Hello LINXinaters!
What a week it has been since we last caught up. I have been engrossed at NAVCA HQ (my house) working with on a soon-to-be-with-you video capturing the essence of what our members have been doing during the pandemic to help their community.
It really was amazing to see all the efforts and impact of those efforts captured together. And I can't wait to share it with you.
Also I would like to give a shout out to our fabulous comms group - The Barking Owl. We have had some great training and networking events plus there has been loads of new content shared (some of which you can spot throughout this edition). If you are a NAVCA member and working on the comms element contact me and you too can be part of this exciting group.
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Any way that's all from me. Please go forth and enjoy the rest of LINX and I will see you all again next week.
Lucy Straker
Policy & Communications Manager
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For the non-golfers out there... 'Links' is a term which describes the oldest style of golf course - that was first developed in Scotland. The word 'links' comes from the Old English word 'hlinc' which is defined as "rising ground, ridge" and refers to an area of coastal sand dunes or open parkland. So now you know...
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News from across the sector
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Nottingham CVS "fantastic" in helping MP donate part of her salary to local charities
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Our member Nottingham CVS has been advising their local MP on her plans to give £100,000 to charity over the next four years.
Nadia Whittome, who became the Labour MP for Nottingham East in December 2019, pledged to donate approximately £20,000 per year from her annual salary to charities in her constituency.
Whittome said that Nottingham CVS had been “fantastic” in helping her decide how to distribute the money which will be shared between “a small handful” of local charities each year until the next general election in 2024.
Whittome declined to name the charities she will be supporting but made her first donation this month, to the St Ann’s Advice Centre.
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Local restrictions: areas with an outbreak of COVID-19
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The Department of Health and Social Care has published a list of areas in England that have additional local COVID-19 restrictions (currently Leicester, Blackburn with Darwen and Luton).
Additionally they have produced information for local authorities, residents and workers about what to do and how to manage the outbreak should local restrictions be applied to your area.
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DSC Zoom Talk - Racism: Not in our sector?
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DSC is hosting a series of 'Zoom talks' aimed at creating an opportunity for people to get together for an honest discussion of the topical issues facing our sector today.
The latest one will be held on 12 August at 5pm and will focus on how racism has manifested itself in the charity sector and how we, as organisations and as individuals, can contribute to making the sector better.
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Bring UK Parliament into your community
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parliament is offering a series of workshops for community and youth groups.
The aim is to disengaged audiences from across the UK, showing them how UK Parliament works and how they can make their voices heard about the issues that matter to them.
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The
#NeverMoreNeeded
website is here and ready for you to use!
To fuel you all with content and activities to keep banging the
#NeverMoreNeeded drum, the
#NeverMoreNeeded website is now live.
Click here.
We are adding new and sparkling content to it all the time - so if you think there's something missing give us a shout.
The website - and the campaign - is a collaborative project - you can see who's involved
here.
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Communities vs. Coronavirus: The Rise of Mutual Aid
This report from the New Local Government Network argues that the recent Mutual Aid response is a powerful demonstration what’s possible when communities come together. Yet for community collaboration to outlast this crisis and make our places more resilient in future, lessons must be learnt.
The report offers a series of recommendations and lessons that can be used to help make this possible.
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COVID-19: The Neighbours Next Door Report
This report by the Muslims Charities Forum highlights the story of Muslim organisations, local groups and volunteers responding to the COVID-19 crisis up and down the UK.
This includes ensuring food and medicine gets to those in need, supporting victims of domestic violence, stranded students, and single parents. Muslim organisations have been working tirelessly to provide multifaceted support for communities and individuals during this crisis.
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Impact of COVID-19 on DCMS sectors
The Government has been ‘too slow’ to respond to the needs of the DCMS sectors during the COVID-19 outbreak with many organisations facing an “existential threat” to their survival, say MPs.
In this report, the DCMS Committee finds Ministers have consistently failed to recognise the scale of the challenge that COVID-19 presents to culture, sport and tourism.
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Being A Patient
The Patient Association has l
aunched a report based on their work looking at patient experience.
The report found that the approaches used to measure patient experience were quite narrow and focused on
receiving care.
Other approaches have been suggested with the report
identifying some "promising avenues for exploration".
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Are you a NAVCA member?
If you answered yes - great! You are amazing.
If you answered no - also great! Because this bit is for you. Did you know you can find your local NAVCA member through our website?
Click here and head to our map and see all those fabulous members of ours and how to contact them. Don't forget to give your local member a shout out on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or even out the window.
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Welcome to our special section capturing the latest digital and techy news and resources for the voluntary sector.
