Welcome to the January Edition of our Learning Together Programme Newsletter. Read on for the latest important dates for your diary, upcoming learning opportunities, funding tips as well as regional and national social prescribing news we think will be of interest. 

Please remember you can get in touch, any time! We’d love to hear what sessions you’d like to see included in the programme, please email: eastengland.thrivingcommunities@nasp.info

Tom Watkins

East of England Regional Lead

Thriving Communities

This online roundtable will explore:

• The ways in which creative health can benefit the health and wellbeing of people who access social care across (including the benefits for the social care workforce)
• How creative health can help to address the challenges facing social care.

We will hear from a range of speakers covering research, practice, policy and lived experience and there will be an opportunity for audience Q&A.

Suicide Prevention Training

Everyone has the potential to experience suicidal thoughts but each one of us also has the capacity to make a difference for people who are suffering.

A life is lost through suicide every two hours in the UK but suicidal thoughts and feelings affect thousands of us every single day.

In 2019, 111 people lost their lives to suicide across greater Essex; 83% were male.The #talksuicideessex campaign has been created by the Mid and South Essex Health and Care Partnership to reduce the stigma around talking about suicide and raise awareness of suicide prevention training available FREE to ALL from the Zero Suicide Alliance.

Self guided training - no deadline. 

Click here to find out more.

Cultural Awareness Training - Making Your services Inclusive and Welcoming. 

Ila Chandavarkar, has a strong commitment to promoting equality and is currently working with Cambridge Ethnic Community Forum (CECF). The workshop will be interactive, through group discussion and reflection. Participants will be encouraged to use their reflection and learning to develop cultural competence. 

The session will include: 

• Benefits of cultural awareness and culturally aware services.
  
• Current race information for Cambridge.
• A brief review of Equalities Legislation. 
• Brief information on a few different cultures.
• How an idea of what is normal develops, and how this can exclude minorities. 
• Identifying conscious and unconscious bias in the order of how we do things. 
• Different cultures: how this may influence behaviour and how to work positively with a difference. 

Event date: Tuesday 10th January 2023.

Click here to register.

Financial Resilience for Community Groups

With increasing costs and challenges in securing funding, how do we make sure our organisations are financially resilient? There is no easy answer to this, but there are things we can do to work towards longer term sustainability. This workshop will look at some of the tools available and give an opportunity to share ideas and experiences.

This will include: 

• Analysing income streams and thinking about what it means to diversify our income. 
• Understanding the cost of the organisation and using budgets to monitor expenditure,. 
  
• The importance of reserves and developing policy that goes beyond the numbers. 
• Incorporating financial planning in all we do. 

Event date: Wednesday 25th January, 9:30am- 12pm.  

Click here to register. 

Content Marketing & Why Video is Vital.

This course is for organisations who want to maximise their digital reach. This is an introductory course, with no previous knowledge needed. This course is fully funded for paid workers and volunteers from VSCE organisations in Hertfordshire. 

Learning outcomes: 

• Learn what content marketing is and why it is important.
• Why video has become the go-to content for social media and websites. 
• Live streaming, VODs and Monetisation. 
  
• Nature vs Embedded video plus basic recording tips. 

Click here to register.

Event date: Thursday 12th January 2023, 10am - 12:30pm.

The Basics of Being a Charity Trustee 

The 'Better Boards' programme supports organisations to improve governance and acquire best practice. They offer open and bespoke courses for trustee boards and individual trustees to help ensure your organisation is compliant with the Charity Governance Code. 

Join the basics to becoming a charity trustee and understand the roles of trustee boards and the requirements of individual trustees. By the end the course you will be able to: 

• Be more confident in the role of a trustee and understand the different types of voluntary organisations. 
• Understanding the roles of trustee boards
• Understand the key legal requirements and the Charity Government Code.

Click here to register.

Event date: Wednesday 18th January, 6pm -8pm.

Social Media Made Easy 

This course is fully funded for staff and volunteers who are aiming to develop their digital communication skills. It is intended to help those who are already familiar with social media channels and uploading content, but are unsure how best to use it for maximum engagement.

Applicants will learn how to: 

• Understand the various social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn etc) and who they attract. 
• Understanding the effectiveness of your social media channel and how to build your audience. 
• How to post meaningful and interesting content and managing your time effectively while using social media. 

Click here to register.

Event date: Tuesday 14th March, 10am - 12:30pm.

The Power of Participation: Everyone’s Business!

Learn more about Youth Participation with experienced members Paul Webb & Karla George from Norfolk County Council Children's Services. 

