NCVS e-bulletin - Thursday 6 February 2025

Welcome to this edition of the NCVS e-bulletin—your perfect excuse to put the kettle on and skip that email you've been putting off! This month, we're celebrating LGBT+ History Month, and there are some great ways to get involved and celebrate the hard work done by the LGBT+ community and its allies in Nottingham.

In this e-bulletin, you'll find:

• Last chance to have your say in Wave 9 of the VCSE Barometer Survey
• Training opportunities to upskill your learning – did someone say Mental Health First Aid?
• New ways to get involved in celebrating our sesquicentennial (150 years!)
• Lots of events to keep you busy over the next few months
• Latest job and funding opportunities

And so much more. Happy reading!

February marks LGBT+ History Month 2025, and this year’s theme, 'Activism and Social Change', highlights the powerful contributions of those who have fought for equality, as well as the work still needed to create a truly inclusive society.

At NCVS, we are proud to support Nottingham’s voluntary and community sector in championing diversity, equality, equity, and inclusion. LGBT+ History Month is a time to reflect on progress, learn from the past, and engage with local events that celebrate and support the LGBT+ community.

A range of events are taking place across Nottingham, from film screenings and discussions to exhibitions and community gatherings. Read more and get involved!

Welcome to the new Team Talk centre, your one-stop shop for all things tips, tricks, and resources. Here you'll find the latest from the team at NCVS.

There are plenty more blogs, think pieces and helpful resources on our website. 

There is a rolling deadline for applications, the next deadline is Tuesday 1 April 2025

Active Lives make grants of between £5,000 and £30,000 to be spread over one to three years.

Funding for physical activity programmes should focus on grassroots involvement, skills development, wider impact strategies, beneficiary involvement, and life-enhancing opportunities for individuals with disabilities and deprived areas in the UK.

The next deadline for application is Friday 28 February 2025

New project funding
Funding for brand new projects that have genuine community need and a real impact on improving community wellbeing. It is expected that around 45 projects will be supported each year. Grants available £2,000 to £20,000 and £20,000 to £100,00.

Core funding support will be available from May 2025.

This is a rolling programme and there are no deadlines

Grants ranging from £2,000 to £10,000 are available for core salaries, running, and project costs, with a maximum of 50% funding for front-line organisations. They prioritise local community challenges and avoid supporting campaigning, organisational development, or new work.

We're regularly updating the funding news on our website, so click the button below and find the fund for you!

Tuesday 18 February 2025, 11am to 1pm
Middle Street Resource Centre, 74 Middle Street, Beeston, NG9 2AR

We are taking LoVN to Beeston, in partnership with NCVS Group Development Coordinator - Broxtowe, Helen Oparinde.

The meeting is kindly being hosted by Middle Street Resource Centre in Beeston to provide groups in Nottingham City and Broxtowe the opportunity to come together, connect, and network.

Middle Street Resource Centre is just opposite the Middle Street Tram Stop, which also has a bus stop right outside.

This meeting will be co-facilitated by NCVS team members, Dave Thomas (Volunteering Development Officer) and Helen Oparinde (Group Support Coordinator - Broxtowe). Come along to meet your fellow Leaders of Volunteers in person, share good practice and ideas, and celebrate your successes. Tea, coffee, and biscuits will be provided.

Places are limited, and it's important that you book your place. So if you'd like to attend, please register now. Full details and venue information will be shared with registered attendees in advance of the meeting.

Green social prescribing is a way of connecting people to nature-based activities and green groups, projects and schemes in their local community for support with health and wellbeing. Often this will be through a referral from a Link Worker based at a GP practice or another primary care professional.

Our scheme in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, called GreenSpace, was one of seven government Green Social Prescribing Test and Learn sites.

While the National Test and Learn may have ended, NCVS continues to embed green social prescribing into health systems to make nature-based/outdoor activities an intervention of choice to support people to improve and maintain their mental and physical health and wellbeing.

The latest GreenSpace bulletin is available to read.

You can view it in your web browser now. If you would like to receive future issues directly to your inbox, please email greenspace@nottinghamcvs.co.uk with a request to be added to the mailing list.

