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Support the
sector to survive and thrive
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We provided advice and guidance to many local charities and
voluntary and community groups on a range of subjects such as
funding, appropriate legal structures, policies and succession
planning. In addition our HR service continues to support groups
and organisations with complex and sensitive issues. Our payroll
service continues to be a much needed and valued service by many
groups and organisations.
·
Communication
& Engagement
- Our Voluntary Voice and York Bulletin newsletters provide regular
updates on what is happening in York and also give an opportunity
for organisations to share their news and raise awareness of
volunteering opportunities and activity. They are distributed to
over 1400 recipients. In addition, our social media presence
supports the sector through communicating with key partners and
colleagues. We have increased to 4,320 followers, as well as being
the lead on a new service, Comoodle, which helps to support the
sector through sharing ‘Stuff, Space and Skills.’ This
year we continued to support the development of the Live Well York
site and were pleased to see the formal launch in March
2019.
·
We continue to promote People Helping People working in
partnership with others. The ESAP programme aims to support the
sector to understand how we can measure social action and impact
volunteering in York. This work continues.
·
We have provided support via our Chair, Chief Executive and HR to
organisations who are facing challenges. We provided a range of
advice including staffing, recruitment, employment law, funding and
governance advice, as well as specific support for
individuals.
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Represent the
sector and provide a voice
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·
Over the year we delivered four Forums (Mental Health, Ageing Well,
Learning Difficulties and Voluntary Sector) in each quarter,
attended by over 300 people from the Voluntary and Community
Sector. As well as providing a space for information sharing,
reviewing good practice and networking, the Forums also feed into
various boards, including the JSNA Working Group, Learning
Disability Partnership, Ageing Well Partnership and Mental Health
Partnership.
·
York CVS continues to be a senior member of several key Partnership
Boards including those mentioned above and the York Health and
Wellbeing Board and Children’s and Adults’ Safeguarding
Boards. These are important to ensure the Voluntary and Community
Sector have a voice in how services are developed and
run.
·
We were an active partner when the Care Quality Commission returned
to York in November to review actions agreed during their visit in
the previous year.
·
Our AGM in December 2018 was very well attended as we introduced
our new CEO and celebrated the diversity of volunteering across
York.
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Deliver services
with a social impact
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·
Ways to Wellbeing
is our social prescribing service. The model is simple and highly
effective. Our focus is on working creatively, pragmatically, and
flexibly to identify non-medical options that can improve
wellbeing. We draw on opportunities in the community, grants,
information and advice, informal resources and peer support. We
know that nationally, 20-25% of
patients consult their GPs for social problems, e.g. loneliness
– there is no pill to combat loneliness, but projects such as
this can help connect people to their communities and this does
help. GPs also benefit from the service; our recent evaluation
showed a 30% reduction in GP appointments by those patients
accessing the service.
·
York Dementia Action Alliance has
made good progress in its task to make York a great place to live
for people with dementia and their loved-ones. Due to reduced
funding the staff time was limited to one day per week from August
2018 to 31 March 2019. Nevertheless, the DAA continued to support
its network of over 50 public, private and third sector
organisations, all working towards making York a dementia friendly
city. The DAA newsletter has been a particular success, becoming a
valuable (and importantly, independent) dementia information
resource for the sector. YDAA ran a number of events throughout
2018/19, including working group workshops, community events in
Poppleton and Chapelfields, and single-issue events. We held the
inaugural York Dementia Action awards in September 2018. A
highlight has been our excellent working relationship with the
Local Area Coordinators, who are important partners in providing
opportunities for people to gain access to information and advice,
as well as raising awareness of how local ward areas can become
more inclusive for people living with dementia.
Throughout
the year, YDAA has consulted and included people who have dementia,
in line with our core principle of seeking out, listening to and
amplifying the voice of people who have the disability.
·
Healthwatch York
was set up by the Government in April 2013 to help put people at
the heart of health and social care services. It is designed to
make sure that an individual’s voice can influence the
design, delivery and review of local services. At Healthwatch York,
we share people’s views and concerns about health and social
care services to stakeholder organisations and providers, and
provide information about local services, signposting people to the
services they need both at community information stands and via
email and phone. Every year we produce reports on health and care
issues, which we present to York’s Health and Wellbeing
Board. We make recommendations to the Board to improve the local
health and care system. In 2018-19 our focus was on access to
lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans+ (LGBT+) experiences of health and
social care services in York. We expect an update on how
organisations are implementing our recommendations early in
2019-20.
·
Ready for Anything
focussed on maintaining the volunteers who are ready to act in the
case of emergency in York. During the year we worked with the
North Yorkshire Resilience Forum to align their newly funded Ready
for Anything service with the York service. From 1 April
2019, the North Yorkshire project will include York and our
involvement will continue by providing the Priory Street Centre as
a rest centre as and when needed.
·
Time to Change
continued to operate this year albeit at a reduced level.
This is part of a national campaign to end mental health
discrimination. In York, we have focussed on raising awareness of
the campaign, and enabling people with lived experience to share
their thoughts and ideas. In 2019, a reinvigorated staff team will
enable us to drive this project further and recruit a team of local
Champions to help us deliver this work.
·
Growing Green Spaces
helps voluntary and community groups to play a vital role in
sustaining York’s green spaces. We have set up projects in
Hull Road Park, Rowntree Park, West Bank Park, Clarence Gardens and
Glen Gardens with teams of volunteers from across the
City.
·
York Human Rights City Network continued
to support the development of York as a Human Rights City. We
declared York as the UK’s first Human Rights City in April
2017 where the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor of York, Cllr Dave
Taylor, signed a declaration, making York the first city to
undertake this.
·
Safe Places Scheme
funded by York BID this scheme officially launched in August 2018
with the aim of providing a go-to place for vulnerable people if
they feel at risk while they are out and about in York. Staff in
Safe Places connect them to assistance and offer a safe space to
wait until help arrives. So far there are 19 registered Safe Places
in York such as HSBC, York Theatre Royal, Spurriergate Centre and
Lush.
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Sustain our
organisational strength
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·
During the period we have gone through considerable staffing
changes and a restructure of the organisation to bring us into
financial balance from April 2019. We successfully recruited
a new Chief Executive, Head of Finance, Executive Assistant,
project workers for Dementia Action Alliance, Time to Change, Ways to Wellbeing, Communications and
Engagement, Funding and Development, and a Deputy Chief
Executive.
·
The Priory Street Nursery had a routine Ofsted
inspection, and was graded ‘Good’ in all
areas.
·
The Priory Street Conference Centre continues
to cater for the meeting needs of a diverse range of customers from
small local charities and community groups meeting in one of our
small rooms to larger organisations requiring our Main Hall for a
full conference or AGM. We make efforts to attract private
sector clients too and they are charged a premium to the VCSE
sector so that we can keep their rates affordable.
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25
June 2019