, would recognise this was the place where people wanting information about voluntary work would go. Secondly on seeing the brand they could expect a certain standard in that the service would be free, confidential, non-discriminatory and be quality accredited by Volunteering England, carrying out the 6 core functions. The 6 core functions are: • Marketing volunteering, to the whole community but particularly to socially excluded groups. • Matching volunteers to voluntary work placements, and giving on-going support • Good Practice advice to organisations • Helping develop voluntary opportunities • Policy response and campaigning, for example to reduce barriers to people volunteering • Strategic development of volunteering locally

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Youth Mentoring MAPS Duties: Helping young people in care to build self-esteem and new friends. Full training provided. Must be available for 2 hours per week over 46 months. Based in Croydon area.

Administrator Croydon Housing Aid Society Duties: Giving out information, advice and assistance, interviewing clients over the phone. IT skills and good written and verbal communication required.

So while Volunteer Centre Croydon is an integral part of Croydon Voluntary Action, it also needs to maintain its distinct identity as a Volunteer Centre that is part of a national network. Nationally half the Volunteer Centres are independent and half integrated with another body, generally the CVS. There are economies of scale of time and money in being integrated, and being part of the CVS enables the Volunteer Centre to be part of the wider voluntary sector infrastructure, and for workers to work more closely together, for example Good Practice workers at the VC liaising with Capacity Building workers at CVA, and for the Volunteer Centre to ensure volunteering issues are taken on board across the CVS. Over the country some Volunteer Centres have many issues being part of the CVS – they are seen as very much a small cog, their financial needs are seen as secondary to those of the CVS, and VC core values are not taken account of. In Croydon the partnership has worked well. The Volunteer Centre’s core funtions and values fit in well with CVA’s core aims and objectives and each recognise the benefit they can bring to the other.

Contact the VC on volunteer@cvalive.org.uk or tel: 020 8684 2727 or look up opportunities on www.do-it.org.uk

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Facilitator Royal Mencap Duties: Help support adults with a learning disability to access opportunities in their community. Support and ongoing training will be available as necessary.

Administrator Royal Mencap Duties: Good admin skills, word and excel required. Able to work alongside members with varying degrees of learning disabilities.

Get Recognition of 100 Hours Voluntary Work - Certificate

“Encouraging & Satisfying” “Challenging & Rewarding” “Something should be done for long serving volunteers” Quotes from some of our volunteers at the Award Ceremony and Volunteers Forum Volunteer Centre Croydon has introduced the Volunteers Forum and has been awarding the 100 hours Volunteering Certificate to volunteers that have completed 100 hours of voluntary work. Our aim is to award each volunteer for the precious time they have devoted towards the community! We will be having our next award ceremony soon, so please get in touch if you think you have done 100 hours of voluntary work. Do let us know if you need any help and guidance about voluntary work. Contact Sujata Sinha on 020 8684 2727 sujata.sinha@cvalive.org.uk

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Millennium Volunteers Millennium Volunteers now comes under the new national initiative for youth volunteering - ‘V’. Although Croydon MV (CMV) continues to work in supporting young people throughout their voluntary placement, this exciting transition brings with it a number of new emphases. MV age range extended from 16-24 to include 25 year olds and also under-16s in schools Under 16 volunteering in schools Formal accreditation for volunteers CMV maintains close links with local schools and colleges for post 16 volunteering. However, the project has broadened its remit to working with under 16s within schools. CMV have developed a partnership with Ashburton School to support them in an under-16s volunteering project which MV would like to extend to all schools in Croydon who would like to take part. The Ashburton project is a youth club for years 7-9 (12 -15 year olds) called ‘VIBE’. The club aims to provide a safe and secure environment for pupils to socialise and take part in informal educational activities that will raise awareness of poignant youth issues encourage citizenship and provide peer support. We are now working with the Youth Matters Steering Group and the Extended Schools Network to extend this to other schools and to offer pupils the chance to work towards AQA accreditation in peer-mentoring. Short term volunteering e.g. taster sessions We are focusing on making volunteering more accessible to excluded young people who may not traditionally get involved in voluntary work through providing more opportunities for short term placements, as well as the longer term placements we have always provided. We will be working with CYDT (Croydon Youth Development Trust) to provide a Youth Work Taster which will give young people the chance to work towards the AQA Youth Work accreditation and then use what they have learnt at a Youth Work placement.