If you wish to share any events or stories happening in your organisation, or relating to green social prescribing or nature-based activities, please get in touch with the GreenSpace team. The deadline for submissions for the next bulletin is Tuesday 25 February 2025.

The Practice Development Unit (PDU) aims to promote and facilitate collaborative learning and the sharing of good practice among professionals and volunteers from all sectors, in Nottingham and neighbouring areas, who work with people experiencing severe and multiple disadvantage (SMD). This is understood as a combination of mental ill-health, substance misuse, homelessness, offending and domestic abuse, among other issues.

Contact our PDU Team if you need more information: pdu@nottinghamcvs.co.uk

Join our free online hub www.pdunottingham.org

Follow us on Twitter @NottinghamCVS #PDUNottingham.

Did you know the PDU Online Hub hosts a comprehensive e-learning suite? Check out this fortnight's PDU highlight below.

Wednesday 19 February 2025, 2pm to 3.15pm
Online via Microsoft Teams

Rescheduled from Tuesday 3 December 2024. This session will be a discussion of the impact of the SMD specialist practitioner roles on the local system after one year, drawing on insights from a recent evaluation report produced by the Changing Futures Learning and Evaluation team. There will be opportunities to ask questions at the end via an interactive Q&A.

Wednesday 19 February 2025, 10am to 12 noon
Online via Zoom

An online forum for professionals, volunteers and people with lived experience who are passionate or curious about co-production, to come together to learn and share expertise.

The theme for this session is 'Getting senior leaders on board with co-production'.

Thursday 27 February 2025, 3pm to 4pm
Online via Microsoft Teams

This session will discuss existing research to address: How do people who use substances experience accessing and living in homeless hostels? We will discuss themes such as living in fear, the power of human connection, the need for emotional safety, and the use of restrictive practices.

Our full Training and Development programme is available to view on our website. All courses take place online via Zoom.

We have new sessions and new dates for 2024/2025. Book now.

Thursday 20 February 2025, 10.30am to 1pm

This online training will give you a basic understanding of the roles and responsibilities in safeguarding adults and how to respond to concerns.

Cost: £25 per participant

Thursday 27 February 2025, 10.30am to 1pm

This online training will give you a basic understanding of the role and responsibilities of a Designated Safeguarding Lead Person for an organisation working with vulnerable children and young people.

Cost: £25 per participant

Thursday 13 February 2025, 6pm to 7.15pm

This online training explains your safeguarding responsibilities as a trustee for an organisation working with vulnerable adults or children and young people.

Cost: £15 per participant

Monday 3 March 2025, 6pm to 8pm

This online training covers the basic information that all trustees should know.

Cost: £20 per participant

Tuesday 25 February 2025, 10.30am to 12.30pm

Learn the basics of taking effective minutes in this online training – and make note taking easy.

Cost: £20 per participant

Wednesday 12 March 2025, 10.30am to 12.30pm

This online training will refresh your knowledge as a trustee, update you on current issues, improve your personal skill set and help you develop your role for the benefit of your organisation.

Cost: £20 per participant

Tuesday 25 March 2025, 10am to 11am

Identify barriers to volunteering and develop ideas to minimise and remove them during this training, to ensure your organisation isn’t missing out on great volunteers.

Cost: £10 per participant

Wednesday 26 February 2025, 10am to 12 noon

This online training, previously called “How to be a Better Leader of Volunteers”, takes you beyond the basics of managing and supporting volunteers and will explore some of the real-life issues that you’re facing as a Leader of Volunteers.

Cost: £20 per participant

Wednesday 5 March 2025, 10am to 12 noon

This online training takes you beyond the basics of managing and supporting volunteers and will challenge you to consider the difference that volunteers make to your organisation.

Cost: £20 per participant

Tuesday 4 March 2025, 10am to 11am

Start your journey into the exciting and rewarding world of volunteer leadership with this online training that explores the volunteer journey from start to finish.

Cost: £10 per participant

Wednesday 12 February 2025, 10am to 12 noon

Although the law has little to say about volunteers and volunteering, what it does say is important. This online training will help you develop an understanding of some of the legal requirements that relate to your volunteering programme.

