Chase and Kings Forest Community Project

What We Do

 

We are a local infrastructure organisation providing support to the community and voluntary sector in the Chase and Kings Forest area. Whether the group is a small club, charity, association, community interest company, social enterprise or Trust, we offer advice and training in the governance and management of the organisation, operations, funding, business planning and development and volunteering.

 

We operate in the Chase and Kings Forest area which includes:

Kingswood, Staple Hill, Cadbury Heath, Longwell Green, Hanham, Soundwell, Blackhourse, Emersons Green, Mangotsfield, Bromley Heath, Oldland, Vinney Green Norton End, Marshfield, Bitton, Upton Cherney, Wick, Pucklechurch, Warmley,Siston, Downend, Willsbridge, West Littleton, Shortwood and Doynton.

 

This includes the following wards:

Kings Chase, Oldland Common, Hanham, Siston, Parkwall, Bitton, Longwell Green, Woodstock, Rodway, Downend.

 

The services we offer are as follows:

 

Organisational Health Checks

 

The organisational health check scheme is currently being piloted with four areas of work being check listed. These are:

1. Leadership and Governance

2. Financial Management

3. Business Planning and Sustainability

4. Sustainable Fundraising

 

The Locality Worker will work through the checklist with the organisation’s Chair and/or Senior Manager and will also offer advice, guidance and resources to support the development of the organisation in the areas that the health check has identified.

 

The full scheme will be launched in early Summer 2012 with the other areas including:

1. People Management

2. Managing Your Organisation

3. Social Enterprise

4. Volunteering

5. Environmental Sustainability

6. Communication

7. Monitoring and Evaluation

 

Linked to this is a training program and advice on policies which affect the sector. This program will be delivered to groups on a one to one basis and in network groups. Please check our ebulletins for further information on network opportunities.

 

Volunteer Service

 

We run a volunteer brokerage service currently called Volunteer Kingswood which is has focused on the Kingswood, Staple Hill and Cadbury Heath areas in the past but will now be expanded out across the whole Chase and Kings Forest locality to provide individuals with a range of volunteer opportunities and to provide support to organisations to take on volunteers.

 

For individuals we will provide you with access to volunteer opportunities based on your motivation and goals for volunteering. Outreach sessions will be held in public venues such as the local library where you can meet with someone from our service, find out more and talk to them about any questions you have.

 

For organizations, you can advertise volunteer opportunities on our database and can offer support and advice around taking on volunteers such as good practice, management, expectations volunteers may have, recruitment and policies.

 

For further information, please visit our web site www.volunteeringkingswood.org.uk

 

Did you know that the Chase and Kings Forest Community Project has a variety of volunteering opportunities in a wide range of work including research, marketing, database development, administration and volunteering? Please go to our Volunteering Opportunities page here.

 

From Jan 2012-March 2012, we will be delivering a service whilst we recruit a Volunteer Coordinator, but we may not have the capacity to respond as quickly as we like to enquiries. Please would you bear with us during this temporary situation and if you can help out or are interested in becoming a Volunteer Volunteer Worker, then please do get in touch and contact Rachel Barfoot at email: rachel.barfoot@cvs-sg.org.uk Tel. 0117 960 4186

 

Community Development

 

We currently employ a part time Community Development Worker to provide support to groups delivering activities or services to local residents. This work tends to be with smaller groups providing development support on a one to one basis to achieve small changes which make a big impact.

 

Recently we have worked with the Mavis Friendship Group to find funding for their transport and publicity and the Kingsway Dance Club to advertise what they are doing.

 

This work is currently funded to the end of March 2012 but we are waiting for a funding decision for work which will focus on the Priority Neighbourhoods, or Communities of Untapped Potential as we prefer to call them, in Kingswood, Staple Hill and Cadbury Heath, to help develop existing and new groups, work with equalities groups to support them to engage and participate in local activities.

 

Training

 

In 2012 are offering a program of training through CVS South Gloucestershire. The program can be accessed here and will be added to throughout the year.

 

We also offer signposting to training provided by other providers. This is purely an information service which means that we are identifying and signposting you to a published training course and cannot recommend or endorse the training that is being offered by the external party, although we will only signpost you to organisations with a good reputation in the sector.

 

Please read your ebulletin for further information and updates.

 

Network Meetings

 

Throughout the year there will be a number of network meetings which provide organisations in our area to meet other organisations who may be doing similar things, share best practice and resources and access expertise.

 

In 2012 we are seeking to launch a number of new networks or forums based around themes such as young people, older people, children and families, equalities, community buildings, health and wellbeing, crime and rehabilitation, communities of untapped potential, skills and employment, faith groups and the environment.

 

Please see our timetable of events which will be published in Spring 2012.

 

Newsletter and Information Bulletin

 

We are funded to provide a six monthly news letter and quarterly e-bulletins with e-alerts on important information for the sector as it arises. We will also promote our services through the email to keep you up to date with resources on offer.

 

In the past we have produced four news letters per year and are currently seeking £2,000 funding to enable us to continue to provide this to local groups and organisations. If you can help out in contributing towards this, please contact Dawn Chalenor Email: dawn@chasekingsforestcp.org.uk Tel. 0117 960 4186

 

Voice and Influence

 

Chase and Kings Forest Community Project participate in a number of networks with other community voluntary sector organisations and South Gloucestershire Council and other statutory agencies. We are also members of the Voluntary Sector Leaders Board. Please do talk to us about any issue that affects yours and may affect other community and voluntary sector organisations. Our ebulletins will invite you to participate in South Gloucestershire wide and Chase and Kings Forest locality events and networks.

 

Membership

 

Membership of the Chase and Kings Forest Community Project area is. open to groups and organisations who are based in the locality of the Chase and Kings Forest. For a definition and map of this area please link below to the membership web page.

 

Membership is currently free and presently offers the following benefits:

 

Our membership offer will be reviewed in 2012. For more information and to join our membership scheme, please follow the link here.

 

Sector Annual Survey

 

Each year in November we mail out our annual sector survey to all known community voluntary sector organizations in the Chase and Kings Forest area. The other locality organisations including CVS South Gloucestershire, Southern Brooks Community Partnership and the South West Faith Forum, will also contact the groups known to them so that we can collect as much data as we can on organizations and their needs across the South Gloucestershire area. This information will then be used to advise us of local needs so that we can tailor our training and support services to be relevant and appropriate for groups. We can also inform groups of useful or relevant information which may benefit their organisation.

 

We want to take this opportunity to thank all the groups who responded to the 2011 survey request and plan to publish some of the findings about the local sector in 2012.

 

 

 

 


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