Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2013 12:33 PM
Subject: FbRN Conference date confirmed
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Thursday, 31 January 2013
Fw: FbRN Conference date confirmed
Monday, 28 January 2013
Bedroom Tax implications.
interesting/worrying article in the Guardian on Saturday on another aspect of the welfare changes in relation to housing, and just how confusing and challenging this is going to be for many:
Friday, 25 January 2013
JRF Weekly Publications and Blogs: w/b 21st January 2013
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TOGETHER NETWORK NEWS -- what's happening acoss the country
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| News: January 2013 Welcome This is the first Together Network News which has been produced to share news, views and learning across the Together Network. It is for Network Development workers, Joint Venture Trustees, diocesan staff, Church Urban Fund Staff and Trustees, plus other interested parties. We hope you will find it useful and will contribute to future editions. The intention is to make it fortnightly, if there is sufficient relevant content. So please let us know what you are up to by putting your news and any relevant photos into Dropbox under the heading Together Network News, 8 Feb issue by 12 noon on 6 Feb. In this edition we cover news about: · Tackling homelessness in Birmingham · Building the Together Network · Our latest film from Together Newcastle Tackling Poverty: Churches in Birmingham launch Homeless Shelter Birmingham Churches are joining together to offer winter shelter to those who are homeless and vulnerable in the City. The shelter opened for the first time last winter, and this year the shelter will be opening up from 18th January for more nights of the week and for a total of 6 weeks. Each church involved in the shelter project will be staffed by volunteers offering hospitality and overnight accommodation to up to 10 homeless people. The shelter project includes among its venues and supporters Anglicans, Baptists, Roman Catholic and Methodist congregations, as well as volunteers from the local community. Sarah Turner of Thrive Together Birmingham, who coordinated the pilot shelter project last February said: "Last winter we piloted a short churches night shelter and in the 10 nights we opened we had 21 overnight guests, many of whom, with additional support from other services, were helped into more permanent and settled accommodation. This year we are open for 6 weeks and hope that the shelter will offer support and hospitality to many more". Rev. Neil Johnson, who chairs the Birmingham Christian Homeless Forum said: "The church is called to bring good news to the poor, and be a sign of how God wants the world to live. Our winter shelter is a practical demonstration of this calling." Fundraising New Lent Course - BLINDED: ARE OUR EYES WIDE SHUT TO ENGLAND'S POOR? Church Urban Fund produces four seasonal sets of church resources to raise awareness of poverty in England and funds to ensure money is available to support the growing network of Joint Ventures. These are Lent, Poverty Sunday, Harvest and Advent. Anything that you can do locally to encourage uptake of these resources will be a great help in raising awareness and encouraging giving to establish sustainable income to support Joint Ventures across the country. The first set of resources is based around our Lent course: Poverty in England is sometimes hard to see – hidden away, behind closed doors, invisible. But other times we readily turn a blind eye to the most obvious of signs, not wanting to see and not knowing how to respond.Jesus said: 'Do you have eyes that cannot see?' Mark 8:18 Let our Lent course open your church's eyes… To find out how churches can support Church Urban Fund this Lent visit http://www.cuf.org.uk/lent Building a network of fundraising support We are looking to build a "bank" of preferred trust fundraising consultants (primarily in bid writing) in your local areas, so that, by working together, we can secure as much income as possible to fund Joint Ventures. Ideally, they should have a good knowledge of applying to small local charitable trusts/funders, or larger trusts with a focus on specific areas. If you can recommend someone with a proven track record, please contact our Head of Fundraising, Paul Stockwell, on paul.stockwell@cuf.org.uk. Building the Together Network Ex city chief to head Transforming Notts Together Former Nottingham City Council chief, Jane Todd, is to head up the Joint Venture, tackling poverty in communities across Nottinghamshire. The new joint venture with the Diocese of Southwell & Nottingham and Church Urban Fund called 'Transforming Notts Together' will enable financial and practical support to be channelled into local schemes such as homeless centres, debt counselling and food banks. Jane Todd has agreed to chair the new charity. Jane said: "I'm very excited about the potential this venture has to transform people's lives across Nottinghamshire and make a real difference to the hardships people are facing in the current economic crisis. We hope the venture will enable projects to be established and give groups and especially churches the confidence to step out to help tackle the desperate needs in some of our communities." Jane was among those honoured by the Queen in the New Year Honours list this year, when she was awarded an OBE. Jane stepped down as City Council Chief Executive in September last year on health grounds after four years in one of the city's highest profile roles. The Bishop of Southwell & Nottingham, the Rt Revd Paul Butler said: "We're very excited about this new joint venture and also really pleased that Jane Todd has agreed to chair