Members Roundtable Exchange
Members Roundtable Exchange 18th October
1. Birmingham Voluntary Service Council and Barrow Cadbury Trust - Cost of Living Emergency Summit 1st November 9.30am - 4pm @ Priory Rooms, Bull St Birmingham B4
Elizabeth Goodchild, BVSC - A cost of living emergency has been declared in Birmingham. As with the Covid-19 pandemic, the Voluntary, Community, Faith and Social Enterprise (VCFSE) sector are at the frontline in supporting people through the crisis. Everyone is affected to some degree, however it is those that the sector works with, particularly some of the most disadvantaged people who are already struggling to make ends meet, who will be hit the hardest. https://www.bvsc.org/Event/cost-of-living-event-what-more-can-voluntary-community-faith-and-social-enterprise-sector-organisations-do-to-tackle-the-growing-emergency-across-birmingham-city
The event will include speakers on Cost of Living topics, workshop discussions and action planning. Speakers include:
• Richard Brooks, Director of Strategy, Equality and Partnerships, Birmingham City Council
• Brian Carr, CEO, BVSC
• Andrew Gordon, Programme Officer, Living Wage Foundation
• Janice Nichols, Chief Executive, Citizens Advice Birmingham
• Smartlyte/ Get Families Talking
Already 140 organisations have signed up to attend. Funders are encouraged to participate and take the opportunity to hear some of the impact on organisations and their beneficiaries and users that vulnerable to the cost of living crisis. Contact
Elizabeth Goodchild: Please contact me at elizabethg@bvsc.org if you would like to book a place at the cost of living event. Please let me know if you have any dietary or access requirements. I would need to know by this Friday 12 noon at the latest.
2. West Midlands Migration Policy and Practice Network
Lucy Robson, Oak Foundation - recently attended one of the WM Migration Policy and Practice Network’s thematic group meetings - Rights. It was really informative and provided a useful insight in the challenges and issues that refugees and migrants face in regularising their immigration status and the process of resettling in somewhere like the WM. The other themes of the Network are Opportunities, Community and Health. The Network is a voluntary and community sector membership led network of specialist migration agencies and organisations that support the resettlement of refugees and migrants. The website for the Network is: https://migrationpolicy.org.uk/
Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/migrationpandp. Funded currently by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and Barrow Cadbury Trust. An annual sector assessment report is produced that show the state of the sector in the WM and the issues under these 4 particular themes that remain current and a priority to address in the region ( attached)
To contact and find out more about the Network’s work and thematic areas: Andy Hoole, Senior Project Co-ordinator: <andy@migrationpolicy.org.uk>
Austin Rodriguez also raised the work of the WM Strategic Migration Partnership ( Local Authority led forum to discuss, share and take action on migration issues in the region) on those with No Recourse to Public Funds. A report on the findings will be made available later on this year. Data on migration for the region is provided on the website and one can sign up to a regular bulletin. https://www.wmsmp.org.uk/
To find out more contact: wmsmp@wolverhampton.gov.uk
Other possible networks that members might be interested to be aware of that operate in the region:
Birmingham Community Matters: https://www.birminghamcommunitymatters.org.uk/
Contact: <info@birminghamcommunitymatters.org.uk> Jo Burrill, Senior Co-ordinator
Mentioned by Lucy Robson, Oak Foundation
3. Children in Need Programme Launch
Melinda Connelly, BBC CiN - New programme launch following review of strategy
BBC Children in Need has been revising its funding priorities and strategy and is reopening for applications when it launches its new strategy shortly after nearly a year of closing funding programmes.
As part of this, it has made some significant changes to its grant making model:
It will continue to offer project based funding, similarly to how it has in the past.
It will be offering funding for core (organisational) costs as a separate grants stream and applicants will have to chose between applying for either project funding or core funding.
Two grant levels will be offered- less than £15k or £15k and above. In both cases there will be a two stage application process of a simple initial enquiry for funding and then a fuller application form.
Both the project and core funding programmes will be rolling programmes - open to applications throughout the year.
In spring 2023, it will launch a funding stream for smaller, emerging organisations. This stream is aimed at organisations who may need greater support to access its funding.
4. Birmingham Race Action Partnership
Stuart Morton, South Birmingham Friends Institute Trust - attended a recent Birmingham Race Action Summit on Education and Schools. He reported that there was a lack of white people present at the event. To find out more about the Birmingham Race Action Partnership: https://www.wearebrig.co.uk/ and sign up to the newsletter for updates.
5. Cost of Living - Yardley Great Trust and Harborne Parish Lands Charity
Karen Grice YGT and Peter Hardisty HPLC - shared the increase in demand from organisations to provide grants to purchase food and households goods to support clients using foodbanks and food pantries, where public donations have been reducing due to the cost of living crisis. Yardley Great Trust has seen an increase in applications from families for school uniforms in their patch and Harborne Parish Lands Charity had seen until quite recently an increase for family support to those that had experience domestic violence. Both confirmed that they were seeing an increase in applications for food and household goods to distribute to clients and covering increasing debt issues.