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Administrator & Secretary Creative Circles Duties: Admin and secretarial duties, emails, drafting forms and proformas, good computer skills required. CRB check required.

Admin support role Family Justice Centre Duties: Answering phones, taking messages, preparing information packs. Good interpersonal skills, and experience of working in an office environment.

MV Award presented to all volunteers completing any number of hours of voluntary work Young people’s achievement will be recognised by providing an MV Award for whatever voluntary work they complete. Rather than just 50, 100 or 200 hour Awards, young people will receive an Award once they complete their volunteering, be it 15 or 215 hours. This recognises the fact that just a few hours may be a great achievement for some young people and may have taken great determination Youth led peer mentoring project Want to start a youth-led project? CMV can help you. The Holla youth-led peer mentoring project helps young people aged 16-21 who need peer support in order to volunteer and achieve their goals. This could be because of • Mental Health • Learning difficulties/disabilities • Bullying • Self esteem and Low confidence • Anti-social behaviour • Exclusion from school • Stress • Teenage Parenthood The Mentors attend a 10 week peer mentoring training course. The project is managed by MV and mental health referrals are managed by Capital Volunteering’s Mentor Project at the Volunteer Centre. Ania Dudziec-Mabasi and Nadine Elliott Contact Ania or Nadine at MV on 020 8771 8687/8737 Croydonmv@cvalive.org.uk

Millennium Volunteers

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Volunteering

NEWS

New faces at the VC

After nearly 18 years as manager at the Volunteer Centre, Mary Benton will be leaving at the end of December. When she started, the Volunteer Centre had two and a half staff; now it has 4 full-time and 6 part-time staff, a team of volunteer interviewers, admin volunteers and volunteer mentors, and a range of projects helping broker members of the public into volunteering placements, offering extra support to volunteers from normally socially excluded groups and good practice advice to organisations. Volunteer Centre Croydon has established a good reputation locally, regionally and nationally. We welcome Karen Chillman as the new VC Manager. Karen has developed a very successful volunteering project on the Clapham Park Estate. If you would like to say goodbye to Mary, there will be a leaving do at CVA on Friday December 14th between 12 and 2. Please let admin staff at CVA know if you are attending on 020 8684 2727 The Volunteer Centre welcomes Joy Henry as new Volunteer Centre parttime administrator/placement officer, replacing Carole Short, who has taken on a new job at CVA. We would like to thank Carole for all her hard work and enthusiasm during her seven years at the Volunteer Centre, and look forward to working with Joy. Joy is working on Thursdays and Fridays answering queries at the VC, helping match volunteers to opportunities, updating information and generally ensuring the office runs smoothly. We also welcome Salima Jivani, as a volunteer interviewer on Monday mornings. She will also help in the office ringing round volunteers.

Virtual volunteering Find it difficult to attend a community group to do your volunteering, because of mobility issues or time restrictions? You can now volunteer online at a time and place that suits you. See TheSite.org, then click on Virtual Volunteering.

U-turn on CRB volunteer checks The Criminal Records Bureau has abandoned plans to tighten its definition of volunteering to reduce the number of volunteers eligible for free checks. There were concerns young volunteers could lose out â&#x20AC;&#x201C; see volunteering.org.uk/

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Art Assistants Creative Circles Duties: To train as art assistants to work with children with SEN and learning disabilities for art workshops in November. Enchanced CRB and two checkable references required.

Hip Hop Reader Tamare House Associates Duties: To provide new opportunities for young people to access books and workshops to improve literacy and grammer through an innovative technique using books relating to the HIP HOP culture and relative topics. Knowledge of the HIP HOP culture would be an advantage.

