Local Churches Tackling Poverty Together

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Friday 28 February 2014

Funding to Tackle Fuel Poverty - deadline 26 August 2014

The Scottish Power Energy People Trust has announced that its grants programme is open for applications. The Trust provides grants to registered charities for projects that address fuel poverty. Organisations can apply for grants of up to £50,000 for projects that: Improve home energy efficiency through draught proofing, insulating and or other practical measures; Support front line charities who carry out benefits advice to households missing out on financial help that they are entitled to; Provide assistance to reduce or cancel debts for household electricity or gas supply, where such assistance is provided as part of a package of measures aimed at providing customers with long-term relief from fuel poverty. Applications are particularly welcome from charities who work with children, young people and families.
http://www.energypeopletrust.com/content/default.asp?page=home

Woodward Charitable Trust - Summer Playscheme Grants Programme - deadline 1 April 2014

The Woodward Charitable Trust has announced that its Summer Playscheme Grants Programme has re-opened for applications. Grants of between £500 and £1,000 are available to registered charities for the provision of children's summer playschemes for children between the ages of 5 and 16 years. The charities annual income should be under £100,000. Approximately 35 grants are awarded each year. The Trustees favour small-scale, locally based initiatives. Funding is primarily for one-off projects, but the Trustees are willing to consider funding running costs (including core cost and salaries).  The deadline for receipt of applications for the Summer Playschemes is 12 noon on the 1st April 2014.
http://www.woodwardcharitabletrust.org.uk/guidelines.html

Latest stats on benefits sanctions

 
The total number of sanctions imposed on benefit claimants in the year to September 2013 was 897,690 – the highest figure for any 12-month period since jobseeker's allowance was introduced in 1996 – according to figures published by the Department for Work and Pensions.
 
 
    and you wonder why food bank usage has rocketed..

Wednesday 26 February 2014

Mark Yaconelli in Preston - 11 May 2014

 
 
Mark Yaconelli is hosting a one-day taster session of his Radical Compassion Course in Preston this May.
In 2012, two Greenbelters Rev Bryony Davis and Andy Pratt joined Mark in California at the Claremont School of Theology to take part in the full course, which seeks to heal broken people and communities through contemplation, creativity and compassion.
The one-day taster session starts with a church service, featuring a talk from Mark, followed by lunch, and then a series of exercises to "help participants develop their capacity to be radically compassionate".
Here's more on the workshop:
The workshop is ideal for ministers, organisational leaders, social justice activists, teachers, parents, and anyone who seeks practical training in compassionate living. Individuals who attend the workshop will: Develop skills for self-compassion; Learn how to identify and transform difficult emotions; Develop techniques for relating to colleagues, clients, friends, family members, and even enemies with genuine compassion; Understand how to participate in social actions that confront injustice from a grounded place of truth rather than reactive anger.
The cost of the day is £25, including food and refreshments. For more information and to book a place, contact Andrew Pratt at andrewpratt1@btinternet.com

Monday 24 February 2014

Distributing large quantities of food around the county

Dear Food Poverty network people....... sorry if you get this from multiple sources
 
Last week I got this email from Sandra Royle who is already doing lots of good work sourcing and distributing wholesale quantities of good food for free around Blackpool and the Fylde coast... She has had temporary use of a vehicle but this is coming to an end.. We've been talking to Sandra as together lancashire and via the Blackpool Food Partnership as how best to support and get involved in the valuable work she is doing.. However, as she is not yet organised as a company or as a charity it's not easy to help her access grant funding...  But we think it is valuable work.. and that there must be other ways and deals that could be done to get her van on the road.. maybe delivering food to your food bank for free or at knockdown prices... 
 
If you have any ideas... or a pot of gold under your nearest rainbow please get in touch direct with
Sandra Royle 
07597 855837
 
Hi Guys,

I need your help!

Please could you make a donation towards the purchase of a van so that I can continue to run the wholesale food bank?

I have been offered a really good van at a reduced price and therefore urgently need to raise £2000 to cover the cost of the van, insurance and breakdown cover.

I have to return my current vehicle by the end of the month!

On a brighter note I have now secured a contract with Kelloggs to collect cereals and snacks in bulk from their Manchester factory - which will enable me to supply all the soup kitchens and food banks on my data base with heaps of goodies!

Thank you for your support.

Donations can be paid direct into my bank account - please contact me for further details.

