DWR - Oct 2004

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" background="09ed05a3.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>          </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>                             </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial" ><B>    Reading Council for Voluntary Youth Service</B></FONT><B>    </B><B> </B></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFCC66" TEXT="#080000" background="09fd2123.jpg"> <div> <A HREF="id67.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="DWR: Jul 2003"><U><B>DWR: Jul 2003</B></U></A></div> <div> <B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ff000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">DWR - Oct 2004</B></div> <div> <A HREF="id57.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="DWR Jan 2005"><U><B>DWR - Jan 2005</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE=" Reading Council for Voluntary Youth "><U><B>Home</B></U></A></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>DWR - Oct 2004</I></div> <div> <I>Development Worker's Report: Oct 2004</I></div> <bR> <div> <B>Background</B></div> <bR> <div> It's always useful to start a report with a recap of what you are <I>supposed</I> to be doing! I've been in the post since May 2003 and my role is to</div> <div> map the existing provision for children and young people by getting out and meeting the voluntary and community groups</div> <div> encourage and enable resource sharing between groups</div> <div> support the work of these organisations</div> <div> identify gaps in provision with a view to seeking opportunities and bidding for resources to sustain or expand  services where provision is limited</div> <div> support, represent and advocate on behalf of RCVYS and children & youth services in appropriate local fora</div> <div> promote and enable a stronger voice for children & young people in the voluntary sector in Reading</div> <div> identify training needs and liase with funding bodies and providers to maximise opportunities</div> <div> identify and develop capacity building opportunities</div> <bR> <div> My initial focus was on meeting people and getting to know the “lie of the land” but as I have become more familiar with the local scene and people in it I have been able to move on to do some of the other things on my list as well!</div> <bR> <div> The focus recently has been on representation and advocacy, identification of capacity building opportunities, encouragement and enabling of resource sharing and a lot of support work. I'll cover each of these areas in more detail in the remainder of the report.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Representation and Advocacy</B></div> <bR> <div> One of the major contributions that my role is able to make to both the statutory and voluntary sector is that I can attend meetings as a representative of the Voluntary & Community sector an independent voice since I don't actually belong to any of the groups.  I hope that allows me to give an impartial view of the needs and aspirations of the Voluntary & Community sector.</div> <bR> <div> When I first started in the role I had a limited number of contacts with people but now I'm getting invited to attend all sorts of meetings to ensure that the Voluntary & Community sector have a voice there. The current list is</div> <div> CYPSP (Children & Young Peoples Strategic Partnership) both secretariat and board and as a member of the Youth Participation working group</div> <div> PAYP (Positive Activities for Young People)</div> <div> Connexions LMC</div> <div> I was also asked to be one of the voluntary sector representatives at the presentations for the interview for the new post of Director of Education & Children's Services and was on the interview panel for the new partnership manager of the CYPSP. This higher level of involvement and influence with the various other agencies is very welcome.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Networking</B></div> <bR> <div> I'm continuing to try and meet with groups and support them. I see some more often than others! And of course I'm always on the look out for new groups that I've not yet made contact with. </div> <bR> <div> One of the things which remains on my list of things to complete is the production of a comprehensive list of groups with their meeting places, times and contact details that  can be released to a wider audience. I have a list of approximately 200 groups to date and I'm slowly working my way through getting consent from each of these to publish the information I hold. </div> <bR> <div> There had been a plan for a searchable website linked to Reading Borough Council's efforts following discussions with the ISA manager there who had offered to fund that work, however, his contract came to an end and he left so we will have to satisfy ourselves with a lower tech version for the time being! </div> <bR> <div> I have found in my work that a significant amount of youth work of varying kinds is done through the faith groups in the town and I have linked up with Churches Together in Reading to try and contact each of the Christian organisations to ensure we have as complete a set of information as possible. The same route is also helping me make better contacts into the other main faith communities through the Reading Interfaith Group so I'm hopeful that these personal contacts will help us to gain a clearer view of the extent of the work being done in some of the groups where I have been less successful in obtaining information.