‘The Power of Participation: Everyone’s business’ introduces participation, consultation and co-production with young people. This training is designed to empower professionals across the youth sector to embed the voice of young people in everything we do.

The training will offer an insight into best practice, The Lundy model of participation and practical examples of how Norfolk is embedding participation across the county through a variety of organisations and participation network across the youth sector.

Event Date: Monday 26th January, 10am.

Click here to register.

How to Write a Successful Grant Funding Application (for youth groups) 

Whether you are applying for a small grant or a multi-million pound grant the principles are the same. This course covers the background work that is required to start writing grant applications. These principles can also be used for corporate sponsorship requests and crowdfunding campaigns. 

This training session will comprise of a working example of writing a grant application and help participants to understand how grant applications are assessed. This is an interactive session and is suitable for those who are new to grant application writing and a refresher for experienced grant applicants.

Event date: Thursday 19th January 2023, 10am-1pm.

Click here to register.

What Does it Mean To Be a Trustee?

Have you ever been interested in supporting your community in a trustee role but feel it is not for you? MK Community Foundation want to increase the diversity of those who sit on boards. 

An event for those interested and intrigued about trusteeship, and looking for more information. This event is free of charge in order to make it as accessible as possible.

Event Date: Wednesday 25th January, 3pm. 

Click here to register. 

This section of our newsletter puts the amazing activities delivered by our Learning Together Members in the spotlight. If you're running any social prescribing events or activities you'd like us to shout about, please let us know and we will add the details to our next newsletter! 

Masai Cultural Arts 

Masai Cultural Arts is an African Arts organisation dealing in the promotion of African cultural Arts through African Performance and workshops in institutions, Communities, private events and Corporate.

They use interactive performances and workshops in the act African storytelling, African dance, African drumming and most interesting part, the art and craft. 

Based on the ongoing success and experience, they would like to take this opportunity to invite you to consider using our services to thrill new audiences with the powerful and enthralling African arts experience.

Masai Cultural Arts has a significant track record in African performing arts all over Hertfordshire, London, Essex, Bedfordshire, and Manchester and around United Kingdom

Click here to find out more.

Listening Books

Did you know you can refer your clients to the charity Listening Books and give them access to a huge collection of audiobooks, newspapers and magazines online, available to them 24 hours a day, 7 days a week?

Audiobooks have so many benefits for health and wellbeing. They can relieve feelings of loneliness and anxiety, as well as be a welcome distraction from fatigue and pain. Hospital visits become less fraught with the comforting voice of the narrator to support you, and for many who can no longer hold a book or read print, audiobooks provide a way to continue enjoying stories, education and learning.

Your clients can join Listening Books for free (or pay £20 if they feel able to contribute) and gain access to over 10,000 audiobooks, all of which are bestsellers and classics.  They also have a growing health and wellbeing section!

To make a referral click here.

If the fee of £20 is unaffordable, tick the free membership box. No proof of benefits is needed. As soon as the application is filled in, a membership will be issued* and they can begin to listen to the audiobooks.  Staff are on hand if they have any difficulties listening online or downloading the app.  Don’t hesitate to get in touch to find out more email here. 

Anyone interested in the service is warmly invited to join an online demo of the service on the 25th January at 10am, sign up here. 

Call for information - New Year Services 

As with previous years, Communities 1st are putting together a web page of locally based services and resources that can be accessed over the Christmas/New Year period. We would like to include information about local social activities, lunch clubs or warm spaces, we hope this web page provides some useful information for groups and individuals across Hertsmere, St Albans, Broxbourne and East Herts. 

The Communities 1st New Year web page includes information such as:  

• Foodbanks,
• Homeless Shelters & Support Services
• Christmas Meals, Social Activities and Lunch Clubs
• Information, Support & Advice (Signposting, Helplines etc)
• GPs & Out-of-hours Health Care Services. 

If you would like to contribute to Communities 1st’s  dedicated New Year web page, please click here. 

Theatres Trust: Small Grants Programme 

Theatres Trust’s Small Grants Programme is awarding grants of up to £5,000 for essential works to enable not-for-profit UK theatres to be viable and thrive in the future. The fund aims to support small projects that make a big impact to a theatre’s resilience, sustainability or accessibility. 

To be eligible to apply to the scheme, applicants must demonstrate that they:

• Own or manage theatres with titles or signed leases of more than five years on buildings in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
• Run a year-round programme of live performance, of no less than 30 performances a year.
• Have a bona fide UK charitable or not-for-profit legal structure and be able to provide certified or audited accounts for at least two years.
  

Click here to register.  

Event date: Friday 13th January, 12pm. 

