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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
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