Monday 20 November / 11.00am to 2.00pm / Granby Hall, 37 St Matthew's Row, E2 6DT

In the heart of Tower Hamlets, a pivotal dialogue is brewing. The BAME Disparities Project, presents a unique event designed to shed light on the challenges faced by ethnic minority led organisations in securing funding, leadership roles, and overcoming barriers. 

This event will offer a dynamic mix of panel discussions, workshops, and Q&A sessions. Participate actively and let your voice be heard. Connect with like-minded professionals, community leaders, and passionate individuals. This is your chance to expand your network and collaborate for meaningful change.

About the Organisers: The BAME Disparities Network is committed to bringing awareness to the challenges faced by ethnic minorities in Tower Hamlets. With the support of Tower Hamlets CVS, they aim to provide platforms for dialogue, collaboration, and change.

For more information, please email jennifer.ogunyemi@thcvs.org.uk

Every Tuesday 6.00 to 8.00pm / Toynbee Hall E1 6LS

Join elop's weekly LGBT+ Social Support group. It is a general social group and open to all over 18 to connect and talk! For more information & to sign up email events@elop.org.uk or call 07908 553744.

Monday 13 November from 3pm / Microsoft Teams

To learn how you can participate in the International Day of Persons with Disabilities grand event, join in for a brief call on 13 November. Please feel free to bring your ideas on how you would like to make use of the platform! Click here to join the meeting.

Thursday 7 December / 10.30am to 3.30pm / The Atrium centre, 124-126 Cheshire Street, E2 6EJ

International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IPDP) is fast approaching, and the Disabled People's Network (DPN) is as prepared as ever to celebrate this with you!

Celebrated annually on 3rd December, IDPD is all about promoting and raising awareness of the political, social, economic, and cultural aspects of the lives of persons with disabilities. Please email Subhiksha.manoj@apasen.org.uk to register. 

DPN is ready as ever to welcome residents of TH to learn more about the occasion and the services provided to the community within the borough

Tuesday 14 November / 6.00 to 8.00pm / Tramshed Community Hib, Digby Street, E2 0LS

Are you or those you support struggling with the cost of living crisis? As this crisis continues into another long winter, come along to hear about the support on offer, and to find out how groups in the borough are helping people and families that would otherwise go hungry.

Tower Hamlets remains one of the poorest boroughs in London, with one of the highest rates of poverty in the country. Come along to this Inter Faith Week event to find out about help that is available from the council, faith based and community groups, including warm spaces, emergency help and foodbanks.

With great speakers and a panel discussion on food insecurity, join in for some delicious food, discussion and browse the stalls held by local organisations. 

Tuesday 21 November / 10.00am to 12.00pm

elop’s LGBT+ Awareness Training is rated as a very good course. It will give you the knowledge to understand, support, and achieve positive outcomes for the LGBT+ community. Email training@elop.org for costings and to book your place.

Wednesday 29 November / 6.00 to 8.00pm / Positive East, 159 Mile End Road, E1 4AQ

Monthly forum for LGBT+ people (and allies) who live, work or study in Tower Hamlets to come together!

Tower Hamlets LGBT+ Community Forum would like to welcome anyone who is interested in getting involved to come along before the meeting from 5.30pm to find out more over a cup of tea. You are welcome to stay for the rest of the meeting.

Guest Speaker: Adam Khan is a multi-award-winning social activist and community organiser, who has a long history of working with marginalised communities. Adam will be speaking about their experiences as a community organiser and holding a conversation around trans awareness and trans inclusion. Adam is one of the founders of Trans Pride Birmingham.

Please email lgbtforum@elop.org to find out more.

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.

Thursday 9 November @2.00pm / Online

The Greater London Authority (GLA) and the London Communities Emergencies Partnership (LCEP) would like to invite you to join them for a virtual workshop focused on winter preparedness in London. This workshop is designed to bringtogether community, voluntary sector and faith groups plus local authority teams across London.