Cost: £20 per participant

If you are a VCSE organisation in Nottingham City or a VCSE organisation recruiting to a job role which covers the Nottingham City area, you can submit a job advert for our website. Adverts remain on our website until the closing date. We feature new adverts once in the e-bulletin, where possible, depending on the volume of new adverts received.

There are lots more job listings on our website. You can view all the job vacancies available by clicking on the 'More Vacancies' button at the bottom of this section.

Wednesday 26 February 2025, 7pm to 9pm
Nottingham Council House, Old Market Square, NG1 2DT

Awards will be presented to people, organisations, and services that have benefitted the local LGBT+ community. Awards this year are going to The Spencer Trust, Netherfield Pride, and Nottinghamshire Hurricanes Rugby Football Club, with further awards to be announced. The event will also showcase the work of local groups and organisations. The formal part of the evening will begin around 8pm with a celebration of the 50th anniversary of Notts LGBT+ Network, followed by the awards and closing with a performance from the Singing Proud choir.

• In-person event with refreshments and food.
• Participation is free—no need to book.

Friday 28 February 2025, 10.30am to 12.30pm
Evolve, Strelley Social Club Helston Drive, NG8 6JZ

Do you work, volunteer, or have an interest in the people living in the Strelley, Aspley, Bilborough, or Radford area?

Aspire Primary Care Network needs you and your ideas to help people in these areas thrive and live healthier, happier lives. They’re creating a group of local voices—people who care about finding ways to support the local people and build on the work already happening in the area.

Join them for their first meeting as they bring together people from health, care, local authority, and community and voluntary groups to help improve the heart health and well-being of people in the Aspire PCN area.

Saturday 1 March 2025, 3.30pm to 5.30pm
St Martin's Church, Sherwood, NG5 3FU
Adults: £10, Under 18: £5, Under 5: Free

Nottingham Concert Band, with Music Director Robert Parker, presents Here, There and Everywhere—an exciting selection of music inspired by people and places around the world.

Pre-book or pay at the door (subject to availability); refreshments provided

For parent carers of children and young people with special educational needs, no diagnosis or referral needed.

• Wednesday 12 February 2025, 9.15am to 11.15am
  Sprinters, High Street, NG5 7DQ (the room on the left)
  
  
• Wednesday 19 Ferbuary 2025, 7pm to 8pm
  Online
  
  
• Thursday 27 February 2025, 10am to 11.30am
  Bendigo Lounge, 55 High Road, NG9 2JQ (downstairs on the right, look for the teddy)

Online workshops:

• Introducing the Children's Sensory Therapy LTD
  Monday 10 February 2024, 10am to 11.30am
  
  
• Supporting mental health in schools
  Friday 21 February 2025m 10am to 12 noon

For more information, email the team at admin@sendpactnotts.org or visit their Facebook page.

More event listings on our website

Head over to the dedicated 'External Events and Training' page on our website to view more events and training opportunities from Nottingham's Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector.

If you would like to submit an event to feature on this page, please fill in our online event submission form. Events will be approved for publication on the NCVS website at our discretion, taking into account our aims and mission.

All sessions will take place in-person at Nottingham Central Library, 1 Carrington Street, NG1 7FH.

Conscious Wellbeing Academy CIC is a newly established not-for-profit organisation, recently supported by Chris, Social Enterprise Development Coordinator, working on the Social Enterprise Accelerator (SEA) programme.

They have the following accredited Mental Health First Aid courses designed to equip individuals, community groups, and organisations with essential tools to promote mental wellbeing and provide meaningful support.

Level 1: Awareness of First Aid for Mental Health

• Monday 17 February 2025, duration: four hours
• Cost: £110
• Do you have the skills to provide initial support to someone experiencing a mental health issue?

Level 2: First Aid for Mental Health

• Tuesday 18 March 2025, one-day course
• Do you want to deepen your understanding of mental health conditions and gain tools to support others effectively?
• Cost: £170

Level 3: Supervising First Aid for Mental Health

• Tuesday 15 and Wednesday 16 April 2025 (two-day course)
• Are you ready to lead by example and create a culture of mental well-being within your workplace, community, or organisation?
• Cost: £325

When you complete a Nuco Training mental health course with Conscious Wellbeing Academy CIC, you will receive a fully recognised FAA certificate, valid across the UK.