Thanks

Sandra Royle 
07597 855837
 
 
 
 
 
Shalom

Greg Smith

Development Co-ordinator Together Lancashire / Preston Christian Action Network

Phone - Mobile 07726177044

Together Lancashire, registered office Church House, Blackburn BB1 5AA

Registered Charity no 1147848 Registered company no 07966145

Together Lancashire Website http://www.cuf.org.uk/together-lancashire

See also PCAN Website www.pcan.org.uk or and

BLOG http://prestonchristianactionnetwork.blogspot.com/ (you can sign up there to receive news and information updates by email)

Evangelical Alliance
Funded by 

Archbishop of York launches Together Grants

This is a new funding stream from Church Urban Fund..... for ecumenical projects  that need more funds than our Together Lancashire Mustard seed grants can supply...
 
 


Last week, the Archbishop of York visited Handcrafted in Durham with Paul Hackwood to launch Church Urban Fund's new Together Grants.

The Archbishop said: "The Church of England can be very proud of the Church Urban Fund and the work that is done to support the poorest in our society. I am delighted to launch this new £1m Together Grants programme. We are called to bring good news to the poor and the Church Urban Fund helps make this a reality."

There's a report on the visit on the Christian Today website, and more information about Together Grants on the CUF website.

One of the new criteria for Together Grants is the need for applicants to be working together with another church or organisation.
 
For more information about Together Grants, please contact Andrew Mathews, CUF's Grants officer.  Or
 
 

Greg Smith 

Development Co-ordinator Together Lancashire / Preston Christian Action Network

Phone - Mobile 07726177044

Monday 17 February 2014

Leeds Poverty Truth Challenge

Some interesting and inmportant work going on in Leeds....a model for Fairness Commission agendas elswehere,
 
 
 
The principle of the Leeds Poverty Truth Challenge is that decisions about poverty must involve people who have directly faced poverty. 
 
 
Shalom

Greg Smith

Development Co-ordinator Together Lancashire / Preston Christian Action Network

Phone - Mobile 07726177044

Together Lancashire, registered office Church House, Blackburn BB1 5AA

Registered Charity no 1147848 Registered company no 07966145

Together Lancashire Website http://www.cuf.org.uk/together-lancashire

See also PCAN Website www.pcan.org.uk or and

BLOG http://prestonchristianactionnetwork.blogspot.com/ (you can sign up there to receive news and information updates by email)

Evangelical Alliance
Funded by 

Friday 14 February 2014

Engaging Community eNews Feb-Mar 2014

 
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Livability
Creating choices for disabled people, transforming communities and fighting injustice
Feb/March 2014
Dear Greg,

Welcome to the first edition of 2014.

With the new year comes a new name for the team behind the enews.  Livability's Community Mission team will now be known as the Community Engagement team.

We believe the name change will enable us to communicate the whole work of the team more clearly to a range of audiences.  That work now not only involves helping churches and Christian projects share God's love by word and deed, but also includes a commitment to seeing disabled people and those suffering from dementia fully included in the life of our churches and communities.  The team is also excited to be overseeing the campaigning work of the whole organisation, building on over 160 years of pursuing justice for disabled and disadvantaged people. 

We trust this enews will continue to effectively resource churches and Christian community groups passionate about creating inclusive, 'livable' communities seeking happiness and wellbeing for all.

We hope you will enjoy the articles and stories in this edition.  They include the first in a series of short video interviews with our great friend Dave Andrews; an update on our dementia friendly churches initiative; a piece on the power of football to transform lives; how to write your own (urban) lament and last, but not least, we have the second of a three-part blog series by Ruth Smith talking about new thinking and new ways.

The funding options include grants for summer play schemes; multi-faith volunteering projects and general community projects.

Events include youthwork training days; ideas for youth-led community action,parish nurse training and our ever-popular training day on working with volunteers.

We hope you will find this edition inspiring and helpful for your ministry. We appreciate your feedback!

Kind regards,

The enews team

Livability's Community Engagement team


The enews is bought to you by Livability's Community Engagement team
Quick links to this month's content...
Radical Church part 2 - new thinking and new ways
Ruth Smith, Community Mission advisor at Livability, has written a three part blog on the nature of church and the challenge to become 'Radical Church'.

In this second part she sympathises with those in the congregation and in the pulpit who struggle with dwindling congregations but is convinced that we must all wrestle with the realities - and find ways of doing things differently....

