Wednesday 25 October / 10:00am to 1:00pm / The Green House, 244-254 Cambridge Heath Road, E2 9DA

If you work in the VCSE sector, you know how unpredictable and unstable funding can be. By diversifying your income streams, organisations can increase their financial sustainability & flexibility.This half day session will cover:

• Different forms of funding
• Crowdfunding
• The Contracts and Commissioning process in Tower Hamlets
• Building Connections with Corporates

The event is now full but if you would like to attend, please contact alison.robert@thcvs.org.uk

Thursday 19 October / 10:00am to 12:30pm / Online and in person / Tower Hamlets Professional Development Centre, 229 Bethnal Green Road, E2 6AB

Join us to better understand the puzzle of local health and care services and who is doing what and how the VCS can influence.

Throughout October, Tower Hamlets have a vibrant programme of events across the borough to celebrate Black History Month. This ranges from exhibitions to screenings, from talks to music events, from walks to theatre and far more. For the full programme of events, check out LBTH's What’s On page or download the brochure.

Preview: Thursday 5 October / 6.00 to 8.00pm / Brady Arts Centre, 192-196 Hanbury Street, E1 5HU

Exhibition continues 6 to 28 October / Monday to Friday 10.00am to 7.00pm & Saturday 10.00am to 4.00pm

Asiko, Fatima Ali, Rio Blake, Samantha Brown, Raymond Daley, Tzion Essel, Taishan Henry, Tanesha Lewis, Trisha McCauley, Mohamed Mohamud, Olufemi Olaiya Nicholas Olawunmi, Keleenna Onyeaka and Stefan Pyne.

Do you live in Tower Hamlets and want to share your views on the Cost of Living? If yes, then we have a great opportunity for you! The Tower Hamlets Equalities Networks in partnership with Tower Hamlets Together are running a survey to find out how the cost of living affects you and your community. Your feedback will help us improve health services and make a difference.

The survey is open to anyone who is 18 or older and lives in Tower Hamlets. You can choose to do it anonymously or give us your contact details. If you do, you'll receive a £20 voucher that you can spend in many shops. The survey will be open until the end of September 2023.

The Limehouse Project and Women Inclusive Team are jointly working to develop and coordinate the first ever Ethnic Minority Network in Tower Hamlets. The Aim of the Network is to raise the profile of the local BAME communities, share ideas and explore current issues.We aim to build a strong and supportive Network and become a resource for local BAME communities.

If you would like to join the Tower Hamlets Ethnic Minority Network, attend meetings and receive regular newsletters please complete the form here.

The Equalities Hub is key to the new direction for the Council’s equalities provision, providing a central strategic focus, responding to the community’s needs and issues. The Hub will be vital to bringing about a more coordinated approach to equalities in the borough. If you want to find out more on how to get involved or if you have information you would like to share with the networks please get in touch.

Join Rooted Finance to create a model for systematic change in the advice sector. Designed and delivered by Rooted Finance and Money A and E, the ‘Grow Your Own Advice Incubator programme is a pioneering workforce development programme. It aims to support diverse London-based community organisations to ‘grow their own’ advice workers. This programme, funded by Propel, and coordinated by the London Legal Support Trust addresses the gap in provision of community-based debt and welfare advice, particularly for Londoners from diverse ethnic communities.

Organisations will identify and nominate staff or volunteers to participate in the extensive training programme of learning, placements and ongoing supervision.

If you believe your organisation could benefit from this programme, Rooted Finance are asking for an Expression of Interest for consideration to be submitted by 12noon on Wednesday 18 October.

Multiple dates available: Wednesday 18 October / Monday 6 NovembeR / Tuesday 28 November / Wednesday 13 December / Online

The Training Hub has introduced new dates for this two-hour introductory course on delivering compassionate support to people seeking sanctuary in NEL. They are keen to invite local health and care teams to enhance awareness and understanding of the challenges encountered by people seeking sanctuary. With new dispersal accommodations being opened all around London, this training will equip staff with the necessary tools and knowledge to support the integration of asylum seekers into the community. The training will be delivered in collaboration with REAP (Refugees in Effective and Active Partnership).

