Dear Colleagues,
On the 3rd October we held the VCSEF Alliance meeting at the Bob Jones Community Centre.
It’s our third meeting this year. There was a good turnout, people were very engaged, and it was great to welcome different groups and see new faces in addition to our regular attendees.
We were delighted to welcome two key speakers, firstly Cate Robinson, Service Manager, Fostering and Supported Accommodation who gave a detailed presentation on all of the work involved in the Local Authority’s Fostering Service and the desire to recruit more local foster carers.
The process for becoming an approved foster carer can take as little as 16 weeks. Cate explained that there are different types of fostering and that the short and long-term stability for children and young people in foster care in Wolverhampton is better than the national average for all other local authorities. Her presentation can be found here.
We were also joined by One Wolverhampton Board colleagues, Steph Cartwright, Group Director of Place (Walsall and Wolverhampton) and Andrew Wolverson, Director of Adult Social Care who outlined what the board was set up to do and how the board works together with partners.
Out of a number of Strategic Working Group priorities, three core priorities have been highlighted: Digital, Integrated Neighbourhood Teams and Prevention and Community Resilience. The presentation can be found here.
We are keen to ensure that through the VCSEF Alliance, groups and organisations can come together to network, share information, raise issues and hear about opportunities.
Contact us if you would like to put something on the agenda and please check our website, newsletter and social media for the latest information.
Finally, as you may have heard by now, we are running a survey for the VCSEF sector in Wolverhampton, which we are hoping as many groups as possible can complete.
The survey is for us to get a good picture of the work the sector does, the opportunities for partnership working, growth and development and also any challenges. The outcomes of the survey will be shared with the sector and partners. Here’s some more information:
➡️ Take the survey here
Thank you,
Sharon Nanan-Sen
Chief Executive Officer