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Dear Friends,
Welcome to the April edition of the Sandwell Churches Link newsletter. It should contain bits and bobs of information that might be of interest to you, your church or your project. As ever if you have anything that you would like me to include in these monthly mailings, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Thank you to everyone who attended the annual conference, I hope that you found it very interesting and helpful and it was good meet you all. I shall have a full write up in the next edition of the newsletter. Needless to say, it was an enjoyable morning and gave us all something to think about.
With every good wish.
Chris Florance
Development Officer - Sandwell Churches Link Project
Email: chris@sandwellchurcheslink.org - Tel:07803 057622
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Voluntary and Community Sector ‘Get Together’
Are you a voluntary or community group based or working in Sandwell?
Come along and join us for breakfast
on Thursday 1 May 2014 at
George Road Community Church, 
142 George Road,
Oldbury, B68 9LN
from 7.30am – 9.00am
- An opportunity for groups to come together and network on an informal basis.
- Providing a means for you to promote and share information on the services you provide.
- An opportunity for you to tell SCVO what support your group needs
If you are interested in attending, please confirm your place by e-mail: mazeline@scvo.info or by telephone 0121 525 1127 by Friday 25 April 2014
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Love my Neighbour?
Ancient Wisdom for Challenging Times.
 Conversations with Dave Andrews about growing Christ-like communities as a way to mend our brokenness
We live alongside our neighbours through difficult times, often feeling under siege with too many and often conflicting demands. We are aware of overwhelming need but reducing funding and infrastructure. There has to be another way…
Dave will invite us to:
- Rediscover our calling to love God and our neighbours
- Build bridges with others in our communities
- Break through the barriers of fear, selfishness and futility
- Suggest ways to make what we do sustainable
What you can expect:
- Practical, down-to-earth teaching grounded in many years of experience, struggle, companionship and joyfulness
- Inspirational and encouraging conversation
- The chance to meet and learn from people with similar work and life choices
- Laughs – we guarantee that you will laugh at least once whilst you're with us
These conversations will take place on 15th May 2014 at Balsall Heath Church Centre, Birmingham. There will be a daytime session from 9.45am to 3.30pm and an evening session from 5.45pm to 8.30pm and will cost £15 per person, which includes a meal. Click the appropriate link to book.
Daytime Event or Evening Event
For more information, contact Debbie Browning at Thrive Together Birmingham on 0121 426 0442 of Ruth Smith at Livability on 07919 598273
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Safeguarding
 Message sent on behalf of SSCB Independent Chair, Dr Jenifer Harding
Dear Colleague,
A new Threshold Document has been published by Sandwell Safeguarding Children Board.
The threshold document provides guidance for professionals and service users to clarify the circumstances in which to refer a child to a specific agency. The guidance will enable you to address an identified need, to refer or engage with Early Help Services, or to make a child protection referral to Children’s Social Care.
The aim of this guidance is to assist staff in making judgements about service thresholds in a fair and consistent manner, whilst at the same time ensuring compliance with statutory duties. To view the new document, visit the SSCB website at www.sandwelllscb.org.uk and go to ’Reporting concerns’.
There are a series of multi-agency thresholds training workshops to accompany the new document. The multi-agency training workshops are now open for booking and will run over three months in the seven different localities. These will be important training events on thresholds and the MARF (Multi Agency Referral Form) and it is important that everyone in Sandwell who works with children and their families endeavours to attend one event, to ensure that we are all working together effectively with children and families at the right time, and in the right way.
Please visit our Learning Pool site for more details on these events and to book a place for yourself.
For more details on the application process visit training page.
Many thanks,
SSCB Business Unit
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For Richer, For Poorer
Saturday 14th June 10.00 am - 3.00 pm
Hosted by the Bishop of Lichfield
Beacon International Centre
Stafford ST18 0GB
Join us to listen to challenging stories of ordinary people
struggling in times of austerity.
From parishes in The Potteries and The Black Country.
Be part of the discussion about how, together,
we can respond and make a difference.
Close the Gap partnership with Church Action on Poverty
bringing together:
Tividale with Kinver, Ashmore Park with Pattingham
Fulbrook with Streetly, Cobridge with Barlaston
To register or for further details, contact David Primrose via tc@lichfield.anglican.org
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DIY Web Design Workshops
Do you need a website for your organisation but want to keep the costs down? If so, the Web Design Workshops taking place at St Albans Community Centre are for you. Limited reduced rate session charges range from £115 to £150.
The dates are 7, 12, 14, and 19 May 2014. Sessions will run from 9.30 am to 4.30 pm and lunch will be provided.
