Saturday, 30 April 2016
Friday, 29 April 2016
JRF report . Destitution in the UK
Wednesday, 27 April 2016
Consultation on Benefit Sanctions
Could be a good opportunity to speak up?
"Faith communities throughout the land, because of their work with people in need, are only too aware of the devastating impact of benefit sanctions on some of the poorest and most disadvantaged members of society. They now have an opportunity to let the government know just what that impact is, through the National Audit Office (NAO)."
More information at
http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/22977
Alternatively, email Colin Ross the audit manager directly at Colin.ROSS@nao.gsi.gov.uk
The study will run until the Autumn, so there is time to think and collect information if necessary.
Friday, 22 April 2016
Dementia Awareness Week 15th - 21st May 2016
Do you know what is happening near you?
There are Dementia Action Alliances in:
| Area | Contact |
| Blackburn with Darwen | |
| Blackpool | |
| Burnley | |
| Central Lancashire | |
| Fylde and Wyre | |
| Hyndburn | |
| Lancashire | |
| Lancaster | |
| Pendle | |
| Rossendale |
Do get in touch and see what is planned in your area.
Could you help in any way?
Are you a Dementia Friend?
We can provide:
Training as a Dementia Friend
Help with becoming a Dementia Friendly Church (it's not difficult)
Just get in touch with:
Revd Ed Saville, Diocesan Offices, Clayton House, Walker Park, Blackburn BB1 2QE Tel: 01254 503271 email: ed.saville@blackburn.anglican.org ; mobile 07912227144
Resources on the CUF website
- Poverty look-up tool: learn about the level of poverty in your parish and how this compares with other parishes locally and nationally.
- Resources for churches: this whole page is dedicated to resources that churches might find useful.
- Working with volunteers: from managing the formalities to building good relationships, these resources will help you work well with your volunteers.
Loneliness maps
Is this something you are already working to address – or could it be?
Age UK has created 'heat maps' which show, at a detailed local level, how different areas compare with each other in terms of how lonely people feel.
Wednesday, 20 April 2016
Monday, 18 April 2016
Fw: Tesco Bags of Help Programme
Tesco Bags of Help Programme Open to Applications (GB)
Tesco offers grants through its Bags of Help Programme which is funded by Tesco customers from the proceeds of the 5p charge for plastic carrier bags as a result of a government carrier bag levy.
Grants of £8,000, £10,000 and £12,000 are available for capital improvements to local community greenspaces that have free and open access to all members of the community for a minimum of six days a week, during daylight hours.
Projects that would typically receive funding include:
- Parks, pocket parks and urban green spaces.
- Green corridors, such as river and canals, cycle ways.
- Formal and informal play areas.
- Open access sports facilities within public parks and recreation grounds, such as football pitches, tennis courts and cricket pitches.
- Informal outdoor recreation facilities, such as gym equipment, trim trails and woodland walks.
- Nature reserves, community woodland, ponds and village greens.
- Churchyards.
- Seafront improvements.
- Community allotments, community gardens, orchards and city farms.
- Spaces in the grounds of hospices and day centres.
- Allotments.
- School grounds.
- Community spaces on housing estates or residential.
Voluntary/community organisations, registered charities, health bodies, Parish/Town councils, social enterprises, Community Interest Companies, community councils, local authorities and housing organisations in England, Scotland and Wales can apply. Other not-for-profit organisations might also be eligible.
The deadline for applications is 3 June 2016 (noon).
Together Liverpool - April 2016 Newsletter
In this issue
Welcoming The Stranger
Last month Together Liverpool were delighted to partner up with the Archdiocese, Hope + and Churches Together in the Merseyside Region to launch the booklet we had prepared together to help Christians and others meet their obligations to the increasing number of asylum seekers being housed in the region.
There is so much misunderstanding about this issue and the book seeks to dispel myths and really tell it like it is about the issues faced by the unfortunate people who have had to flee their homes and countries to seek sanctuary here in Britain.