As we have seen with Storm Babet’s impact across the country, seasonal challenges mean we need to be prepared to respond to a range of different crises and needs. In order to help you best prepare your community for the winter period we will be joined by the UK Health Security Agency, Environment Agency, UK Power Networks and the Met Office to cover: Weather risks and flood risks, public health risks and cost of living response and support.

Wednesday 15 November / 9.30am to 12.00pm / 33 Aldgate High Street, 2nd Floor, EC3N 1DL

What is ESG? Environmental, Social, Governance - what do each of them mean and how are they relevant to your charity? Join ELBA's panel discussion and networking event led by ISG to learn more about ESG and how businesses are using it to measure impact. This networking and panel discussion offers charity staff a space to:

• Learn how businesses define ESG
• Discuss how this is relevant to their organisation
• Think about how you measure impact

Thursday 16 November / 11.00am to 1.00pm / Online

Have you got a spreadsheet you're struggling with? Join our drop-in clinic where volunteers knowledgeable in Excel will help you unpack your spreadsheet. The aims of this session are to offer a space for individuals and teams from ELBA community partners to unpack a challenge or difficulty faced in using Excel.

If you have any questions about the clinic's please contact Ruth: ruth.hislop-gill@elba-1.org.uk

Tuesday 21 November / 10.30am to 12.30pm / Free session on Zoom

Would you like to engage the next generation, Gen Z, in your volunteering programme? British Heart Foundation research in 2023 that shows that people aged between 16 and 24 are more likely to have volunteered for charities than any other age group. Gen Z are very socially conscious and want to positively impact their communities and know that they are directly making a difference. Due to the decrease in volunteers because of Covid-19, older generations are not returning to volunteering. However, the cost of living crisis is making it harder for young people to volunteer. So how can we continue to recruit Gen Z and keep them engaged in volunteering?

This practical peer learning session will look at the benefits of reaching out to Gen Z volunteers, the unique skills they can bring to your organisation and good practice tips for recruiting and engaging them in your volunteering programme.

Please email info@vcth.org.uk if you have any questions.  

Thursday 30 November, 1.00 to 2.00pm / Online

This workshop will explore our own perceptions and feelings towards Christmas and New Year, how it can affect and impact mental health and what this can mean, how we can support people around us and ourselves, and what other support exists through the Christmas period.

For more information or to book onto the workshop, please email safeconnections@mindthnr.org.uk

The council are developing a new strategy for community engagement and they need your help to develop it! One of Tower Hamlets Councils priorities is to create a council that listens and works for everyone. Strong community engagement is vital to this.

The council are working with the community and partners to agree on a vision for community engagement and a plan for how we will achieve it. To develop the strategy, they are engaging with communities and partners from all sections of Tower Hamlets, especially residents and the voluntary and community sector.

Up until 24 November 2023, they are involving the community in the following ways:

• Partner workshops: 2 workshops for partners from the voluntary and community sector, public sectors services, and local businesses. One will be held online: Wednesday 7 November,10am to 12pm (click here to book) and one in-person: Thursday 16 November, 10am to 12pm, lunch provided (click here to book).

• Filling in a survey: the survey asks questions and will take around 10 minutes to fill in. Click here to fill in the survey

They are also organising workshops with residents, council officers and councillors.

How will my involvement be used? After the engagement process the council will go through the information collected from the survey, drop-in sessions and workshops to identify what people have said.

They will use the information to write a draft strategy. Following the development of the strategy they will contact the people who have taken part to share the impact their involvement has had.

If you have any questions or would like to talk to a member of the team leading the work, please contact engagement@towerhamlets.gov.uk

Wednesday 15 November / 10.30am to 2.30pm / The Brady Arts Centre,192-196 Hanbury Street, E1 5HU

Social Action for Health have surveyed 1,000 Minoritised Ethnic Men from Hackney & Tower Hamlets about their mental health. Join them as they share their findings.

18 months ago they held our first "Big Conversation" about the mental health of Black, Asian and Minoritised Ethnic Men's mental health. They used the insights and recommendations from that event to plan and run our activities including conducting a survey of 1,000 men in Hackney and Tower Hamlets. They have the results and want to share our findings with you. Social Action for Health are excited to bring participants, the local community & community partners together to share the survey results and discuss insights and next steps. Come along & join in! Free lunch provided.

