Welcome to Interchange - the newsletter for Glasgow's voluntary and community sector
This month's Interchange is packed with news and updates on the Community Jobs Fund, the Commonwealth Games and a special discount from CPP Seminars Scotland for our members on an interesting series of Seminars in June. We also feature news about our Everyone's Children research that is currently taking place, fully funded SVQs on offer with the GCVS SVQ centre, a report from Joseph Rowntree Foundation on the child poverty attainment gap as well as the usual events, resources and publications.
We'd love to feature your news. If you have anything you would like to share with us and Glasgow's Third Sector please contact our
editorial team.
Best wishes,
Liz McEntee, GCVS Head of External Relations
News
Community Jobs Fund Open
Community Jobs Scotland is again open for applications from third sector employers. Community Jobs Scotland (CJS) aims to create 1,400 jobs to support young unemployed people by the end of March 2015. CJS is a Scottish Government funded programme that:-
- supports young unemployed people to develop the skills required to enable them to enter sustainable employment
- supports the development of third sector organisations
Since starting in 2011 Community Jobs Scotland has created 4550 jobs providing meaningful paid employment in the third sector.
More...
£2m Funding for Vulnerable Young People
The Scottish Government has announced that CashBack for Communities funding of more than £2m will be used to create life-changing opportunities for vulnerable young people in Scotland.
The money, which is confiscated from criminals, will be distributed by YouthLink Scotland to projects that assist vulnerable young people in Scotland to a more positive future, by offering skills, activities and training and a place to turn to when experiencing difficulties with their lives.
More...
Commonwealth Games Update
Extra tickets will go on sale for Glasgow’s Commonwealth Games on Monday 12
th May and a Stakeholder Engagement event will take place on 27
th May for which limited spaces are available. Funding is still available for the next two rounds of Active Places legacy fund, and Glasgow 2014, the Commonwealth Games Federation and UNICEF are working together in an exciting partnership that will transform the lives of children in Scotland and throughout the Commonwealth.
More...
GCVS Member Discount on CPP Seminars
CPP Seminars Scotland is a social enterprise whose main purpose is to design and deliver 1/2 day seminars on topical themes and create networking opportunities covering a range of social policy issues. GCVS members have been extended a 15% discount on the delegate fees of a range of seminars in June:-
- Scotland's Workforce Future
- Reshaping Care For Older People
- Self Directed Support & Children's Services
- Guardianship – Enabling Or Restricting?
Find our more…
Glasgow Community Planning Audit Published
Audit Scotland has published their findings following the ‘best value’ audit of Glasgow Community Planning Partnership. While the report finds that the partnership in Glasgow has a clear sense of purpose and direction for tackling some of the city's deep-seated social and economic problems, they make a number of recommendations on how Community Planning in the city can be improved.
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Commission on Strengthening Local Democracy
The Commission on Strengthening Local Democracy has published an interim report, setting out the findings from consultation activity and research undertaken since the onset of the project. The Commission, set up by the President of COSLA, Councillor David O’Neill, recognised the need to restore trust, confidence and participation in Scottish democracy.
More...
Third Sector Forum News
The Forum's governing body, the Third Sector Executive Committee, has set clear priorities for the year ahead, including continuing to improve relationships with public sector colleagues and ensuring the Third Sector influences the SOA. Visit the forum website to read the action plan, information about concessionary rents in the city and to sign up for their newsletter.
More...
Significant Child Poverty Attainment Gap
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has launched a new report that raises serious concerns about the child poverty attainment gap in Scotland, describing it as "persistent and significant". The report was produced by Strathclyde University and claims that children from poorer families 'start to fall behind better off peers from age three'. This gap widens as they get older and impacts into adult life.
Read more...
Everyone's Children Research
GCVS has commissioned an important piece research as a key element of our
Everyone’s Children project to support the development of third sector and community support for children, young people and their families in Glasgow, in line with the Getting It Right for Every Child (GIRFEC) agenda. The research aims to explore what communities and voluntary organisations are currently doing in the city, how involved they are in planning services and what they need to strengthen their organisations and their work. FMR Research are undertaking the research and are conducting an online survey and in-depth qualitative interviews with key organisations delivering services in the city. We appreciate you taking the time to provide the research team with your experience, insights and opinions. The results of the survey will be collated and a report presented at an event in the summer. The report will then be used to inform the content of a draft action plan for supporting third sector organisations in Glasgow to play a greater role in supporting the delivery of GIRFEC in Glasgow.
UK Hunger Crisis Concerns Health Professionals
170 leading health professionals have published an open letter in the Lancet medical journal calling on Prime Minister David Cameron to instigate an independent working group to monitor nutrition and hunger in the UK.
More...
Call for Cumulative Impact of Welfare Research
A report published by the UK Parliament Social Security Advisory Committee calls on the Government to undertake research on the cumulative impact of welfare reform. The report refutes Government claims that it is too difficult to measure the cumulative impact of reforms on particular groups or household types and makes a number of recommendations which include assessing the effect that the reforms have had on disabled people. While the Government claims that many of the reforms are designed to enact behavioural change and to get people into employment, it is too early to say whether this approach has been successful, however there is plenty of evidence of the negative impact the reforms have had on people living on low incomes. Research by the Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion cited in the report found that the average loss per claimant was between £1,500 and £1,650 per year.
More...
Employer's Advice - Early Conciliation Compulsory Before Tribunals
From 6
th May 2014, workers who wish to bring an Employment Tribunal claim must now, in most cases, first contact Acas. This starts a process called early conciliation (EC). Neither the employee nor the employer is obliged to actually participate in conciliation, but Acas will try to facilitate this, and the employee cannot proceed to the Employment Tribunal without receiving an EC certificate from Acas.
