Ryedale Voluntary Action….. “because people matter”

What does Ryedale Voluntary Action Do?

Ryedale Voluntary Action is the Local Infrastructure Organisation (formally a CVS – council for voluntary service) for the Ryedale District.
We aim to “promote, develop, support and represent the voluntary sector in Ryedale.”
We exist to serve our members’ needs!

Our members are the frontline organisations that deliver very important services to the individuals living in Ryedale. Our members can be registered charities, voluntary and community groups, self help groups, parish councils, village hall committees, sports clubs, arts groups etc - they just need to work in or be based in Ryedale and support our aims and objectives. We also accept into membership with RVA individuals who support our aims and objectives.

Our Core Functions are:

1. To give advice and support with starting up or running a voluntary organisation
2. To work with local organisations on issues of local and national concern
3. To provide information, training and other support services to the voluntary sector including funding advice and a volunteer centre
4. To represent the voluntary sector in strategic partnerships with statutory bodies
5. To develop new ideas and new initiatives to meet different needs
6. To help voluntary organisations to express their views to statutory and other bodies

How does membership benefit an organisation?

• Contact. As members, organisations receive the Annual Report, a Newsletter and a funding newsletter four times a year and access to services and equipment.
• Services. These include free fundraising advice and support, and equipment loan. Payroll services are available for a modest charge.
• Information. Much of our work relates to the giving of help or information about aspects of supporting or managing a voluntary organisation. Regular ‘Forum Lunches’ help to update members on current issues or developments.
• Volunteers. Through our Volunteer Centre we aim to locate people who can give their time and expertise to help a group.
• Networking. We encourage anybody who is concerned with local welfare to develop contacts with us. We are especially happy to try to assist new and developing groups. Meeting other groups is always beneficial.
  
• Advocacy. R.V.A. is therefore in a position to support the views of its membership in meetings with other bodies such as the District and County Councils, Primary Care Trust and other organisations, both Regional and National.
  

How we are Governed?

We are managed by a Board of Trustees, who are all volunteers. Trustees are appointed by and from the members’ representatives at our Annual General Meeting. The Board of Trustees also has the power to co-opt up to six persons who need not be members of Ryedale Voluntary Action for their specialist skills and or knowledge to the board. The Board of Trustees meets six times a year and has sub committees covering personnel issues, financial issues and the development of the Ryedale Voluntary Action Business Plan.

How to Join

Our membership year runs from 1st April to 31st March.

If you would like further information on RVA or a membership application pack please do not hesitate to contact our Administrator, Sarah Richardson on 01653 600120 or
email sarah@rva-cvs.org.uk

Do you have an interesting article you would like to include in our next newsletter?
Email it to: sarah@rva-cvs.org.uk before the end of November 2007. The next newsletter is due out in December 2007.

Funding Advice

The Funding Advisor Post at Ryedale Voluntary Action is funded by the North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust.

The Funding Advisor works with voluntary and community groups of all sizes and experience and assists them in finding funding.

The help can range from pointing them in the direction of the right funder to assistance with how to complete the funding application form.

The Funding Advisor also works with groups to ensure that they are ‘fit for funding’. This means ensuring that they have all their systems and governance procedures in place as required by funders. Some groups are just starting out and require assistance and support to put systems in place.

The RVA Funding Advisor works closely with local authority officers and officers of other voluntary agencies to ensure that the best advice is given across Ryedale. Partnership between voluntary and community organisations and statutory bodies is encouraged if it will be favourable to prospective funders.

The Funding Advisor also works closely with agencies, such as Big Lottery, the Government Finance Hub and sub-regional and regional Networks to ensure that the most current and relevant information is available to all of the many community groups in Ryedale and that these agencies are aware of rural issues, needs and problems.

In 2006 RVA helped 147 groups requiring face-to-face consultation and ongoing support. Groups assisted through telephone advice were in addition to this number. Support and mentoring is also provided to groups who apply for funding through the Community Foundation, Local Network Fund. A further 60 groups were assisted in this way during 2006.

In total during 2006, the groups supported were able to access £682,345 from a wide range of sources to fund Voluntary and Community Sector projects in the area.

To Contact the Funding Advisor

Pauline Reeve
Ryedale Voluntary Action

Telephone: 01653 600120

Email: pauline@rva-cvs.org.uk

Volunteer Centre Ryedale

This month our theme is ‘All About Us’ so with that in mind, here is a brief précis of the day to day running of Volunteer Centre Ryedale.

The Volunteer Centre encourages people to give their time freely to support community activity in the Ryedale area, and helps individuals, groups and businesses to identify ways in which they can make a difference. In addition, we offer advice and support to organisations involving volunteers in their work.

As well as finding volunteers for our member charities and organisations, we are often called upon to help to find suitable volunteers for outside charities and organisations in and around Ryedale, and sometimes countrywide.

Our current totals are 152 people registered to volunteer in various spheres of expertise, 74 volunteering opportunities, and 138 organisations using Volunteer Centre Ryedale at this time.

Volunteer Centre Ryedale is constantly looking for new ways to support and encourage volunteering and is currently considering having a monthly ‘spotlight’, highlighting charities and organisations in specific fields, such as disability, youth, museums, animals, conservation etc.

It would be great if extra information and/or pictures are available for our display boards for these events, so, to give you time to supply us with these, we will print in each newsletter, the categories for the following three months ‘spotlights’. When you see your category mentioned, please let us have your photographs and posters in good time so that we can give them maximum publicity and wall space.