Tuesday 28 November / 10.30am

This walk is in recognition of 16 days of activism against gender-based violence. 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. To register, please email support@nour.org.uk. 

Wednesday 29 November @9.30 / Southern Grove Community Centre, Southern Grove, E3 4FX

Would you like to feel more in control of your money? Come to Nour and Soclial Action for Health's free one-off workshop and learn how to budget, spend, save, and manage your money, maximise your income, and address any debt, find out where to get more support and feel calmer and more in control of your money. For more information, please email support@nour.org.uk

Thursday 30 November / 12.30 to 4:15pm / Feldy, 18 Aberfeldy Street, E14 0XA

Tower Hamlets Connection Network supports organisations to work together to share ideas, information and resources to deliver a stronger local response to loneliness and isolation, affecting our most marginalised residents. This event is hosted in collaboration with Tower Hamlets Council for Voluntary Service (THCVS) and key partners across Tower Hamlets.

This event aims to bring together local and national organisations working to reduce social isolation and loneliness, and present you with a new campaign to help connect residents. The event is suitable for all groups working to address Loneliness in Tower Hamlets, from estate or neighbour led projects to borough wide voluntary sector, health, community and statutory partners.

Lunch and refreshments from 12.30 with speakers and interactive discussions from 1pm- 4.15pm. Please book your ticket through eventbrite by Friday 24 November. 

Queen Mary University of London's Micro Internship Programme connects employers with a Queen Mary intern, who will commit 40 hours of their time to a designated project. There is no financial cost in taking part. Project themes are devised by the host organisation and relate to real business needs, ensuring maximum benefit. Example project themes include data analysis, fundraising research, report writing, marketing and business development.

Submissions close on 4 December 2023. Please email microinterns@qmul.ac.uk with any enquiries.

Thursday 7 December / 1.30 to 3.00pm / Online

Join Tower Hamlets Together, to celebrate the fantastic work accomplished by all of our colleagues across 7 organisations under Tower Hamlets Together – London Borough of Tower Hamlets (LBTH), NHS North East London (NHS NEL), Tower Hamlets GP Care Group (GPCG), Council for Voluntary Service (THCVS), East London Foundation Trust (ELFT), Tower Hamlets Health Watch and Barts Health.

Tower Hamlets Together recognises the achievements, challenges, efforts and successes of its colleagues which is to be rewarded, applauded and celebrated.
This FREE virtual event is not to be missed!

Monday 11 December / 11.00am to 2.00pm / London Borough of Tower Hamlets (LBTH), Town Hall, 160 Whitechapel Road, E1 1BJ

The Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) in Tower Hamlets plays a crucial role in supporting residents with important services and activities. This annual event will bring together VCS organisations and partners to discuss the issues related to the VCS and celebrate the VCS’s achievements.

LBTH also want to provide organisations with a chance to showcase their work and have a limited number of stalls available. If you are interested, please email vcs@towerhamlets.gov.uk.

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

Deadline: Thursday 30 November

Think & Do began supporting local Camden residents in 2021 by establishing ‘Sharing Spaces’ – turning under-used spaces on local estates into community hubs for climate action. Local residents were inspired to participate in refuse, reuse and recycling initiatives. Activities included clothes swaps and sharing surplus food meals, fix it sessions, energy saving advise, craftivism, and much more.  

The collaboration with Ashden will support more Sharing Spaces to be established around London. Organisations applying for the grant need to be a registered charity, voluntary group, not-for-profit organisation with the support of a local authority.  

Participating groups will receive a grant of £5,760, with additional small amounts of funding available to support ongoing projects.

Deadline: Monday 4 December 

Grant available: Between £5,000 to £50,000 for 12 months
In recent years, East London NHS Foundation Trust (ELFT) has worked to nurture and grow its partnerships work with Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) organisations across its footprint. ELFT believe that in doing so, they will better connect with our local communities, reduce inequalities of access, experience and outcomes, and collectively enable improved quality of life for people living in local communities.