This is designed to help those suffering from #TechTerror and satisfy the data/digital geeks hidden amongst us.
Remember to follow me,
@Lucy_NAVCA, on Twitter for the latest digital news throughout the week.
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What to do when your content stalls
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As the tidal wave of digital engagement begins to reduce as we come out of our lockdown states, social media managers across the country are starting to feel the last few months catching up with them (at least that's what we feel and hear from our comms group!).
So this is for all of you who feel like that - a handy look at reviewing and planning new content going forward.
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Do we have any podders out there? If you do, tag us on Twitter (@NAVCA or @Lucy_NAVCA) and we will have a listen and give you a shout out.
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13 Hashtag generator tools to fire-up your social media strategy
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Got a campaign, article or project you'd like to promote but not sure which hashtag to use to generate interest? Take a peep at these hashtag generators.
Essentially you put in a topic or a hashtag that you want to use or like and it suggests a number of trending ones to fit. Works well for Instagram especially. Some of these generators have a cost but most do offer a free version too. We love a free version!
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15 Facebook post ideas to increase engagement
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So here's the second of our 'number of ways to do a thing on social media' articles. This one focuses on increasing engagement on Facebook - a very cluttered landscape!
Click here to view the list.
Suggestions include asking questions, telling stories and creating videos. On that last point we held some training this week for our members on the software Biteable - which is great for producing short Facebook videos (
as demonstrated by our member CVS Bedfordshire here
).
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"Most comprehensive flu programme in UK history" will be rolled out this winter
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The Government has announced that it will be opening up the free flu vaccine to a new age group - 50 to 64 year olds.
In addition
a free flu vaccine will also be available to:
- people who are on the shielded patient list and members of their household
- all school year groups up to year 7
- people aged over 65, pregnant women, those with pre-existing conditions including at-risk under 2s
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Social distancing guidance for young people
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In line with new Government guidelines, the advice on social distancing for young people has been updated.
This guidance has been written in collaboration with young people in order to identify the key areas where other guidance may not be as clear.
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I want to ride my bicycle...
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Loads of new initiatives have been/are being launched to encourage more people to choose cycling as their main method of transport.
Extending bike lanes, bike repair voucher schemes, bicycle training, and installing more bike racks at transport hubs are some of the ideas being discussed as part of Boris Johnson's plans to get more people on bikes.
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Going for GOLD! Growing Older with Learning Disabilities
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Ambition for Ageing's
Greater Manchester Growing Older with Learning Disabilities (GM GOLD) project aimed to reduce social isolation amongst older adults (aged 50+) with learning disabilities and to find out what makes somewhere an age-friendly place to live for older adults with learning disabilities.
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NAVCA is one of 20 VCS organisations that are part of the
Health and Wellbeing Alliance
, a partnership between voluntary sectors and the health and care system to provide a voice and improve the health and wellbeing for all communities. If you or your organisation would like to share your experiences and ideas with NHS England, the Department of Health and Social Care, and Public Health England, you can do so via any of the HWA members. The full list is
here.
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Primary care leaders call for greater freedom to improve the health of their local communities
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GPs, pharmacists and nurses who are responsible for leading networks of general practices in England want greater flexibility and autonomy to work in a way that is more responsive to their local populations.
Primary care networks have said that delivering a broader range of services, which are more joined up, closer to people’s homes and tailored to local communities depends on them having greater control over the services they deliver and the roles they can employ.
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Major new campaign encourages millions to lose weight and cut COVID-19 risk
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A new national campaign has been launched to encourage millions of adults to kick start their health and reduce their risk of serious illness, including COVID-19.
The campaign – unveiled as part of the government’s new Obesity Strategy – encourages adults to introduce changes that will help them work towards a healthier weight, with a suite of free tools and apps supporting people to eat better, drink less alcohol and get active. This includes a new app for the free 12-week NHS Weight Loss Plan, helping people make healthier food choices and learn skills to prevent weight gain.
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COVID-19: providing unpaid care
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The
Department of Health and Social Care has released updated guidance for people who are caring, unpaid, for friends or family during the coronavirus outbreak.
This includes
guidance on face coverings, face masks and protective clothing, on how to get tested; and contact details for NHS Volunteer Responders.
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Webinar: The Voluntary Community and Social Enterprise sector (VCSE) – ‘Welcome to NHS Cadets’
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The NHS is working in partnership with St. John’s Ambulance to develop 10,000 new ‘NHS cadets’ within the next three years.
They aim to provide young people with invaluable life skills, offering a route into a career in the health service and deliver on the Long Term Plan to double the number of volunteers in the NHS by 2021.
stating he name of your organisation and which of the sessions you would like to attend.