THE SPOTLIGHT FOR:

OCTOBER IS ON CHILD AND YOUTH
NOVEMBER IS ON THE ELDERLY
DECEMBER IS ON ANIMALS

Our desk is within the main RVA general office, and we can be reached through the RVA telephone number 01653 600120 or just call in and ask for Sandi if you would like to chat about any problems that you are experiencing with reference to volunteers, volunteering or attracting more volunteers to your charity or organisation.

Sandi

Sandi Clark – Volunteer Centre Coordinator
Ryedale Voluntary Action

Ryedale Counselling Service

Ryedale Counselling Service offers free, confidential counselling to the people of Ryedale aged 13+ (13 – 16 years of age preferably with parental/guardian consent.)

The service is available at Community House in Malton and at Helmsley, Pickering and Sherburn surgeries.

All counsellors work within the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) Ethical Framework.

Counselling offers an opportunity for you to talk about and try to understand your difficulties. Counselling is confidential. Counselling is about finding ways to help you to help yourself.

Counselling can help with:

• relationship difficulties
• anxiety, panic, depression
• loss and bereavement
• feeling you cannot cope
• abusive experiences.

Lottery awards five years funding for Ryedale Counselling Service

As reported (incorrectly!) in the local press recently, Ryedale Counselling Service was awarded a Big Lottery Fund of nearly £400,000 to continue its counselling service through until 2012. The project, which was one of only 4 in the Yorkshire and Humber region to receive funding from the BIG’s Reaching Communities programme in this particular round, will be using the money to develop and expand counselling provision for people aged 20 and upwards in Ryedale.

In addition to appointment slots in surgeries such as Helmsley, Pickering and Sherburn and slots in Community House, Malton, the Service will be introducing a telephone counselling service to facilitate access to the Service for people who find it difficult to travel to these larger towns for a variety of reasons such as childcare or work commitments, disability, or transport costs.

The Counselling Team were naturally delighted that the Lottery has recognised both the professionalism of the project and the need for such a service in a rural area where access to facilities is quite often very poor. We are looking forward to the next five years with great enthusiasm!

If you would like to contact the service, please ring 01654 690124.

Training and Development

What’s new in Learning, Training and Development for the VCS?
The North Yorkshire Learning Consortium (NYLC)

The NYLC has been established as a single access point for the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) providing a vehicle for securing funds and managing contracts for high quality, relevant and accessible training delivery in the sub region of York and North Yorkshire.

The development of a consortium is consistent with the Learning and Skills Council’s approach to funding training delivered by the sector both regionally and nationally.

The current members of the North Yorkshire Learning Consortium form the Board, but other member categories will be developed to ensure that all voluntary and community sector organisations can become members if they wish.

Tracy Beecroft (RVA Development Officer) is a member of the board in her capacity as chair of the Learning and Skills Network (LSN).

Aim Higher – Move-on Up and Higher Learning for Communities

Both Tracy Beecroft and Sandi Clark continue to support adults whilst they consider moving in to Higher Education (HE) provision.

The next two modules to be delivered through the Aim Higher - Higher Learning for Communities project will be Study Skills in September 2007 and Managing a Community Facility in October 2007 .

If you would like to discuss your Higher Education needs then please feel free to contact either Sandi or Tracy who will be happy to guide and mentor you through the decisions and choices that are facing you – support is available through the Move-on Up project.

Tracy Beecroft – Development Officer – Telephone 01653 600120
Email: Tracy Beecroft

Sandi Clark – Community Development Officer – Telephone 01653 600120
Email: Sandi Clark

BME Engagement Work

Over the past 18 months the Ryedale Together Forum has been meeting quarterly to discuss issues and access to services for black and minority ethnic groups in the Ryedale area.

The group is comprised of representatives from a variety of agencies and organisations who have an interest in, or who can offer solutions to, some of the problems and issues being faced by minority ethnic groups in the district. Ryedale District Council, Ryedale Housing Association, Stonham Tenancy Support Service, North Yorkshire County Council, Citizens Advice Bureau, Health Visitors, North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust, the Police and, of course, RVA who convened the group and who provide the administration for it, are all getting together to try and find solutions to the issues, to raise awareness and understanding of the different groups and support the people from different ethnic backgrounds living or working in Ryedale.

The number of people from different ethnic backgrounds in Ryedale is growing, particularly from the European Community where there has been a large growth in the numbers of Polish and other Eastern European workers, most of whom speak little English and have trouble accessing services in the district. Because of this, Ryedale Together Forum sought funding for and employed a Polish Engagement Worker, working through RVA, to help to deal with some of the problems the Polish community were experiencing. Funding was obtained from the District Council and County Council as well as from the Community Safety Partnership and the Churches Regional Commission for this work.

Ewelina Rooke took up the post in January and one of her first tasks was to arrange a very successful and well attended Mass in Polish at the Catholic Church in Malton, in response to a specific request from the Polish community. The mass has around 35 attendees and runs on the first and third Saturday of each month. There is a social event afterwards with tea and coffee, which enables the community to interact and helps Ewelina meet people and find out about their experiences and issues.

Ewelina also helped agencies put together a “welcome pack” for Polish people, with advice on services and information on life in the UK and more specifically Ryedale that we might take for granted –such as bin emptying days, registering for healthcare, or school information.

Such was Ewelina's workload, and due to the growth in other BME groups in the area, funding was applied for, and gained, to secure a BME Engagement Officer, to undertake the work directed in the Action Plan produced by Ryedale Together and to develop links and offer a service to other BME communities in Ryedale.

Emily Murphy has taken this post and will be working on a part time basis on a 2 year contract, starting on the 3rd September. At the same time, Ewelina will be continuing her work with the Polish and Eastern European communities. It is hoped that this post will make life easier and give a voice to the BME communities in Ryedale and will help them integrate into the wider Ryedale community. For more information about the work of the Forum contact Emily at RVA.