Local partnerships and established delivery is to be ignored as empowerment fund is targeted at national organisations. On 9 July 2008 the Department issued a 12 week consultation the responses received as well as setting out the Government’s response to the issues raised as part of the consultation can be found at: Summary of Consultation Responses Communities and Local Government £7.5m Empowerment Fund launched. The prospectus outlines how the Empowerment Fund will operate and invites applications from eligible third sector organisations.

VCS partners in Cornwall have been successful with a bid to People’s Millions and have been short-listed to take part in the live Regional TV vote!!  Fantastic news for the sector and for Cornwall in general.    The project is a partnership of Re:Source, SOFA and GOFA and will offer homeless people Starter Packs of household goods to get them into permanent accommodation, in return, it will be looking to encourage the beneficiaries to volunteer for their organisations, this will hopefully lead to training and potentially employment which could … Read more »

ARE YOU A VOLUNTARY ORGANISATION LOOKING FOR POTENTIAL NEW TRUSTEES? ARE YOU SOMEONE WITH SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE OR EXPERTISE THAT COULD HELP MAKE THINGS HAPPEN IN CORNWALL? If you can answer YES to either of these questions, then we would like to invite you to GET ON BOARD,(or How I Made A Difference) Tuesday, 11th November 2008 5.00 – 7.00 p.m., New County Hall, Truro If you would like to discuss Get On Board, please contact: Dot Peryer, tel: 01872 261770 GET ON BOARD is a … Read more »

Training course principally for non-accountants in the VCS to help them understand the key elements of Financial Management. Thursday 13th November 2008 – 09:30 to 16:00 Cornwall Federation of Women’s Institutes, Truro Business Park, Threemilestone, TR4 9NH Cost: £95 including lunch Lindy Booth 01278 455830 07866 943578 lindy.booth@virgin.net

Communities Secretary Hazel Blears has launched a new website giving help and guidance on creating strong, cohesive communities. The new interactive website, developed by the Institute of Community Cohesion brings together in one place a range of practical advice and support on how to promote cohesion and integration drawing on good practice case studies from across the country.   Aimed at practitioners, policy-makers and other organisations from a whole range of sectors, the website will provide a continuously updated bank of cohesion resources, including toolkits, links and … Read more »

Secretary of State’s formal invitation to Local Authorities to submit proposals http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/localgovernment/pdf/992662.pdf http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/localgovernment/communitiesdirectorletter

The report shows a fall in leaders’ confidence in the future of their own organisation, with the net confidence index falling to 23% from 45% in February 2008. Other results show if charities plan to increase their workforce, collaborate more or compete more, and if charity leaders believe that the worsening economic climate will be a negative force for their own organisation. ncvo-charity-forecast-2008-09

The Federation for Community Development Learning (FCDL) is working in partnership with LLUK (the Lifelong Learning Sector Skills Council), supported by a project steering group, to undertake the review that will result in new occupational standards that will define what is good quality community development work practice for the next five years or so. The review started on 11 September and is planned to be completed by March 2009. There are two distinct phases and two parallel processes to this review. Phase one: runs from … Read more »

18 November 2008: 10.30 – 4.00, Taunton Conference Centre, Somerset College of Arts & Technology, Taunton, TA1 5AX Participatory Budgeting is a key government policy to empower local people in decisions affecting their local area. This free, short day event in Taunton will provide background, explore policy and help delegates from public bodies and community groups consider approaches to giving local people a say in how part of a public budget is spent in their community. Run by the national centre of expertise, the Participatory … Read more »

Purpose of Event: • How far have we progressed in meeting the strategic priorities of the 2008-11 Children & Young People’s Plan? • What do we need to focus upon in the forthcoming year? • This event is open to all professionals parents and carers working with children & young people & will provide an opportunity to inform & shape the development of each of the strategic priorities in 2009. 15th January 2009: 9.00 am — 5.00pm Location: Atlantic Hotel, Dane Road, Newquay, TR7 1EN … Read more »