Amazon Literary Partnership 

Amazon Literary Partnership aims to champion the voices of underrepresented writers with an eye to encourage writing and reading about a greater variety of perspectives on the world in which we live today. 

Applicants must be a registered not-for-profit literary organisation in the UK, whose core mission is to develop emerging writers, support diversity, celebrate storytelling, and/or build authors’ careers. Applications are open to all. They are offering one-off annual grants for not for profit literary organisations in the UK that empower writers, helping them create, teach, learn, experiment and thrive. 

Event date: Tuesday 31st January 2023.

Click here to register.

Henry Moore Foundation 

Grants are available to support the growth and development of sculpture across historical, modern and contemporary registers and to fund research that expands the appreciation of sculpture. 

The objective of the fund is to support sculpture across historical, modern and contemporary registers seeking to fund research that expands the appreciation of sculpture. 

The following organisations are open to apply: 

• Art Galleries 
• Revenue Expenditure 
• Retrospective Costs 
• Projects dedicated to painting 
• Individual applicants 

Click here to register.

Deadline: February 2023.

Luton Rising: Small Community Grants Fund 

Luton Rising Small Grants provides short term funding to not-for-profit groups that can deliver in Luton against the main objectives of this fund. The main objectives include: 

• Securing a strong economic recovery
• Protecting the most disadvantaged in our town
• Making a child-friendly town
• Becoming greener and more sustainable town
• A strong and empowered community. 
  

Applicants applying for this fund will need to demonstrate that the services they are intending to provide will meet these key objectives and outcomes. 

Click here to register. 

Event date: Rolling deadline. 

London Luton Airport (LLA) Greener Future Fund 

London Luton Airport has a goal of achieving net zero for emissions by 2040 and as part of their new ‘greener future’ grant funding they are looking for applications that can demonstrate how they can help tackle biodiversity and carbon reduction, through education and innovation programmes and inititives.

This fund encourages community groups / charities to apply for funding that would tackle the following areas:

• Increasing biodiversity
• Environmental education
  
• Carbon reduction
• Zero carbon initiatives

Grants of up to £10,000 are available and will only be considered for those organisations delivering work and operating within a 5 mile radius of the airport.

Click here to register. 

Event date: Friday 30th January 2023.

Cambridgeshire Community Foundation - Microsoft Research Foundation Limited Fund 

Grants are available to local charitable organisations in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough for projects that benefit disadvantaged people or improve the environment. Grants of up to £2,000 are generally available. Applications for up to £5,000 will be considered where an exceptionally well-supported case is made.

Please register for Idox to access more information. 

Deadline: Wednesday 1st February 2023.

Click here to apply.

Cambridgeshire Community Foundation - Technology Fund 

Grants are available to support charitable projects across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough where the application of new technology improves people's lives. The funding is for innovative and creative projects in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough that make use of technology to improve people’s lives.

Project examples:

• Interactivity software for people who are blind/visually impaired and/or deaf/hard of hearing
• Smart technology to assist people who are older to live more safely at home
• Original app developments such as games testing that enables assessment of children’s hearing
• Specialist voice-activated software to increase IT accessibility for people with learning disabilities
• Multi-sensory theatre productions using vibration, directional sound and focused lighting

Deadline: Wednesday 1st February 2023.

Click here to apply.

Ford Britain Trust 

Grants are available to not-for-profit organisations and schools for projects that benefit local communities in Great Britain with preference given to Essex, including East London, Southampton, Daventry, Manchester, Liverpool, and Bridgend (South Wales). 

The funding is intended to support projects which benefit the local community and environment, children and young people, mainstream schools and education, special needs education and people with disabilities.  

Deadline: Saturday 31st January 2023. 

Click here to apply.

Christopher Laing Foundation 

A small number of grants are available for charitable organisations that support children and young people, and those undertaking projects in the areas of social welfare and health, with a priority for organisations working with disabled adults and organisations in Hertfordshire and Oxfordshire. The Foundation awards under 20 grants each year, a couple of which are large grants between £40,000 and £50,000 and the rest of which are under £5,000 each.

The funding is for projects in the following areas

• Children and Young People.
• Social Welfare.
• Health, with a preference for projects supporting disabled adults. 
  

Click here to apply.

Deadline: Rolling  

John Apthrop Charity 

The funding is intended for registered charities who have new and specific projects that benefit the residents of Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire. Grants are available for projects which help the young, the elderly, the disabled and the general community in Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire. 

Grants usually range from several hundred to thousands of pounds. Applications from not-for-profit organisations that are in the process of applying for charitable status may be considered in exceptional circumstances.