Multiple dates available: Tuesday 24 October / Wednesday 22 November  / Friday 15 December / Online

NEL Training Hub is pleased to announce new dates for the popular Introduction to Trans Awareness programme, designed for all staff working across North East London. This introductory session, delivered by Gendered Intelligence covers the following areas to develop understanding and empathy for those interacting with Trans identities:

• Setting the wider context for Trans identities - how sex, gender, and sexual orientation interact
• Exploring key terms and the use of language
• Providing a basic grounding in the legislation surrounding the rights and responsibilities related to Trans identities
• Initiating discussions on how organisations can ensure they are trans-inclusive
• Offering links to a wide range of resources

Survey Deadline: Friday 20 October

Care and support for people at the end of life needs to be delivered with compassion and care. NHS NEL are inviting those with experience of end of life or palliative care to give their views. This may be from their own personal experience, their experiences caring for a family member, or from a bereavement in the last year. This may include children, young people, as well as adults. The aim is to further understand the things that help and the things that don’t, so that NHS NEL can make services more sensitive to people’s differing needs, cultures and circumstances.

Paper based surveys are also available from the main libraries and Age UK offices in north east London. Your views will be analysed anonymously. If you have any questions or you need the survey in a different format please email nelondonicb.nelcommunications@nhs.net or call us on 020 8221 5500.

Toynbee Hall and Thrive LDN are looking for people to join them to investigate the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on young people and their emotional support needs. The purpose of this research is to explore the impact the cost-of-living crisis has had on young people, particularly their family relationships and the emotional support young people are able to receive.

You must be 19-22 years old and living in Tower Hamlets to participate, or be a carer or parent for someone currently aged 19-22 and living in Tower Hamlets. You will receive £30 for participating in a workshop.

Tower Hamlets Council is investing £13.7 million into developing an exciting new youth service 'Young Tower Hamlets' for young people aged from 11-19 and up to 25 with SEND across the borough.

As part of the design process LBTH have already collected a range of opinions and comments from over 900 young people, where they have shared what they think a modern, dynamic youth service should look like. Now, they are seeking the views of parents, carers and caregivers. LBTH would like to know what you think the new Youth Service should offer young people and what that offer should look like.

Sunday 15 October @ 10.30am

Join Nour for a 'rejuvenating walk in nature' in a London park, for gentle exercise and relaxed connection with others. To keep this a safe walk for female survivors of abuse, Nour will share the exact location only with those who have registered, and their identities verified. This walk is open to women who are 18 years and older. The walk will be for 1.5 hours. Please note this is a child free event

To register, please email support@nour.org.uk. Nour have been gifted DLR travel cards for this walk as you will be travelling by train to a London park.

Deadline for samples: Tuesday 17 October

OITIJ-JO Collective, are looking for 10 local preservers / fermenters / picklers to display their produce at the Open Day of their Bottling Futures project.

The Open Day will take place on Thursday 9 November 2023 at Poplar Union. If you are interested for yourself or you know someone who does this, they would love to hear from you - please contact Rahema Khatun Rahema@oitijjo.org. They will require one sample of maximum of 250gm to be with them by Tuesday 17 October.

This project is supported by: WEN, Just Fact, National Lottery Heritage Fund and National Lottery players.

Wednesday 1 November / 2.00 to 5.30pm / Clark Kennedy Lecture Theatre, 5 Walden St. E1 2EF

ELFT’s Research and Innovation Team, in collaboration with City, University of London, Queen Mary, University of London and University College London, is pleased to be opening registration for the annual Research and Innovation @ ELFT Conference. The Clark Kennedy Lecture Theatre at the Queen Mary Innovation Centre in Whitechapel will host the afternoon of panel discussions on all aspects of healthcare research, studies and academic partnerships.

Thursday 7 December / 1.30 to 3.00pm / Online

The time has come again to join Tower Hamlets Together to celebrate the 2nd annual Tower Hamlets Together ‘Integrated Care’ Awards. This virtual event aims to celebrate the fantastic work accomplished over the last year which has not gone unnoticed. What do you need to do?

• Nominate an individual or team (one form per nomination).
• Please ensure that you submit nominations by 5pm Monday 6 November
• Please make sure that you register your place on Eventbrite 

Please click here for Award Categories and the nomination form.

Wednesday 8 November 2.00 to 3.00pm

Teen mothering was identified as a social and public health problem in the US beginning in the late 1970s as advocacy groups, policy makers, and researchers responded with alarm to the rise in ‘unwed’ teen pregnancies and births. Public and professional alarm intensified as study after study suggested that an early birth, in and of itself, derails the future of mother and child. Although this characterization was problematic from the start, an alarmist paradigm remains firmly entrenched in US professional and policy discourse.

