Welcome to our early June bulletin, with updates on the Tower Hamlets Food Partnership, our next Health and Wellbeing Network on 25th June. #BlackLivesMatter Tower Hamlets is one of the most diverse local authority areas in the country. At THCVS, we value the breadth of our borough’s diversity. We are shocked and appalled by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis which took place more than a week ago, and stand in solidarity with those protesting peacefully against racism across London. There is #NoPlaceForHate in Tower Hamlets.
Tower Hamlets Council light up Bromley Town Hall in memory of George Floyd
Health Updates
Test and Trace THCVS is working with our partners at the council, NHS and others through the Tower Hamlets Together partnership to support the NHS Test and Trace programme. As more details of how test and trace is delivered locally, you will find more information here
See here for NHS information about track and trace. Call for Covid 19 Response Partners to Test a Community Connector Model in Tower Hamlets East London NHS Foundation Trust are inviting local voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations to come forward to lead the development of a new ‘community connector’ role in Tower Hamlets. This new role/function will play an integral part in our new care model though multi-disciplinary teams, which will support people with serious mental illness to be connected into their local community. Organisations are invited to work with us for the next 8-10 months to both deliver this function, and to help with the design of our new model of care in order to help us ensure our final operating model is based on the feedback of our service users, citizens, professionals, and partner organisations. Find out more about the ‘Community Connectors’ here
Respond to a short questionaire here
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) usage in the voluntary sector THCVS is working with our Public Health partners at the council to understand better the needs of the voluntary sector and their usage of PPE with a view to providing training and support to the sector. Many of us will be working directly with members of the public – providing food and other essentials, home visits, centre-based activities, and will be concerned about doing this safely. We are keen to hear from groups about the concerns they have about using of PPE in your setting. If you have experience of using PPE, want support in how to properly use PPE, or have questions relating to PPE, please get in touch to alison.robert@thcvs.org.uk
THCVS Events Health and Wellbeing Forum: Personalisation, Thursday 25th June 2020 from 10am to 12pm on Zoom Book here
THCVS and the health and wellbeing steering group have been planning this quarters Health and wellbeing forum on Personalisation. This is an opportunity for the sector to find out about how the move to personalised budgets can create opportunities and challenges. This approach gives opportunities to strengthen co-production and align services innovations to future commissioning. National Lottery COVID-19 Fund – Q&A session, Thursday 11th June 2020 from 2pm to 2.30pm This bite sized session will explore the new fund and help answer questions you may have. Sign up here
We’d like, if you have time, for you to · Read the Guidance · Begin an application online (even if your answers are just bullet points at this stage) · As this way we think it will help you think of the questions you want to ask/share thoughts on as a group. Here is the link for everything you need External events and information Yoga for Life are running free online yoga sessions There are three online courses; Caring for Cancer to support people with cancer to reconnect body and mind; Community Class to help residents release stress and anxiety and connect to inner positivity; Breathing through COVID-19, a deeply therapeutic practise is aimed at those who are in recovery from Covid 19, people with asthma, people suffering from anxiety and those who would like to work their respiratory muscles and keep their lungs strong. Find out more here
Virtual Communications - The way forward for Community engagement? Free webinar with Bromley by Bow Centre on Tuesday 9 June at 12:00-13:00 This webinar will be the occasion to share our experiences and discuss key challenges and opportunities of communicating with our community via virtual means. Find out more here
Tower Hamlets Food Partnership THCVS is working with our partners to deliver a Holiday Hunger programme over the summer. The aim of the programme will be to provide a range of support to children and families during the summer holiday period. Children from disadvantaged families less likely to access organised out-of-school activities, more likely to experience ‘unhealthy holidays’ in terms of nutrition and physical health, and more likely to experience social isolation. THCVS will be updating you via our bulletin as the programme develops. In the meantime we recommend you check in with the WEN Food Digest – local information on support accessing food in Tower Hamlets:
BETTER SAFE COMMUNITIES (a social enterprise for public good) SUPPORT SERVICES Better Safe Communities are offering a range of free vocational courses in construction, fitness, health and care, and beauty training. Alongside their extensive offer for training and employment, they are also offering free legal support through Legal Remedy Centre see here for more
More information email: bettersafe.community001@gmail.com Heads Out ELOP are offering a dedicated LGBT mental health crisis prevention and wellbeing support service. It is aimed at any LGBT+ resident who is struggling with mental health, which may include experiencing low mood, or depression; anxiety and intrusive thoughts; thinking about suicide or self-harm; and/ or experience hallucinations etc. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this service will run remotely using an online encrypted video and audio platform called Zoom. LGBT+ residents can access this service by contacting mentalhealth@elop.org
Funding Opportunities Tower Hamlets Small Grants Programme – Deadline: 22 June 2020 and 28th September 2020 The Tower Hamlets small grants programme is currently accepting applications. If you would like to apply, and need support, THCVS staff can discuss your proposal with you, support you plan your project, provide you with feedback on your draft bids. Find out more here
If you would like to access support with your bid, please email us on info@thcvs.org.uk
Heritage Emergency Fund Small and large grants ranging £3,000-£250,000 are available to manage heritage assets at risk over the next 4 months or longer. More here. Deadline: 30 June National Lottery COVID-19 Emergency Fund This new funding stream makes available £200m in Government funding that will be aimed primarily at small to medium organisations in England. The Fund has two key objectives: To increase community support to vulnerable people affected by the COVID-19 crisis, through the work of civil society organisations. To reduce temporary closures of essential charities and social enterprises, ensuring services for vulnerable people impacted by COVID-19 have the financial resources to operate, and so reduce the burden on public services. Grants will allow organisations to meet service costs, where they are experiencing increased demand and/or short-term income disruption. Grants will also allow organisations to refocus services to address more immediate beneficiary needs in light of COVID-19. More information here
Jobs Community Partnerships Officer, Location: Tower Hamlets, E1, Salary: £35,637 - £38,403, Closing: Wednesday 17 June 2020 Tower Hamlets Homes are recruiting a Community Partnerships Officer, to join their successful award winning Community Partnerships Team to deliver on their Community Investment Strategy.
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