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Reading Trailblazers</B></div> <bR> <div> One of the key developments over the last six months has been the development of a group which we have called Reading Trailblazers. This has been in response to a number of things which have come from national government. The very strong drive for the integration of services for children & young people across all of the key agencies has meant that we can expect some significant changes in the way that these services are delivered and commissioned. Locally, the CYPSP is close to being ready to start commissioning services and, while initial attempts to appoint a Director of Education & Children's Services were unsuccessful, one will be appointed at some time in the near future and the Voluntary & Community sector needs to be ready to work in this new environment. </div> <bR> <div> Reading's Voluntary & Community sector groups provide a significant level of service but only a small proportion of this work is linked in with statutory agencies. A number of the Voluntary & Community sector groups in Reading already deliver innovative and creative youth work to some of the hardest to reach groups in the town. These people represent  a wide range of interest in terms of their client groups, their focus and the age range and work they do. I am in the process of inviting the groups to join the Trailblazers. The purpose of the group is to allow some of the bigger groups to meet together to spearhead working with the statutory agencies and to be a base for consultation as the local processes develop. It is my hope that the groups will find new opportunities by working together and by their closer links. We are in a position to influence how the future relationship with our statutory partners will look and how we are funded. The Trailblazers group is not an exhaustive list and is open to people who wish to be part of the group. Those who join are committed to helping with the consultation process and, perhaps more importantly, to “pipeclean” the processes and then work with smaller organisations to support them in the future.</div> <bR> <div> To date there are 13 groups signed up to be part of the Trailblazers and we have had our first formal meeting. The groups to date are </div> <div> Churches together in Caversham Youth & Families Initiative, IMAAD, Reading Crossroads Young Carers, Children's Information Centre, PACT, Reading Refocus, REACH team, First Steps, URFA, Project Alafia, Reading YMCA, Turners Court Youth Trust and The Mustard Tree Foundation.</div> <bR> <div> One of the first tasks for the Trailblazers is to help with the process of Youth Consultation. The CYPSP has a working group, which I am a member of, looking at these issues and it is hoped that the Trailblazers will provide a substantial input to the process. We are planning to bid for Consultation Fund money from the government to allow us to commission one of the Trailblazers to lead this work. The work will consist of getting young people to develop a dramatic presentation of the issues which will then be videoed and presented to other groups around the area. These groups will then discuss the issues and build a video presentation of their own as a response. It is hoped that the use of video and peer led discussion will result in both enjoyable and stimulating activity from which the young people learn and also ensure that the information which is fed back to the CYPSP is an honest reflection of young people's thoughts rather than the “correct” answer. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Communication</B></div> <bR> <div> The number of meetings I go to is providing a major issue in terms of the amount of information I receive and need to share with the groups in Reading. I have developed a website (<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Comic Sans MS" ><A HREF="http://www.rcvys.org.uk" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.rcvys.org.uk"><U><U>www.rcvys.org.uk</U></U></A></FONT>) which can hold the various pieces of info but it was not being widely used. I now plan to set up a regular monthly newsletter for members and other interested parties to get the information I need to pass on. This will be delivered mostly by email.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Funding</B></div> <bR> <div> One of my key tasks has been attempting to help groups find funding for their work. This can range from £50 to buy a small piece of kit to tens of thousands of pounds. The impending closure, at the end of this month, of the Community Groups Project run by RVA is looking like it will provide an extra chunk of work for me as they were able to go a lot of the research work looking for Trusts that would help. Part of the newsletter will include details of appropriate sums of money either locally or nationally which groups can bid for. I'm also happy to work with groups on the development of their applications.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Training issues</B></div> <div>  </div> <div> This comes up regularly in conversations with groups. There are a number of sources of reasonably priced or even free training but one of my tasks for the coming months is to try and open access to more of the training going on in the statutory sector for the groups who need it. This shared training would allow us to work more closely with our statutory colleagues and I'm sure would benefit both sides by building stronger relationships and greater confidence. At present the only training which is widely open to us is through the Youth & Community team at RBC. This includes NVQ training in youth work. We can also put groups in touch with trainers who will charge a very low fee for Voluntary & Community sector groups in areas such as Child Protection, First Aid and Health and Safety. In addition, due to the good relationship we had with Tom Corban, former Principal Youth Officer, RCVYS has a small bursary fund which can help fund training for any Voluntary & Community sector group.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Future Plans</B></div> <bR> <div> One of the most exciting developments over the summer has been the appointment of a Partnership Manager for the CYPSP. Andrea has work both at Government office and in the voluntary sector and as a result has a very good understanding of the issues we face and some of the aspirations of the government's proposals. One of the key strands of her role is to help the various partners involved in the CYPSP to come together. We have already established a very good working relationship and I am hoping that we will be able to use her skills in helping us understand the impact of the government agenda on us in the Voluntary & Community sector  and also to strengthen our connections with the statutory sector through her work. This is going to be a key area of work for me in the coming months</div> <div>  </div> <div> Other key areas of work are </div> <div> establishing the training needs of the Voluntary & Community sector  and trying to broker access to these services</div> <div> looking at gaps in provision and seeing how we can help work in partnership with the statutory agencies to deliver to those gaps</div> <div> increasing the awareness of both the quality and quantity of work being done by the Voluntary & Community sector  in Reading.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Cath Bethell</B></div> <div> <B>Oct 2004 </B></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>