This presentation provides an overview of the author’s 7-wave, 28-year, multigenerational study of teen mothers, and their parents and children. 

Young Mayor elections are taking place in December 2023 – don’t miss your chance to create change in Tower Hamlets. Apply to become a candidate before 1 October.

The Young Mayor represents young people across the borough and is elected every two years by young people who live, work or study in Tower Hamlets. Over the past few years, the Young Mayor elections have gained enormous momentum in engaging young people with local democracy and the world of politics in Tower Hamlets. All 13 to 17 year olds who live, work and study in Tower Hamlets are eligible to stand as young mayor. Click here for more details.

The Young Mayor and his/her deputies attend meetings with local councillors and decision makers. They also represent you at regional and national meetings.

Tuesday 31 October / 10.30am to 2.00pm /  Osmani Centre, 58 Underwood Rd, E1 5AW

• Are you a small charity/community group working with the Muslim community?
• Are you looking for ways to bring in more income?
• Want to know what funders look for in an application?

Meet the Funders London 2023 is a unique chance to meet and connect with mainstream funders, face to face, to discuss any potential projects, core costs, running costs, overheads, capital projects, or anything your charity wants funding for. This is your opportunity to achieve that objective! You will be able to speak directly to a variety of funders under one roof and network with other charities.

Aishah Help understands the challenges that women and girls face, especially during times of economic hardship and the rising cost of living. They are here to provide essential support to help women and girls navigate through these difficult times.

Aishah Help believes that no one should go hungry. Their organisation is dedicated to ensuring that women and girls and their children have access to nutritious food. Their supermarket voucher programme provides you with the means to purchase groceries, ensuring that you and your family have food on the table.

Deadline for expressions of interest: Monday 16 October 2023

Race and poverty in the UK are clearly linked. Black Londoners are twice as likely to be in poverty than white Londoners. In 2022 Trust for London launched a new racial justice fund with a focus on increasing economic empowerment in London’s Black and minoritised communities. They gave out £840,000 to six organisations under the first phase of funding. Applications for the second phase are now open.

The racial justice fund supports new and exciting ideas in Black and minoritised organisations that are working to increase incomes and wealth in local communities in London. Fund details:

• £4 million in total given out over two years
• Grants for up to five years
• Development grants available
• Flexible funding for core and/or project funding

Deadline: Monday 16 October 2023

The £76M Community Organisations Cost of Living Fund has been launched today (24 July 2023). The fund will support organisations across England to deliver critical frontline services. Organisations will be able to apply for funding to maintain or expand critical cost of living services from now until the end of March 2024.

Applications will be for amounts between £10,000 and £75,000. The funding is only open to frontline organisations running critical services in communities. The fund is part of the £100M for charities announced in the Spring Budget. It will be administered by the National Lottery Community Fund.

Deadline: Tuesday 7 November

Organisations can apply for up to £40,000 for local projects. What are the grants for?

Community Hub grants - this is for £1-10k grants, for projects that bring people together to learn about the food system and take action together. This could fund things like workshops in schools, growing/composting/cookery courses, supper clubs, conversation clubs, talks and screenings, food festivals, local campaigns, and more. Where funding goes is decided through a community voting process.
 
Community Lab grants - this is for £10-40k grants, for larger community-driven that help reduce carbon emissions from our food system. It could be things like increasing the productivity of food growing spaces, projects looking at more sustainable supply chains and transport, supporting food social enterprises, increasing sustainable processing of food waste, circular economy projects, increasing access to plant-based foods and more. It can build on something that's happening already. Where funding goes is decided by a panel. 

Deadline 16 November @ 5pm

‘Make it Big With Pathway Fund’ is a collaboration between Pathway Fund and social enterprise, Do it Now Now, aimed at empowering Black and Global Majority-led charities and social enterprises in the UK.

With a strong focus on climate and racial equity, as well as poverty alleviation and racial equity, this initiative will provide 12 deserving organisations with a £30,000 grant and tailored support. Together, we can be a catalyst for positive change.
Applications for the fund are now open.

Deadline: Friday 24 November @ 12 noon

This funding is for organisations to give extra support to young people in areas where they may be at risk of anti-social behaviour. The National Lottery Community Fund want to fund extra hours of youth work for additional activities that give these young people more places to go and positive things to do. This programme is funded by the Department of Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) and The National Lottery Community Fund. They can fund work with young people aged: 11 to 18 / 
up to 25 if they have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Funding size £30,000 to £100,000