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Our Vision
To make quality learning that meets the learner’s needs and circumstances accessible and available to everyone in Berkshire our purpose
News
Learning revolution Transformation Fund
The White Paper, 'The Learning Revolution', was launched on 23rd March 2009 and sets out the Government's strategy for informal
learning. This will have a significant impact on community learning in Berkshire. Click
here to download the white paper in full.
As part of the implementation of the Learning Revolution there is a £20M fund to help transform the opportunities for information
learning. BNLCP will be bidding to this fund. For information about it download the fund prospectus
here.
CDF Funding Success
The West Berkshire Minority Ethnic Forum has been awarded a grant of £10,730 by the Community Development Foundation. The award is part
of the CDF Faiths in Action project.
The project involves a considerable degree of collaboration and was supported by West Berkshire Council. Our funding expert Bruce Wright
helped them polish the bid in his ‘critical friend’ role.
The successful proposal submitted had the following objectives -
We would like to establish a West Berkshire Interfaith Group “Building Bridges Across Faiths” That will provide a platform for
launching the following mini-projects:
1. To launch a mentoring scheme for local authority and police officers. 16 Muslim individuals both male and female will act as
mentors for the Police Officers and senior Council Officers to educate them about Islam in informal environment.
2. We will run a short course on Islam in West Berkshire entitled 'Understanding British Muslims - beliefs, culture and politics'.
This will be delivered to all officers of statutory agencies. In the second phase we will roll this out to all the primary and secondary
schools in West Berkshire.
3. We will develop an education programme that challenges the perceptions between differing faiths. This will be aimed at schools
and the wider community and will be developed from an existing project being run by an international organisation called 'Initiatives of
Change'.
In conjunction with this, we will facilitate interfaith dialogues for our partner organisations and the wider audience. We will also
look towards other non-Muslim groups, mainly local churches and faith workers to participate and we will facilitate these discussions
within their groups and organisations (churches, temples and faith groups).
More than 70 percent of CVSs are planning increased collaboration
More than 80 per cent of councils for voluntary service think the funding environment for small and medium-sized organisations is
getting more difficult, research by local umbrella body Navca.
Of the 129 respondents Navca's second annual members' survey, 83 per cent thought the funding environment was getting more difficult
for organisations employing up to 10 people.
Half of respondents thought council grants for local organisations would be sustained beyond 2009/10, but 34 per cent did not know.
Kevin Curley, chief executive of Navca, said the figures showed that the decline of grant funding was a major factor in the increasing
difficulties. "It sends a clear message to us that we must keep up our campaign to protect grants," he said.
The poll also showed that just under 43 per cent of CVSs were aware of local organisations working in partnership or consortia to
deliver contracts, down 21 per cent from last year. A third – 33 per cent – of members were aware of local organisations losing funding
in competition with national charities.
Seventy-seven per cent of respondents said they were planning greater collaboration with other local infrastructure bodies, and 30
per cent expected their own funding to be subject to competitive tendering in the next two years.
But 52 per cent of CVSs were dissatisfied with the way in which Capacitybuilders, the government agency set up to improve the sector's
infrastructure, dealt with their local or sub-regional infrastructure consortium. Only 26 per cent approved.
See here for more details
Outline of the South East Regional Recovery Plan
A partnership of JCP, LSC and SEEDA, working with GOSE and the SSCs, is developing a joint response to the economic downturn and has prepared a Regional Recovery Plan setting out the support available for businesses and individuals affected by the downturn. The plan, completed in early 2009, was requested by the National Economic Development Council, which is chaired by the Prime Minister, early in 2009. Partners are now implementing the plan at a regional and local level.
Timescale of the Response to Redundancy Programme.
The specifications in the current Invitation to Tender (ITT) were launched on the 26th January 2009. Only providers who had
pre-qualified on the LSC’s QPF system for employer responsive provision will be eligible to tender. They will have been notified by email
and will have access to submit via BRAVO. Current timescales are that tenders need to be submitted by 5pm on 2nd March 2009 with
contracts awarded by 17 April 2009. Providers tendering should be prepared to be available for possible presentations at short notice in
late March/early April.
See here for more details
New BBC Interactive Adult Basic Skills website.
The BBC has launched its ambitious interactive adult basic skills website. The -
raw website - offers practical advice, inspiring activities that help to build self-confidence.
It aims to empower and encourage people to take the next steps towards tackling their skills needs.
The first subject areas to feature on the new-look raw website are raw money and raw computers.
raw money is a great way to pick up tips and tools for managing your money better and on a range of
money subjects that affect us all and features expert advice from BBC presenters Dominic Littlewood and Jasmine Birtles.
Other subject areas include raw computers, a presenter led guide to using computers and the internet, suitable for absolute beginners.
Overtime the site will grow to include numeracy, literacy and skills for the workplace, with the ambition that raw will become a
one-stop-shop for adult basic skills.
Each page will include pointers to related activities and units on the raw money web site. Marketing resources, such as posters and flyers, will also be available to order.
To keep up to date with raw news, sign up for the raw newslewtter here.
Peoples Millions Lottery Wins
People's Millions is a UK wide programme whose aim is to fund projects that improve the quality of life of local communities through transforming the local environment, or provide opportunities or facilities for enjoying the local area.
In November 2008, 142 pairs of projects went head-to-head across each of the 18 ITV regions. There were 71 winning projects, and 18 bonus awards for the runners-up who scored highest in each region. Maximum grants of £50,000 plus VAT were awarded.
Berkshire had two contestants who put in a bid as a result of seeing the opportunity in the BNLCP Funding Alerts prepared and distributed by Bruce Wright on behalf of BNLCP. They were the Reading Credit Union and Family Action Slough. Family Action used the BNLCP Critical Friend Review Services to read and provide feedback on their application. Both won in their head-to-head presentation.
Reading Credit Union was awarded £52,138 to develop a shop front presence in Reading, allowing them to extend their reach and make their services more available by moving into premises with a visible shop front. Family Action Slough was awarded £49,050 for their Gardening Project. The project will transform an unused playing field by planting trees and shrubs to create a wildlife area developing allotments for local people. There are also plans for a crèche facility to be built and the redevelopment of an existing play area. Nearly 15,000 local people are expected to use the area.
For more details of membership of BNLCP and accessing the BNLCP Funding Alerts and bid writing support services contact Brian Jones at brian.jones@berksnlc.org.uk.
The role of community learning in delivering the Berkshire Economic Strategy
The Group was formed from membership of the Thames Valley Regeneration and Inclusion Group and the Berkshire Community Learning Network, which included a representation from the six Berkshire Unitary Authorities, with the purpose of articulating how the employment and skills outcomes of community and neighbourhood learning fit with new strategic and delivery arrangements. Over the past few months it has begun to outline a shared agenda and identify activities that would deliver strategic priorities.
Outline of South East Regional Recovery Plan
For more details
Laying the foundations' Projects
The BCLN has funded 13 collaborative projects. We hope the learning from these will support the work of our partners to the benefit of all our learners in the future. A few have been highlighted below, view more projects
Breaking down the ‘isolation barrier’ in multi ethnic communities and getting people back into learning and employment Learn more
Using social activities and networks to establish the relationships and channels that will extend the reach of IAG into African and Carribean communities CFBT nextstep
Learn more
Local collaboration to identify what works and where to concentrate effort to help people to break out of a cycle of deprivation and improve their situation for the future Learn more