Sports and pre-Olympics volunteering Volunteer Centres in South London have been working together with the South London Partnership on the pre-Olympic agenda. Funds were obtained for VC Sutton to do a mapping exercise of sports clubs in the 6 boroughs of Croydon, Merton, Sutton, Richmond, Kingston and Bromley. London Councils is now providing a small amount of money for each Volunteer Centre to develop more sports opportunities in their borough, with Good Practice workers advising on good practice and helping develop opportunities, and the VC then placing volunteers, especially young volunteers and those with disabilities, in these clubs. Locally the Volunteer Centre has been involved with the Croydon Sports and Physical Activity Task Force, now CSPAN, and is also on the Chief Execs Olympic group. Volunteer Centre Croydon has also been working with the prevolunteering programme run by Bromley Mytime in Crystal Palace, promoting the accredited training for unemployed people and those on benefits who want to eventually volunteer for the Olympics. Stop Press: the Olympics pre-volunteering programme is coming to Croydon. If you are interested in getting accredited training covering areas like Volunteering and the Olympics, Becoming a Volunteer, Understanding Effective Customer Relations, Public Safety Awareness and Understanding Quality and Diversity, let us at the Volunteer Centre know on 020 8684 2727. The 120 hours training will be held in north or central Croydon. Regionally Volunteer Centres are pressing to have a greater role in getting people involved in volunteering prior to 2012.

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GOOD PRACTICE

Checks on Volunteers Newly Arrived in this Country 46

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Do you need to CRB check your volunteers? Not all organisations will need to screen volunteers. The need to screen will depend entirely on what the volunteer is doing and the client group that they are working with. Except for organisations that fall under the remit of the National Care Standards Act, the only legal obligation that organisations have to screen their volunteers is the ‘duty of care’ that they have towards the people they work with. Duty of care requires that you do everything ‘reasonable’ within your power to protect others from harm. Organisations need to look carefully at their client group and volunteer roles to decide whether screening is necessary, and a risk assessment needs to be done to decide whether clients are at risk if volunteers are not screened.

CRB checks for volunteers from overseas The CRB cannot currently access overseas criminal records or other relevant information as part of its Disclosure service. If you are to recruit people from overseas and wish to check their overseas criminal record, a CRB Check may not provide a complete picture of their criminal record that may or may not exist. To help you get a fuller picture of their background, the CRB provides guidance on how you can get further information from the country the volunteer has come from www.crb.org.uk

Refugees and Asylum Seekers Asylum seekers and refugees should have the same checks as any other volunteer so where a CRB check is required, it will also be required for them. Asylum seekers are unlikely to have enough documents to satisfy the CRB. Refugees will often struggle with documents, but they will have the right to work and should have utility bills in their name.

Volunteers without sufficient documents There is a way of processing CRB checks for people without sufficient documents and so asylum seekers, refugees and other newly arrived volunteers will be able to apply for volunteering roles that have often been unavailable to them. A proforma letter can be used with any volunteer who does not have a passport or the required 5 class 2 documents (available to download at www.vas.org.uk/volunteering ). Unfortunately the process requires volunteers to go to the police station to get their fingerprints taken. However, it does mean that a CRB check is possible although it will take longer than a normal CRB check to process. Su Assinen Su Assinen and Jan Gibson are the Good Practice workers at VCC. They can advise groups on all aspects of volunteer management. Ring on 020 8684 2727 or email su.assinen@cvalive.org.uk or jan.gibson@cvalive.org.uk www.volunteercentre.net/croydon

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Mini Bus Driver Enterprise Swimming Club Duties: To pick up disabled people and take to Purley Swimming Pool and return them afterwards. Clean licence and experience required.

General Helper Elmwood Community Centre Duties: Help out at day centre, serve teas and set out tables etc. CRB check required.