Rediscovering lament as a practice of the Church
This article, from the Estates Learning Network of the Urban Theology Unit explores the theology and practice of lament and argues for its rediscovery as part of our response to poverty. After examining theological and biblical material, the authors outline a practical exercise enabling people to create their own laments. The article concludes with some laments written by ministers and local people from housing estates in the North of England.
Homeless FA and the power of football
Homeless FA is demonstrating the power of football to transforming the lives of homeless people. They are also keen to network with anyone using sport in this way and may be operating through a premier league team near you... Read the Guardian article, watch the film and be inspired.
Who is my neighbour? An interview with Dave Andrews
In this first in a series of short interviews with the community development legend Dave Andrews, Dave talks about compassion and community, and urges us to go beyond being Christians to being Christlike.
Dementia friendly church update!
In conjunction with the Alzheimer's Society we have now completed training for the Lichfield Diocese and Livability's London staff.  This issue is hardly out of the news these days so now is the time to find out more about how Livability can help your church become more dementia friendly. You can also watch our new video here.
This month's funding opportunities include grants for summer play schemes;  multi-faith volunteering projects, and general community projects.
Together in Service Fund

Together in Service is a new programme designed to support faith groups in undertaking new multi-faith volunteering projects. Small grants of £2,000 and £5,000 are available with money from the Department for Communities and Local Government being administered by FaithAction. Grants are not available for core costs and must be match-funded.  

Projects must engage people from more than one faith community. Applications can be submitted any time and are then forwarded to the Grant Panel for consideration.  A number of training days have been organised for those who are interested in applying.
The panel next meets on
26 May 2014.

Hilden Charitable Trusts
The Hilden Fund accepts applications for their summer play scheme grant from community groups all over the UK and prioritises projects that are inclusive of children from refugee families, and show BME involvement.  Organisations with an income of more than £150,000 will not be successful and neither will those applying to fund club or family holidays, or daycare costs.
The application deadline is 17 May 2014.

The Woodward Charitable Trust

The Woodward Charitable Trust favours small-scale, locally-based summer play schemes run by registered charities whose annual income is under £100,000. Most grants awarded are in the range of £500 to £1,000 with around 35 grants being made each year. Funding is primarily for one-off project costs, but the Trustees are willing to consider funding running costs (including core costs and salaries).
The
application deadline is 31 March  2014.

The Co-operative Membership Community Fund

The Co-operative Membership Community Fund gives grants of between £100 and £2,000 to community or voluntary projects that can demonstrate they are providing good long-term benefits to the community and they support co-operative values and principles. Applicants will need to provide details of an independent referee who can vouch for them.  Funding is available for running costs, help towards rent/fixtures and sport or computer equipment.
Decisions are made by area committees made up of elected members who generally meet every other month.

Events this month include training for those who want to become parish nurses, those working with volunteers or young people plus a youth-led community action opportunity.
Working with Volunteers

When: 11th March 2014

Where: St Catherine's Church Centre, Doncaster Road, Wakefield, WF1 5HL

Time: 9.45am - 3.30pm


Costing only £25 per person, this is our ever-popular interactive and practical one day course designed to help you get the best out of your volunteers.
  The day will focus on: understanding why people volunteer for Christian projects; why the best projects are full of volunteers; motivating others, and dealing with tricky issues when Christians are supposed to be 'nice'!

The day will be also include a session for those who work, or are looking to work with volunteers who have disabilities, in particular people with learning difficulties.

Youthwork training

When: 28 April and 23 June
Where:
Hill House Christian Centre, Otterhampton, Bridgwater, TA5 2PT
Time: 10.30-5.30

Over the year, South West Youth Ministries are hosting a number of professional development training days.  If you are a full time or voluntary youth worker these days are designed especially for you. Events include 'The future of faith in education' and 'Faith-based youth work and the big society'. Each event costs only £30 per day.

Amaze members can book online at Amaze or you can send cheques to SWYM. For further information follow the link below.

Hope UK's Big Weekender
When: 3-5 May 2014
Where: Where you are!
Time: Anytime over the weekend

As part of Hope UK's Year of Mission 2014, youth groups everywhere are being encouraged to hold a weekend of youth-led community action incorporating words and deed over the May Bank Holiday. The Big Weekender has developed from what was called the 'Noise' weekend through Soul Action and Soul Survivor. It started with 30 volunteers in 2001 and in 2012 involved nearly 900 volunteers working in eight different communities in Bristol. There's lots of help and resources available through the link below or you can watch the promo video here.

Parish Nursing Training
When: 12-15 May 2014
Where: Birmingham

Parish Nursing Ministries UK is responsible for training people for this exciting collaborative concept involving the delivery of whole person healthcare by registered nurses who are employed by the local church. They also promote the concept and help churches and nurses to develop it.
Residential introductory courses for potential parish nurses run two or three times per year.

You'll be known as those who can fix anything,
restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,
make the community livable again.
Isaiah 58:12 The Message version
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