Dear Colleagues,
As we know, we are experiencing challenging times in the VCSEF sector with rising service demands and reducing funding. We know that particularly with smaller organisations, volunteers can frequently be working beyond agreed hours due to mounting community needs, all of which is going to require us to potentially build new partnerships across wider geographies.
Legislation, for example, The Procurement Act 2023, is reshaping how public services are outsourced. While designed to simplify the tender process and explicitly open up more public contracts to smaller VCSEs, many local charities require further capacity building to successfully navigate the new regulations and this is additional pressure on the Local Infrastructure Organisation (LIO).
However, we must remember our collective power and resilience. We are the sector that catches people early, saves lives, and fills the gaps where public services cannot reach. Every community prevention programme, youth club or crisis advice group directly keeps a local resident out of an A&E bed, a care home, or a statutory social work queue. True structural resilience requires radical honesty, mutual respect, and genuine co-investment from all sides and we must work together.
NAVCA colleagues met last week with Minister Stephen Kinnock at No.10 and continue to champion the critical role that LIOs play to convene and connect, to enable public service reform, to make sure service delivery is informed by and meets the needs of communities, and to support local resilience.
Locally, we are continuing with our work visiting family hubs and community centres, dropping leaflets and talking to people about the city council’s draft VCS Strategy and there is still time to give your views.
On 14th July, it was good to be at the Wolverhampton Wellbeing Hub CIC in Bilston, run by Winston Lindsay and his team, which features ‘The Front Room’ a reminiscence room full of furniture, décor and mementoes from the 1960s.
There is still lots of time for you to give your views on the council’s VCS Strategy. Have your say by attending one of the remaining workshops:
| 📅 Wednesday 22nd July 🕐 1:30pm-3pm 📍Penn Bowling Club, WV4 🔗 Register now |
📅 Monday 20th July 🕐 10:30am-12pm 👩🏻💻Microsoft Teams 🔗 Register now |
| 📅 Thursday 23rd July 🕐 6pm-7:30pm 📍WVCA Office, WV2 🔗 Register now |
📅 Wednesday 29th July 🕐 1:30pm-3pm 👩🏻💻Microsoft Teams 🔗 Register now |
| 📅 Friday 31st July 🕐 10:30am-12pm 📍Bob Jones Community Hub, WV2 🔗 Register now |
If there are any issues that you would like to raise or anything that you would like to hear more about, please contact me.
If you would like more information, please remember to check out our website and newsletter regularly – there is always new information, and opportunities are always presenting themselves.
Thank you
Sharon Nanan-Sen
Chief Executive Officer