the new charity. The scheme has huge potential to transform the lives of the most vulnerable in our communities. This year the diocese has a particular focus on 'seeking justice' locally and globally, so it's entirely appropriate that we start the new year with a practical pledge to tackle poverty in our communities." Three new development workers James Henderson has been appointed this month as development worker for Transforming Notts and will begin to take forward the new venture, working in partnership with local churches and organisations. The aim is to begin channelling funds into new projects as early as Spring 2013. James has worked as a Pastor for the past four years, involved in setting up and managing a number of social action projects. James says he is very excited to work alongside churches to help them care for some of the neediest people in our society. James is happily married to Ali who is expecting their first child in April. John Davis is the new development worker for Together Liverpool. John was brought up in St. Helens and is delighted to be back working in his home region having returned from the West Midlands. He began his career in the ceramics industry in Stoke on Trent. He was later ordained following training in Oxford and has worked in full time ministry and other capacities in Shrewsbury and Walsall and across the West Midlands. He was a Regional Development Manager for the Princes Trust moving on to be a senior manager in the NHS, whilst chairing the SRB Regeneration Partnership Board in Walsall for seven years. He led the innovative Crossing at St.Paul's project in Walsall town centre and has a heart for encouraging Christians to work against poverty and disadvantage - bringing to light issues of social justice for everyone to embrace as citizens of the world, in the 21st Century. Heather Black is the new Development Officer for Together Middlesbrough. Heather has lived and worked in areas of significant deprivation in Hull and Middlesbrough for over 10 years, where she has been involved in voluntary work and served on management committees of a number of projects addressing issues of poverty. She has thirteen years experience of Church-community development work as the Development Officer for SEARCH an ecumenical project in Hull supporting church social action, and as Development Officer at the Trinity Centre in North Ormesby, Middlesbrough. Reflecting on the role Heather said, "I was involved with organising the Bridging the Gap conference back in February 2012, which brought together churches and Christian organisations to share their concern about poverty in Middlesbrough. It has been exciting to see Together Middlesbrough develop following that event, we have had a great team of local people working hard to develop the Joint Venture with Church Urban Fund. I am tremendously excited to be working for Together Middlesbrough. It is such a timely development for church-community work in Middlesbrough, at a time when so many are struggling to make ends meet, we hope Together Middlesbrough will really strengthen the response of churches to local needs." Communications See our latest film about poverty in Newcastle. In Benwell, Newcastle 44% of children live in poverty and violent crime is 18 times the national average. Please put your news and any relevant photos into Dropbox under the heading Together Network News, 8 Feb issue by 12 noon on 6 Feb. |
Jeremy Aspinall
DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS
T 020 7898 1856
M 07774 234 002
Sign-up now to stand with Christians tackling poverty in England: www.cuf.org.uk/together
Church Urban Fund
Church House
Great Smith Street
London SW1P 3AZ
A company limited by guarantee.
Registered in Cardiff No: 2138994
Registered charity number: 297483
VCFS Event - Thursday 18 April 2013 invite
Third Sector Lancashire and Lancashire County Council are joining forces in offering a consultation with voluntary, community and faith organisations on how best to work alongside a range of partners, supporting families with complex and multiple needs.
National Government have identified a number of families within the County, and the county council are especially keen that 'joined-up' support should be offered to all concerned.
The consultation will be held at the Woodlands Conference Centre from 10am. to 3pm on Thursday, 18 April, and will feature a line-up of specialists as well as service users. Further details and a booking form will be sent to you shortly, but meanwhile, please reserve the date in your diary and confirm your attendance by no later than 31 March 2013 – please note this is on a first come, first serve basis.
Kind Regards
Chelsey Ashton
Business Support Officer
Alternative and Complementary Education and Residential Service (ACERS)
Lancashire County Council
Tel No: 01772 5 32894
Chelsey.Ashton@lancashire.gov.uk
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Support for developing community and environmental projects to improve your local area
Groundwork Lancashire West and Wigan is the local community charity with a green heart. We help people and organisations make changes in order to create better neighbourhoods, to build skills & job prospects, and to live & work in a greener way. Now we may be able to help you.
We've been awarded a Central Gateway Grant from Lancashire County Council to provide support to community groups in the Lancashire area who are interested in developing community and environmental projects to improve their local area. This means that we can work with groups to help them play a greater role in the development of their community. By encouraging greater input from local people the result will be a more positive use of community space and greater community cohesion.
