|
Tackling Poverty Conference – 18 April, Leeds
Tackling Poverty 2012 is Church Urban Fund's annual national conference for community activists, youth workers, clergy and volunteers tackling poverty in their communities. Join others in exploring issues that affect social action. There will be speakers in the morning, including Most Revd and Rt Hon Dr John Sentamu the Archbishop of York, John Bell from the Iona Community and Helen Gatenby from M13 Youth Project, and a choice of interactive workshops. The cost of the day is £10 (including lunch), and you can book online.
|
|
Share your experiences of supporting young, unemployed people 
Is your Church or project doing innovative things to tackle youth unemployment? If so, please let us know by emailing daniel.chapman@cuf.org.uk. Following nationwide research, Church Urban Fund is planning to host a conference in conjunction with Frontier Youth Trust, which will bring together people who are helping, or who want to help young unemployed people in their local areas. We are looking for community activists who are willing to share what they have learned.
|
|
Managing a community building - 24 January, Manchester
This course provides a whistlestop introduction covering the basics you need to ensure effective management of a community building. Self-assessment tools and action planning to implement change are key throughout so you will take away practical ways to improve your building’s success. Tickets cost £45.
|
|
Community development – 28 February, Chatham
In these challenging times, community project staff and volunteers are finding that they are getting involved in community development for the first time. When interacting with groups in the community it is essential to understand the mechanisms behind community development, such as working with various groups - skills you and your project will gain through this course. Tickets cost between £35-50.
|
|
Keeping the Faith: retaining Christian distinctiveness in your community project
Christian projects can offer a distinctive response to tackling poverty in local communities. With funding and changing personnel, this distinctiveness can come under pressure. Keeping the Faith is a resource to help projects reflect on these issues. It is divided into three sections: theological reflections on the importance of distinctly Christian community work; principles and pressures facing community projects; practical issues around being distinctly Christian - with case studies, scenarios and a checklist to aid discussion and reflection within your church/project.
|
|
Working effectively with local media
Churches and local projects looking to engage more fully with their communities have potentially much to gain from the media that cover the areas where they work. There are simple ways to greatly increase your chances of getting it right when working with local media outlets, even if you are starting from scratch. This guide shows you how.
|
|
Time Banking UK guide
Time Banking UK is the national umbrella charity linking and supporting time banks across the country by providing inspiration, guidance and practical help. Time banks link people locally to share their time and skills. Everyone's time is equal: one hour of your time earns you one time credit to spend when you need. If you are thinking of starting a Time Bank in your area, this guide may be a good place to start.
|
|
IT4Communities
IT4Communities introduces charities, voluntary organisations and community groups needing help with IT-related projects to volunteer IT professionals. Its volunteers give £750,000 of support to UK charities every year, helping organisations to run efficiently, make good use of new technologies and free up staff time to deliver vital services to the communities across the UK.
|
|
The Pilgrim Trust
This programme aims to break cycles of dependency and to help develop a sense of social inclusion in disadvantaged or marginalised groups within the UK. It awards grants in two main areas: 1) projects that support people who misuse drugs and alcohol, and 2) projects in prisons and projects that provide alternatives to custody.
|
|
Prince’s Trust
Grants of up to £3000 to design and set up a youth-led community project that will benefit the local community and help young people to develop new skills for the future.
|
|
The Lankelly Chase Foundation
This foundation concentrates upon smaller charities, many of whom will have only a local or regional remit. It awards small to medium grants to charities working in the following areas: breaking cycles of abuse, those with mental health issues, destitute asylum seekers, community development, church renovation for community renewal.
|
|
Supporting young men and fathers: tackling poverty casestudy
Would you like to support young men and fathers in your area? This casestudy shares learning from a mentoring charity called SixtyEightFive, a CUF partner project. It has great ideas about how to come alongside men and boys facing difficult situations. This is the first of a series of casestudy resources for Christians wanting ideas about how to tackle different aspects of poverty in their areas.
|
|
Power, poverty and the Church: galvanising the Church to tackle poverty in this country
How can we build a movement of Christians committed to tackling poverty in this country? And how can we help churches to engage more effectively with those in power? Organised jointly by Church Urban Fund, Church Action on Poverty and St John’s Waterloo, this workshop brought together church leaders, activists and anti-poverty charities from across denominations to begin to address these questions. To stimulate debate, we asked three prominent Christian social thinkers to share their views and experiences. This report summarises the main findings.
|
|
10 Keys for Impact
This booklet provides inspiration and guidance for your community project, gathered from 15 years of collected wisdom from Tearfund’s UK partners operating grassroots Christian community organisations and church community projects.
|
|
Voluntary sector job losses.
"It feels almost misleading to tell others to come and join us". In
2011, the voluntary sector shed 70,000 jobs – with women an estimated
56,000 of these. The voluntary work force is decreasing ahead of public
and private sectors. London saw 41,000 leave the voluntary sector with
the North East having 18,000 fewer staff than a year ago. For more
details read reports from ncvo and The Guardian.
The Welfare Reform Bill. This could have huge implications for people and communities, and those tackling poverty. The Guardian
provides a helpful guide to navigating this important bill. There are
multiple campaigns to change aspects of the bill – including a campaign by Shelter for people who lose their job and need temporary financial support.
Child poverty. Statistics
reveal concentrated pockets of child poverty in the UK. The percentage
of children in families on out of work benefits in 60%
in Grangetown ward (Middlesbrough), 52% in Nechells ward (Birmingham),
and surprisingly, 43% in Islington (London). To find out about levels of
child poverty in your area try this useful map.
|
|