We have also included comments and prayers from Christian leaders that could be a useful resource but more than anything we want to stress that these people each have a unique story and many gifts to share with our communities
We are attempting to get copies to every church in the region and to share its contents to help people find out the truth and hopefully volunteer to help with their settlement.
If you need copies contact us and we can arrange for you to pick them up.
Following this up Together Liverpool are planning a number of seminars for Church Leaders to discuss this issue and facilitate community engagement and settlement of newcomers. Watch This space!!
Feeding Manchester Event
Do you share a vision of a Britain in which everyone has access to good food and no one need go to bed hungry?
Do you think that children should be able to live free from the damaging impacts of hunger on their health, attainment and opportunity?
Then Attend FEEDING MANCHESTER on Monday 25 April
Time: 2.30pm – 5.00pm
Location: Bridge 5 Mill, M4 7HR
Get Your Grant Applications In!
Many of us depend on grants for our work in the Voluntary Community and Faith and Social Enterprise Sectors this is especially true as Local Authorities have had their budget's cut massively and cannot contribute as they used to. In fact the whole of that sector has been largely ignored and misunderstood by Government rearrangements nationally and locally.
Together Liverpool and our VCFSE partners across the region offer help and support for projects seeking to tackle the issues and charitable trusts are focussing funds towards the areas of greatest need.
In their latest bulletin Liverpool Diocese encourages summer play schemes and other programmes to get their funding bids in to suitable charities:
Don't forget our Together Grants Programme which is available through our team for work specifically targeting poverty in our communities! Click Here for details and links.
A Civilised Society - Mental Health Provision for asylum-seekers in England & Wales
Restrictive policies on healthcare, education, accommodation, welfare support and employment are functioning to socially exclude and marginalise refugees and asylum-seekers, both exacerbating existing mental health problems and causing mental distress.
World Refugee Day
Welcome to Britain? Refugees, Then and Now,
in memory of Eleanor Rathbone, 1872-1946
the 'MP for Refugees.'
AN ALL-DAY CONFERENCE TO BE HELD ON
WORLD REFUGEE DAY - Mon 20 JUNE 2016
King's College, London. Strand Campus.
9.00 am– 5.00 pm
TICKETS: £20.00 (includes all refreshments and a sandwich lunch).
Be The Change! Regional Asylum Activism
As the Immigration Bill returns to the House of Commons on the 25th April, we're asking you again to take action and get in touch with MPs to call on them to support two key amendments to the Bill that were successful in the House of Lords.
Latest News
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CUF Credit Champions Lent Appeal SuccessChurch Urban Fund's Lent Appeal for 2016 included a case study from the Liverpool Church Credit Champions pilot. The appeal proved to be one of their most successful ever raising over £4000 which will go to help even more people nationally to escape from poverty. |
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The Credit Safety NetThe Credit Safety Net is an excellent report produced by the Step Change debt charity. It shows how millions of families across Britain are using credit to fund everyday living costs, thus exposing themselves to the risk of problem debt. The charity conducted research using YouGov PLC which focussed in on people who had:
The report recommends wider access to debt advice, increased availability of affordable credit, and help to enable people on low incomes to build up savings in order to build financial resilience. Or to find out more about the financial resilience work going on in your area please contact Julia Webster |
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Credit Union Awareness AppealChurch Credit Champions are hoping to make the month of June Credit Union Awareness month. Along with our colleagues in London and Southwark we will be encouraging local churches to open 'pop-up shops' for their local credit unions in church after the main service to give out information and encourage people to join. As you will appreciate local credit unions won't have enough staff to man each pop up so we are hoping that volunteers from each participating church will help out – awareness training will be available and will only take about 1 hour of your time. Research shows that more than 60% of the population have less than one week's salary in savings, little wonder then that so many are finding themselves in serious debt. If your church would like to participate, Please contact Julia Webster |
Next Month: CUF's Rebranded Newsletter Layout, New Together Liverpool Training Packages
Social Capital and Cities
capital & cities ... well worth a read....