Feedback “It’s a link between me and other people, it helps me to improve my English and to meet others and keep myself busy.” (volunteer with Darby and Joan Club) “I learnt how to communicate to others and I also learnt a lot of things.” (volunter with Croydon Meals Agency) “It helped to get me the right experience for the job that I want to achieve.” (volunteer with homeless) “Within a week of obtaining information on volunteer opportunities I managed to find something to do!” (volunteer with Congolese Voluntary Organisation) “The Volunteer Centre was full of information and helpful staff. It was an eye-opener finding out about the many different organisations.” Please keep sending in your FEEDBACK CARDS and KEEP IN TOUCH form enclosed with this magazine (you don’t need a stamp with either). We do want to know how you have got on. If you have any problems, or haven’t found the vacancy you want, do let us know. And once you’ve started volunteering, let Sujata know by ringing her or returning your FREEPOST card, so you can get a certificate once you have done 100 hours.

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Invites you to attend:

Volunteer Organiserâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Forum Dates For 2008

Tuesday 12th February Wednesday 14th May Wednesday 10th September Wednesday 10th December Venue: CVA, 97 High Street, Thornton Heath 12.30 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 2.00pm Sandwiches & Drinks provided from 12 Come and share ideas/experiences with other volunteer organisers Please let us know if you will be attending

020 8684 2727 Email: jan.gibson@cvalive.org.uk or su.assinen@cvalive.org.uk

Volunteering Opportunities The oportunities on these pages are just a sample of the 400 voluntary opportunities the Volunteer Centre has; we can help you decide which is best for you. Our service is free, impartial and confidential Ring us for advice or to book an appointment with one of our advisers on 020 8684 2727 or e-mail: volunteer@cvalive.org.uk. All our opportunities are on www.do-it.org.uk

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Capital Volunteering has moved The Menteer Project is usually based at the Volunteer Centre Croydon. It has now moved to temporary accommodation, at the Healthy Living Centre, Thornton Heath Leisure Centre, 80 - 100 High Street, Thornton Heath Croydon, CR7 8RY. The project may have relocated but their aims and objectives remain the same, to match and support people living with or recovering from mental ill health to find and sustain volunteering opportunities in the local community. There are three active support groups that fall under the Menteer Project umbrella.

Healthy Living Centre, Thornton Heath Leisure Centre, 80 - 100 High Street, Thornton Heath Croydon, CR7 8RY. For more information call 020 8683 7000 /7002 Enoch 07985 751702 or Jay 07984 153865

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The After Lunch Bunch, Healing Waters, and the Menteer Project. The After Lunch Bunch (ALB) is a user lead support group for volunteers and people wanting to volunteer, who are mental health services users, people living with / or recovering from a mental ill health. The support group allows services users to express themselves, share skills, meet old and new friends and share experiences of volunteering and working with a mentor. Dougie’s story “I was looking for voluntary work and met with Enoch (Project Coordinator) and he explained about the After Lunch Bunch and I became a volunteer for the group. The After Lunch Bunch enables me to meet new people and talk about our experiences in voluntary work” Dougie states that he enjoys the responsibility he holds for the After Lunch Bunch; this is something he wants to be involved in and for the long term he would like to see more people attend and wants the group to continue. Healing Waters is a support group for BMEs (Black and Minority Ethnic groups). Again it supports the needs of people living or recovering from mental ill health. Paul’s story The Shaw Trust via Purley Jobcentre Plus suggested voluntary work which led to Paul attending the Volunteer Centre Purley, where he met Enoch who invited him to a new support group Healing Waters. Paul admits he was a bit dubious at first, he had no expectations and was not sure what to make of the meeting. Within a couple of weeks Paul became a volunteer for Healing Waters holding an admin post, he attends various BME discussion groups and forums. There is a possibility of Paul becoming a Mental Health board member for services users. Paul states Healing Waters has allowed him to meet interesting people, it keeps him busy, his self confidence has built up in terms of looking, finding and sustaining voluntary work, the fact that he is a voice for other service users where he is attending meetings and forums has increased his confidence. “Healing Waters has been beneficial to me because it gave me somewhere to go for help, gave me information, allowed me to meet up with people and not be isolated”

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97 High Street, Thornton Heath, Surrey CR7 8RY Tel: 020 8684 3862 ¦ Fax: 020 8665 1334 ¦ Minicom: 020 8683 7014 Email: cva@cvalive.org.uk ¦ Web: www.cvalive.org.uk

CAPITAL