Click here to apply.

Deadline: Rolling .

West Norfolk Lives Fund 

The West Norfolk Lives Fund is seeking to help communities recover from the Covid-19 pandemic by providing grants of up to £5,000 for voluntary, community and social enterprise sector (VCSE) organisations working in the Borough of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk.

Grants are available to support activity that is addressing the physical and mental effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on people’s health and wellbeing. These activities can be in the areas of sport and leisure, wellbeing, the arts or music activities, and should be supporting people to thrive.

Click here to apply.

SHORT Deadline: Thursday 5th January 2023.

Sustainable Warmth 

Sustainable Warmth is a Government grant scheme designed to fund energy-efficiency upgrades to residents who are most likely to be impacted by the high cost of rising bills. These improvements will help residents to use less energy and spend less on their energy bills. 

How it helps: 

• Energy saving technology and upgrades installed by approved installers 
• Creating warmer, healthier homes 
• Helping to cut carbon emissions 
• Funding Available for homes on and off gas grid 

Click here to apply.

Deadline: Saturday 31st December 2022.

Suffolk Police & Crime Commissioners Fund 

Grants of between £2,500 and £20,000 are available to support the work of voluntary and community groups, charities, social enterprises and community interest companies that are delivering services that help support victims of crime and reduce crime and disorder.

Eligible organisations should be working with the following groups: 

• Vulnerable People 
• Victims of Crime 
  
• Those at risk from offending and being victims of Serious Violence
• Young People 
• Drugs and Substance Abuse 
• Preventing reoffending 
• Reducing crime 
  

Click here to apply.

Event date: Saturday 21st January 2023.

Health & Wellbeing Manager (Children & Young People) 

Watford FC Community Sports & Education Trust are recruiting a Health & Wellbeing Manager for Children & Young people. They are looking for a candidate who is an excellent communicator, both internally and externally, and enjoys collaborating with others and takes pride in their work.  

Summary of the role:

You will manage a small team who deliver the children and young people projects within the Health and Wellbeing team. You will also look to develop new opportunities to increase our reach and expand our current Health and Wellbeing services. It follows therefore that the successful applicant will look to further enhance and increase the Trust’s profile and reputation as a trustworthy deliverer of health and wellbeing initiatives.

Salary: Up to £32,850 depending on experience.

Contract Type: Full Time.

Closing Date: 22nd January 2023.

Click here for more information. 

HAY FENLAND 

Find an activity to boost your wellbeing! You can select particular types of activity or enter your location in the box to the left for a localised map view. Don't like the map? Try the grid view using the button on the far left and then browse. 

Click here to find out more. 

Hertfordshire Health Walks

Hertfordshire County Council offers more than 75 walks led by trained volunteers. All our walks are free and are graded between 20-30 minutes (First Steps) and up to 90 minutes (Grade 4) unless otherwise stated, whilst Grade 4+ progression walks can however last up to 2 hours.

Click here to find out more.

The Social Value of Placed-Based Arts and Culture: Rapid Review.

The rapid review searched for evidence of wellbeing effects of place-based arts and culture interventions at the
individual, community and national level, in the UK and across Europe.
It built on findings from previous evidence programmes by:

• Having a more targeted focus on interventions aimed at healthy populations, with place-based and participatory components, to sharpen focus on what works to reduce social inequalities. 
• Including a broader set of study designs and wellbeing outcomes to identify wellbeing drivers, pathways, enablers and mechanisms of success in interventions.

Click here to access the rapid review. 

Training for personalised care roles in primary care

People working in personalised care roles in primary care networks (PCNs) should ideally attend accredited training to ensure they have the knowledge, skills and expertise to carry out their role safely and effectively as outlined in the Personalised Care Core Curriculum.

Click here to access training.

Aesops Arts and Society Prescribe - Arts 

This page supports social prescribing in their sort for high quality arts programmes that provide health and wellbeing outcomes. 

It will also offer support to the arts and health programmes listed and will be useful for members of the public who wish to find programmes to self-refer to.

Click here to find out more. 

MK Money Life Line 

MK Money Lifeline offer free confidential money advice to anyone in the Milton Keynes area. Our services are provided by a team of trained volunteers who give advice in accordance with the training provided by Community Money Advice. 

Click here to access support. 

Forest Therapy Hub

Forest Therapy is a researched based framework for supporting healing and wellness through immersion in forest and other natural environments. Learn from trainers and experts with extensive experience in mental health and nature based well-being implementation. Click here to attend their free Global Summit Science, Nature and Health in March 2023.

Click here to find out more.