Friday, 15 April 2016
Foodbank use remains at record high
Thursday, 14 April 2016
Job Vacancy
Methodist Action (North West) Ltd
Howick House, Howick Park Avenue, Penwortham, Preston, Lancashire, PR1 0LS
Tel. 01772 751000
One2One Listening Training Course
Wednesday, 13 April 2016
Monday, 11 April 2016
Building Better Opportunities Fund
The Big Lottery Fund has opened the third round of its Building Better Opportunities Fund to stage one applications from not-for-profit organisations in six LEP areas in England. Including Lancashire
| At least 1400 people are engaged in activities to improve their work readiness, including |
| The Lancashire LEP, through the Skills and Employment Strategic Framework, has identified digital skills development as an important element in the growth of Lancashire's economy and in ensuring individuals and communities are not left behind as a result of a gap between their digital skills and employers' requirements Compared to areas in the UK considered to be at low risk, there are a larger number of individuals in Lancashire who have never been online. For example, 31 per cent of the population in Blackpool have never been online, compared to a UK average of 11 per cent or an area like West Berkshire at 6.8 per cent. There are also areas where the use of digital skills in the last three months is low. For example, in Blackburn 31 per cent of the population used their digital skills in the last three months compared to West Berkshire at 40 per cent. A number of other districts also have digital skills usage lower than 35 per cent , such as Preston, Burnley, Hyndburn and Pendle. |
Thursday, 7 April 2016
National Day of Prayer for Police - Thursday 05/05/16
I would be grateful if you could circulate this to your contacts.
If there are Churches that want to host a prayer meeting on the day then this would be ace! (please can I be notified if this happens so that I have a rough idea for HQ)
So far there is are prayer meetings organised in the following locations
· Blackburn (Greenbank Operating Centre) at 12 noon (E-mail Paul.Pountain2@lancashire.pnn.police.uk for details and to indicate if you are attending)
· Lancaster (Lancaster Baptist Church Nelson St Lancaster) at 7pm (E-mail Kirstie Banks-Lyon at Lancashire@cpauk.net for further information)
There is also a link to a useful guide to praying for the police - http://www.cpauk.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/One-Hour-Prayer-Guide3.pdf which can be used at anytime or in any place!
Thanks
Any questions please contact me either on e-mail or by phone
Kirstie Banks-Lyon
Branch Leader Lancashire CPA
07703 759094
Wednesday, 6 April 2016
Crowdfunding - Training Day - 16 May 2016
9:30 am - 3:30 pm
The Cornerstone, Dalton Square, Lancaster LA! 1PX
Trainer: Anne Strachan, an independent consultant, Crowdfunduk.org
Crowdfunding is an innovative fundraising tool - it is a way of raising finance by asking a large number of people each for a small amount of money. Until recently, financing a business, project or venture involved asking a few people for large sums of money. Crowdfunding switches this idea around, using the internet to talk to hundreds of potential funders. Crowdfunding is also so much more than raising funds - it builds and engages community around a project. This full day workshop including live films will cover: how crowdfunding works; the USPs of different platforms; what inspires backers; the building blocks of an effective campaign; tips and case studies - and finally - whether it is right for you. Anne Strachan runs training and support for the third sector, creatives and startups on social investment and community fundraising including crowdfunding.
Cost: £20 - £60 depending on the size of your organisation
To book: contact
janeattfield@lancastercvs.org.uk
http://lancastercvs.org.uk/event/crowdfunding/
Friday, 1 April 2016
Basic Budgeting Course
Email: greg.smith@together-lancashire.org.uk
Phone - Mobile 07726177044
Postal Address and registered office : Together Lancashire, Diocesan Offices, Clayton House, Walker Office Park, Blackburn BB1 2QE.
Together Lancashire Website http://www.cuf.org.uk/together-lancashire