From 6
th April, when EC was available on an optional basis, Acas received around 4,000 EC applications and 98% of these were willing to explore a settlement. Further information is available from the
ACAS website.
Office Space Available at the Albany
GCVS has space for rental at our Albany Centre, situated just five minutes from Glasgow city centre. Find out about flexible, competitive rental packages with added benefits such as access to I.T. and administrative support on site, our Albany Café, discounted training and meeting rooms. Interested? Please contact Maureen McMillan for an informal chat, or to request a viewing on 0141 332 2444.
Funded SVQ Opportunities at GCVS
GCVS has funding for staff to complete SVQ qualifications at no cost to the organisation. The SVQ’s we have available at full funding is as follows:
- Business Administration SVQ level 3 for 16 – 19 year old
- Youth Work SVQ level 3 for 20 – 24 year old
If you have any staff who are working in the relevant role, and you wish to take advantage of this funding please contact Susie Kennedy at
Susie.kennedy@gcvs.org.uk or on 0141 332 2444.
IT Assistant Internship
GCVS is recruiting for an IT intern through the Equality Internship Programme. The role involves assisting in developing a Disaster Recovery Plan for the organisation including some improvements to systems, security and back up. Applicants must hold a SCQF Level 8+ qualification (equivalent to an HND, first degree, SVQ Level4), be unemployed; either in the first 12 months of a benefit claim (pre-Work Programme) or 2 years+ (post-Work Programme) or unemployed and not claiming benefits.
More..
What's on at the Albany Centre
The Albany provides first-rate training and customised learning, tailored to meet the needs managers, staff, volunteers and board-members, and delivered by experts in the sector’s particular needs.
The Albany also functions as a welcoming, fully equipped venue for meetings, events and conferences. Find out more about
venue hire on our website.
Coming up in May & June
Getting it Right for Children, Families and Communities.
29th May 9.00-12.45pm
The aims of the event are to bring together voluntary/third sector organisation in the North West of Glasgow who work with children, young people and their families in order to share information about what they are doing in the context of policies like Getting It Right For Every Child and explore the potential for more co-ordinated third sector approaches to meeting local needs.
Book...
New Community Activity Programme
Our
latest programme brings you a vibrant range of activities for the local Woodlands community and beyond. Activities include:-
- Metafit classes
- NLP and Hypnosis
- Children and Baby First Aid
- Children's Akido
- Hearing Loss Clinic
May Training Courses
Managing challenging situations Monday 19 May
Designed for managers, supervisors and team leaders, this interactive course aims to develop the skills required to manage the challenges of people management.
Minute taking Wednesday 21 May
This course will be very practical and you should bring meeting notes or minutes that you have already drafted, for reviewing and redrafting during the course.
Costing & Pricing Your Services - Thursday 22 May
This practical 1-day course demonstrates how to go about costing your services and having done that, what you need to consider in order to accurately price those services.
Presentation Skills Wednesday 28 May
A one day course that is essential for anyone who has to make formal presentations as part of their work and will have particular appeal to participants presenting to funders through competitive processes.
Video for the web Thursday 29 May
Learn how to plan, shoot, edit and upload video online. Video can be a powerful tool for third sector organisations to bring their work to life.
More Events in Glasgow's Third Sector
University of Strathclyde Food for Thought Seminar
21 May 2014
Food based research and training for carers of looked after young children. The rituals and practices surrounding food are often taken-for-granted and enmeshed in our everyday lives and memories. Food can be a powerful symbol of care and of our relationships to others. This presentation discusses the key findings and subsequent training package from our project on food and residential child care which emphasised the ways food, and the practices surrounding it, can hold symbolic and emotional power. This seminar is free but booking is essential. If you would like to attend please email Jan Bissett jan.bissett@strath.ac.uk to reserve a place.
More...
Recovery Scotland Conference
Thursday 29 May 2014
Recovery Scotland 2014 is a conference and exhibition for all those delivering the Scottish government's Road to Recovery strategy for tackling drug and alcohol addiction. This key event will examine the challenges facing individuals and organisations, and help attendees identify opportunities for making positive progress.
Recovery Scotland 2014 provides an up-to-date overview of the achievements and challenges facing those committed to delivering the Scottish Government’s The Road to Recovery drugs strategy, and to making sustainable recovery a reality. The three main themes of this year’s event are PREVENTION, RECOVERY, and PROTECTION.
More...
Learning Network West AGM and Conference
Tuesday 10th June 2014
Learning Network West is delighted to invite the Institute for Research and Innovation in Social
Services (IRISS) to delivery this workshop, Robert Rae of IRISS will host:
IRISS is conducting a year-long scenario project, Imagining the Future, exploring the nature of
social services in 2025 and the potential impacts on the workforce. As part of this work the
Imagining the Future team have been undertaking a range of community-based and professional
workshops to inform the evidence base, before the scenarios are written, over the summer.
This brief workshop will sketch out the emerging findings from the ITF project; challenge us to
consider what we believe is driving change in the coming decade; and, help us identify some of
the barriers and opportunities we must face in the short and medium term.
This will be an all-day event.
Download programme...
Refugee Week Programme
16-22nd June
Refugee Week is a UK-wide festival of arts, cultural and educational events that takes place each June and celebrates the contribution of refugees to the UK, and encourages a better understanding between communities.
In Scotland, the programme is co-ordinated by Scottish Refugee Council and includes a vibrant mix of theatre, dance, exhibitions, film screenings, sports, seminars and community celebrations, which are held all over the country.
Browse the programme..
Policy & consultations
Scottish Government Publications
Children and Young People
Equality
Europe
Electoral Reform
Health and Community Care
Justice