Is there a project that your group has considered, or is currently working on?
We can provide you with the support to enable you to make that project happen. This can include helping you to apply for funding, as well as providing advice on how to co-ordinate and plan projects from consultation to implementation. We can also help new or fledgling groups to establish themselves and work towards the development of their organisation.
Just what would you like to see happen in your community? Examples of environmental projects could range from community planting events to the creation of community gardens. We've supported the development of community allotments, organising tree planting days, assisted with the creation of play areas or nature and wildlife schemes. We can also provide advice on simpler projects, such as organising fun days or volunteering events.
If you think that we can help you, please contact Kathryn Boyle for a quick informal discussion and to arrange a face to face meeting:
Email: Kathryn.Boyle@groundwork.org.uk
Office: 01942 821444 / 01772 257577
Mobile: 07712 871172
Wednesday, 23 January 2013
Demos Faithful providers report
This week (20 January 2013) the thinktank Demos ("ideas and action to promote the common good") has published its report Faithful Providers, which argues that faith-based organisations should be used more as public service providers. Covered in the Independent yesterday..
To view and download Demos' Faithful Providers (January 2013) go to: http://www.demos.co.uk/publications/faithfulproviders The report has come out of a project ('Exploring the role of faith in politics and society') guided by an Advisory Committee made up of faith leaders across the major religions, politicians, academics and some community figures, chaired by Stephen Timms MP.
A critical response from Simon Barrow of Ekklesia is found at
All well worth a read and thinking/ talking about
Shalom
Greg Smith
Development Co-ordinator Together Lancashire / Preston Christian Action Network
Together Lancashire, registered office Church House, Blackburn BB1 5AA
Registered Charity no 1147848 Registered company no 07966145
Together Lancashire Website http://www.cuf.org.uk/together-lancashire
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Tuesday, 22 January 2013
Job Vacancy - Clinical Manager - Cedar House Counselling Service, Preston
Methodist Action North West Ltd is currently recruiting to the post of Clinical Manager – Cedar House Counselling Service, Preston. Application is by application form against the Job Description and Person Specification. For an application pack and all details please contact Ruth Morris at ruth.morris@methodistaction.co.uk or on 01772 751000.
The completed application form should be emailed to ruth.morris@methodistaction.co.uk. It should arrive no later than noon on Friday 8th February 2013.
If you have not heard from us within two weeks of the closing date, please take it that your application has not been successful on this occasion.
The interview date is Wednesday 27th February 2013 at Howick House, Penwortham, Preston.
Salary £21,000 – 23,000 pro rata Based at Cedar House, Mount Street, Preston
Job summary
To be responsible for managing an effective service by supporting staff, service users, volunteers, and working positively with partners, to create a sustainable and productive multi agency approach. To promote the Service and the work of Methodist Action in line with the Charity's objects.
Main duties include:
Recruiting, managing and promoting the development of professional volunteers; holding clinical responsibility for the work of the service; measuring and improving clinical outcomes; providing professional mentorship and leadership; co-ordinating the volunteer induction and training programmes; ensuring accountability and delivery of best practice; managing clinical and ethical concerns; making and managing appointments; managing storage of client information; managing complaints and counsellor performance; liaising with external contacts; support and leadership of counsellors; attendance at meetings; teamwork; representing the charity at local and national meetings; ensuring safeguarding.
This is a Part-time (20 hours) Fixed Term Contract for 6 months (with a view to extending).
Friday, 18 January 2013
Bishop of Liverpool Speaks out about poverty and cuts to local government in the North
Just heard +James Jones speak on Radio 4s World at One
If you missed this catch up on the iplayer at
about 30 mins in to today's broadcast.
Thursday, 17 January 2013
Forthcoming book on urban mission
Urban To The Core
motives for incarnational mission
"Why would anyone choose to move into one of the poorest neighbourhoods in the country? Why would parents take their children to live in an inner city estate? What leads church ministers to give up the security of a salary and a house to have the freedom to go and live in the shadow of a high rise tower block? Urban To The Core gets to the heart of the motives which have inspired more than one hundred people to relocate to inner-city communities in Britain with Urban Expression."
Tuesday, 15 January 2013
3rd Sector Lancashire event on Welfare -- 7th Feb
Booking Form 7th February 2013
Places are open to voluntary, community and faith sector organisations across Lancashire. To apply for a place please complete the booking form below (you can copy and paste into an email) and send it to Michael Wedgeworth,Chair of Third Sector Lancashire, at michael_wedgeworth@hotmail.com
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