Contact the team by email at info@consciouswellbeingacademy.co.uk or by phone at 0331 630 4002 or 07515 401332 to register.

Chapter One currently has training dates throughout February and March 2025 for those supporting either adults or children and young people experiencing gambling related harm.

Click here to read more and register for professionals supporting adults.

Click here to read more and register for professionals supporting children and adults

Saturday 8 March 2025, 10am to 12.30pm
Idle Valley Nature Reserve, DN22 8RQ

Are you unsure about how to get funding and rally volunteers? Come join Steve from Oasis Community Centre to learn how he developed his successful community garden from scratch. You’ll hear first-hand experience of what it’s like from a grassroots level. You’ll meet others in similar situations and brainstorm ideas together.

Harri Phillips and Camille McCawley from Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust (NWT) will share a variety of ways in which you can recruit volunteers, including how to target specific audiences while considering appropriate opportunities for them.

They will also share details of the Wilder Nottinghamshire Network and how you can get continued support from NWT after this workshop.

Entries close on Monday 17 March 2025

The Family Learning Awards celebrate imaginative, innovative, and inclusive ways of delivering learning opportunities to families in their communities. They are organised by the Campaign for Learning and the National Centre for Family Learning.

Nominate for the following categories:

• Family Learning Innovation Award
• Family Learning in the Early Years Award
• Family Learning to Support Health and Wellbeing Award
• Family Learning to Support STEM Award

Do you support health and well-being in Nottingham or Nottinghamshire? Are healthcare inequalities affecting those you work with?

A new Nottingham study is exploring unequal access to primary care.

Krista Blair, a doctoral researcher at the University of Nottingham, is seeking volunteers for an interview or short questionnaire on:

• Inequities in primary care
• Efforts to address them
• How this research could support your work

To learn more or take part, email Krista.blair@nottingham.ac.uk with FAIRER CARE in the subject line.

This study is backed by Co(l)laboratory, supported by Nottingham Trent University, the University of Nottingham, and the Universities for Nottingham partnership, funded by Research England.

Make your voice heard before Wednesday 22 February 2025, 12 midnight

The VCSE Data and Insights Observatory is inviting you to take part in the newest wave of the VCSE Barometer Survey.

This quarter, the focus is on the financial challenges facing our sector, including the impact of rising costs like the National Living Wage and National Insurance.

Our CEO, Jules Sebelin, had this to say about participating in the VCSE Barometer:

'Over the years, I have participated in many 'business-focused' surveys to ensure charities and social enterprises were represented as integral parts of the economy. None of them ever quite ‘fit’ our type of businesses. The VCSE Barometer Survey on the other hand is designed for our sector and gives us the chance to tell our stories in a meaningful way. I look forward to the quarterly surveys and view them as an opportunity to participate in a collective effort to give our sector the profile it deserves.'

The survey will close on Wednesday 5 March 2025

The well-being of colleagues in the charity sector has never been more important and potentially has never been under such threat.

Share your experiences and thoughts and help us identify and shine a spotlight on the true state of the wellbeing in the charity sector in 2025.

General VCSE sector resources

• Three things to check now for fundraising in 2025 - Read this Civil Society Media article by Annabelle Risdon on the three things you can do to maximise your fundraising success.
  
  
• Mission Critical 03 - Published by The Future Governance Forum in partnership with NPC and Lloyds Bank Foundation and unveiled last year to strengthen partnerships with the sector, the government’s Civil Society Covenant offers a real opportunity for a reset.
  
  
• Podcast on Purpose - Have you ever had a great idea but didn’t have the money or resources to make it happen? Why not listen to Philippa Forrester from CrowdfunderUK for this brand new podcast series?

The Nottingham Community and Voluntary Service (NCVS) e-bulletin will be back in a fortnight. The deadline for contributions and comments is Monday 17 February 2025. Email communications@nottinghamcvs.co.uk

Did you know we keep an archive of past NCVS e-bulletins? View the archive here.

Want more news and updates? Why not sign up for our other bulletins:

• GreenSpace - email for all your green social prescribing needs. Read the archive here.
  
  
• PDU - helpful news, events and training to help you support those facing difficulties.

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