DWR - Jan 2005

<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> <A HREF="id56.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="DWR Oct 2004"><U><B>DWR - Oct 2004</B></U></A></div> <div> <B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ff000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">DWR - Jan 2005</B></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 - Jan 2005</I></div> <div> <I>Development Worker's Quarterly Report: Jan 2005</I></div> <bR> <div> While there has been plenty to do and a lot of ground has been covered, the last quarter has also been immensely frustrating. This was due to the complete failure of my computer which left me unable to use the newly established channels of electronic communication and for this, and a number of other reasons, made my job very difficult. The good news is that I have a new computer (as of last week) and the bad news is that the mailing lists are now up and running so you will be getting regular updates. Please pass my details on to anyone who you think would like to receive regular information on things like funding opportunities, training courses (including some free ones) and summaries of what's going on in the local decision making processes in Reading.</div> <bR> <div> <B>People</B></div> <bR> <div> Reading has appointed a new Director of Education and Children's Services (DECS) called David Williams. His job will be to head the merging of the social services children's services and education. </div> <div> As David arrives, we say a sad farewell to Laura Eades, former head of Children's Services and one of our key supporters in the voluntary sector. Laura had a real vision for how we could all work together and she will be missed!</div> <bR> <div> <B>Representation and Advocacy</B></div> <bR> <div> I've been to a three CYPSP (Children & Young People's Strategic Partnership) secretariat meetings since our last RCVYS meeting in October. This is the working group which is trying to pull together all the threads of children & young people's services in the area. They commissioned a report which researched the risks and protective factors in the lives of Children & Young people about 18 months ago and are now working with results to establish a set of priority areas of work, both thematic and geographical, to ensure we focus our resources as effectively as possible. The research could also be useful for any of us making funding bids. If you're planning to bid for funding the contact me; if the results may show the need for the work in your area, you can reference the survey in your bid, which should help convince any panel that what you're planning is needed.</div> <bR> <div> I have also met with the board. This group includes elected members and council officers as well as reps from the voluntary sector, Connexions, the Police etc. We are working on the foundations of a Children's Trust which is a legal body which will, in the future, commission services for children and young people.</div> <bR> <div> Now I'm reconnected to technology, I will put the reports I complete summarising these meetings on the website so you can access them at your leisure and I'll add  details and links in the newsletter to let you know when they're there.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Networking</B></div> <bR> <div> One of the continuing tasks I have been working on 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 had a list of approximately 200 groups to date. Reading Borough Council is now in the process of adding this to a wider summary of all the statutory services to build a single Reading wide database which we will all have access to. This is due for completion by April. </div> <div> <B>Reading Trailblazers</B></div> <bR> <div> The Trailblazer group has now met. This group is currently made up of fourteen groups from around Reading who are seeking to work more closely with the statutory agencies. These people come from a wide range of interest in terms of their client groups, their focus and the age range and work they do. We met to look at a couple of funding pots we could access. One group has made a bid for a substantial pot of money and we have put in a combined bid through RCVYS to do a consultation exercise with some of the children & the young people who these groups are in contact with. The aim of the consultation is to help the more disengaged young people express their views on things that affect their lives and how services could be provided to make a difference to them. The project is dependant on the outcome of a bid to Local Network Fund as our initial bid to the YSpeak fund was unsuccessful - the money had already been spent.</div> <bR> <div> We have two more meetings planned in Feb & March to look at some key issues; the Local Preventative Strategy (LPS) and the Information Sharing and Assessment (ISA) protocol. The LPS is a document which sets out Reading's plans for early identification of children & young people who are at risk of experiencing difficulties in their lives through a variety of causes and attempt to target services at them earlier in the process with the intention of reducing the number of young people who get into serious difficulties. ISA is about how we share information between agencies to ensure that concerns about children are not ignored. The VCS has been invited to be included in this process and we need to look at the implications.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Connexions/PAYP</B></div> <bR> <div> I've been working more closely with Connexions and the Positive activities for young people (PAYP) team. Connexions have a new building in Reading (Friar St) and when it is fully opened will be available for use by the VCS with hot-desking space and 1 to 1 rooms.</div> <bR> <div> We have also been working with Connexions on their VCS strategy. Joe Green, our former treasurer, was appointed as the PAYP manager there and has also just been given the role of VCS lead which means that he has overall responsibility for the development and implementation of a strategy for the way that Connexions and the VCS work together. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Communication</B></div> <bR> <div> The RCVYS mailing list is now up and running. I have made a few tweaks to it to ensure that we don't get our mailboxes filled. It is now set up that you can only post to the list if you are a member of the list. This should stop us getting random SPAM. And I have also just changed the list so if you press reply any response will only go to the person who sent the email rather than to the whole list. </div> <bR> <div> There is an automated subscribe & unsubscribe process so if you want to add or remove email addresses it should be easy to do so. Details will be on the bottom of each newsletter I send out.</div> <bR> <div> The website will also be updated over the next few weeks and will be the place to look for all archives of reports, newsletters and information.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Cath Bethell - Jan 2005 </B></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>