Click here for more information and bookings.
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Enabling Church
This is a conference from Churches for All, a partnership of Christian disability-focused organisations and associates
How can my church …
Every local church needs to become an ‘enabling church’ that welcomes, includes and involves people with dementia, disability, deafness, their families and those that care for them. The programme involves a majority of speakers with direct experience of a range of disabilities, either for themselves or with close family members.
This is a national conference being held here in Sandwell at the Bethel Convention Centre, West Bromwich, B70 7JW on Tuesday 3rd June 2014 from 9.15am.
For more information and booking visit www.churchesforall.org.uk/EnablingChurch or call Through the Roof on 01372 749955
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Exciting Vacancy
Do you have experience in community development?
Do you think you could enable local communities to meet and work together across faiths?
Does it appeal to you to work in the Black Country with its rich local culture and "can do" attitude?
In that case this job might be for you.
Black Country Near Neighbours (BCNN) Co-ordinator
£28,000 per year
The area covered by this project will be the City of Wolverhampton and the Metropolitan Boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell and Walsall. Near Neighbours is a national scheme funded by the Department of Communities and Local Government which has now expanded due to the success of the first phase. It works at a local level to bring people of different faiths together, to build relationships, and to encourage civic engagement. There are some small grants available to assist with this.
The funding for this full time post runs until March 31st 2016 (in the first instance), during which the co-ordinator will be employed by a joint venture between the Churches Urban Fund and the Diocese of Lichfield, Transforming Communities Together.
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Funding News & Opportunities
The Cinnamon Network supports church community projects across the UK, has announced that it has micro grants for churches to start a community project. To date, the Network has supported 21 initiatives such as food banks, community lunches, debt counselling and education projects.
A contribution to the costs of starting (NOT extending or ongoing support) a Cinnamon Network Recognised church based community project.
Churches in England can apply for £1,500. The grant amount has to be matched by £3,000 and this can come from cash, gifts in kind, premises, professional pro-bono services, asset items and salaries. Individual churches or a group of churches working in partnership (which are registered as a charity and have up-to-date accounts) can apply for the grants.
There is no deadline and the application process is ongoing.
Website: http://www.cinnamonnetwork.co.uk/micro-grants-england/
National Churches Trust Community Grants programme is for grants of £5,000 and above for projects which introduce facilities to enable increased community use of places of worship.
To qualify, projects must have an estimated cost of at least £25,000 (including VAT and fees). Decisions on all grant applications are made internally. A shortlist of candidates is discussed by an independent Grants Committee comprised of experts from the church and heritage sectors.
The amount of funding available is limited, so we can only support a small proportion of the many important and deserving projects which we are asked to support/fund. We strongly encourage you to apply for as many other grants as possible and to start local fundraising as early as you can.
To be eligible to apply for a Community Grant, you need to be able to answer "yes" to all of the following questions (please read the Guidance Notes for more information):
- Is your building in England, Wales, Scotland, the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands or Northern Ireland?
- Is your building open for regular public worship?
- Is your building a church, chapel or meeting house that was originally built for the primary purpose of worship?
- Is the principle denomination that worships in the building a member of (or does it belong to an umbrella body that is a member of) Churches Together in Britain and Ireland?
- Is the project still in the planning stages but due to start within the next 2 years?
- Have you applied for and received all necessary permissions to enable you to carry out the work?
- Is your project overseen by a qualified person, usually an architect or chartered building surveyor?
- Is the estimated cost of your project over £25,000 (including VAT and fees)?
- Do you still need to raise at least £10,000?
- Will the project allow a greater number of people to benefit from your place of worship?
- Have you raised at least 50% of the estimated project cost?
If you meet the above criteria, you are eligible to apply for a Community Grant.
To apply for a Community Grant, you will need to complete our online application form below.
Before completing the online application form, make sure that you read the Guidance Notes
Website: http://www.nationalchurchestrust.org/our-grants/community-grants
The Volant Trust supports charities and projects, whether national or community-based, at home or abroad, that alleviate social deprivation, with a particular emphasis on women’s and children’s issues.
Registered charities whose purpose is to alleviate poverty and social deprivation with particular emphasis on children and women’s issues have the opportunity to apply for funding through the Volant Charitable Trust. (The Trust was set up by the author J K Rowling)
The next application deadline is 27th June 2014.
For more details visit the trust’s website www.volanttrust.com
Don't forget you can receive a copy of SCVO's Funding Digest every fortnight. If you don't already receive it, you can see it here.
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