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Open consultations and inquiries
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This new section rounds up current and relevant open inquiries and consultations that you may be interested in submitting evidence to. If you have any questions about submitting to these inquiries you
watch this useful video from UK Parliament.
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Unequal impact? Coronavirus and the gendered economic impact
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The Women and Equalities Committee is looking for evidence on how existing economic inequalities have been magnified by the health crisis; how effective the Government’s economic support package has been at reducing gender-based inequalities; and what needs to change in the short and long term as the country emerges from lockdown and from the pandemic.
Deadline for submission is 5 August.
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The COVID-19 Committee is inviting people to share their hopes and fears about what the pandemic might mean in the long-term for our home and working lives, and for how we function as a society – what might it mean for social cohesion, for (in)equality, for our environment or for arts and culture?
Deadline for submission is 31 August.
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Levelling up - local and regional structures and the delivery of economic growth
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The
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee is looking for evidence on how local and regional government structures in England could be reformed or better equipped to deliver growth locally, with specific reference to the Government’s ‘levelling up’ agenda.
Deadline for submission is 1 September.
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Supporting our high streets after COVID-19
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The Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee has announced a new inquiry to examine how high streets can survive the economic and social consequences of Covid-19.
The inquiry will examine the long-term consequences of the Covid-19 outbreak on the future of the high street. It is interested in how government, at all levels, can mitigate the economic and social impact and develop policies to ensure high streets remain the centre of local communities.
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Jobs across the NAVCA family
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You can also check out our
NAVCA Noticeboard page on our website which brings together the latest job vacancies, events and campaigns so you can keep track.
As well as our vacancies, we have 13 jobs posted on our Noticeboard:
Also, here's a
quick guide
to selling yourself when applying for a job in the voluntary sector.
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You can advertise your job vacancies, events and contracts on the
NAVCA Noticeboard
(it's free if you're a member, and very reasonably priced if you aren't) and through our Twitter page!
Please note that NAVCA has signed up to the
#ShowThePay campaign which states that when you don't say what you are willing to pay in a job advert, you are being exclusive and continuing to perpetuate and widen the gender, ethnicity and ability pay gaps. Therefore
we will only promote jobs on our website that clearly state the pay grade.
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Funding news and resources
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Most of the support provided by the Masonic Charitable Foundation takes the form of financial grants to individuals and families to assist with daily living costs. They can also award grants to provide specific items or services. A range of health and care needs, including medical and dental treatments, counselling and mobility aids or home adaptations are supported, with funding also available for respite, residential, nursing and dementia care. Deadline is 14 August.
This trust gives grants to further the advancement of horticulture in the UK and abroad. Grants are available for projects in support of horticultural research, the creation, preservation and maintenance of public gardens, publication of books on horticulture, study visits, plant collecting expeditions and training schemes for gardeners. Deadline is 15 August.
The TWA Digitisation Grant is available to fund the digitisation of bound books, manuscripts, oversize maps and plans, 35mm slides, microfilm/fiche, glass plate negatives, and other two-dimensional cultural heritage media. Deadline is 15 August.
In previous years, grants have been made mainly but not exclusively to national organisations in the fields of social welfare and medicine with special emphasis on the support of young people in need and both mentally and physically disabled people. Preference is given to making grants to assist in funding special projects being undertaken by charities rather than grants to supplement funds used for general purposes.
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Here at NAVCA we love a bit of Twitter! In fact in some instances it is the best way to get in touch with our team.
So I am sure, if you are on Twitter, you are already following
@NAVCA, right?
Good. Now make sure you are following the rest of us - we are a nice bunch, I promise.
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Lockdown's impact on Black, Asian and ethnic minority women in Leicester by
Zinthiya Ganeshpanchan
is the founder and CEO of the Zinthiya Trust.
Partners and pioneers – building back after the pandemic by
Matthew Mckeague
, CEO, the Architectural Heritage Fund.
Sustainable commissioning in a rapidly changing world by
Dr Eugenia Cronin
, Consultant in Public Health.
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Welcome back to
#MissingLINX - a bit of fun to keep you going through lockdown and beyond.
Each week we post two pictures - could be people, could be objects - and you have to work out the missing link.
Here is today's offering - so get your thinking caps on. When you've got it (or think you have), tweet us
@NAVCA using
#MissingLINX with your answer and the first few of you to tell us the right answer will get a special shout out from us!
By the way... shout out to Hannah Reid @ CA Suffolk who correctly guessed last week's answer of Tequila! (And we think it made her happy... )
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For latest NAVCA news see our
website
and follow
@NAVCA
on Twitter.
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