Stafford and District

The big issue

Youth unemployment began rising sharply following the financial crisis in 2008, peaking at around one million in 2011/12. Since then it has dropped to similar levels as before the crisis, at around 600,000. Despite this decrease, the youth unemployment rate (14.9% in 2015) remains significantly higher than the general unemployment rate of 5.4%.

Help us find ways to prevent anybody falling through the cracks and drifting towards long-term unemployment.

Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) will open its new Kick the Dust grants programme which is intended to support ambitious youth-focused projects that transform how heritage organisations engage with young people (aged 11 to 25 years).

Grants of between £500,000 and £1 million for projects that take between three to five years to complete will be available to consortia of three or more organisations, including heritage and youth organisations.

The funding is intended to:

Beat the Cold is delighted to announce that one of our advisers, Rosie Thorpe has become a 'National Heat Hero, one of only 16 to achieve this accolade in 2016. 

The awards are presented annually by Fuel poverty charity National Energy Action, sponsored this year by Scottish Power.

Serco is currently involved in the delivery of the Work Programme across Stoke and Staffordshire and is hoping to be involved in the forthcoming Health and Work Programme. They are keen to link with local voluntary and community groups who can contribute to this. For more information and to complete an EOI to Serco go to:https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/SercoESEEOI

The next Committee is due to take place on 26^th October 2016. If you have any issues you want raising at the committee, or any questions about its activity, please contact your VCSE sector rep, Jill Norman at our Leek office on 01538 381356 or email her on jill.norman@supportstaffordshire.org.uk 

Following the call for nominations to the position of VCSE alternate representative on the ESIF Committee, only one nomination was returned – from Andrew Thompson of VAST – so Andrew has now taken on this role.

Advice has been given that European funded projects that have signed contracts or funding agreements in place will be fully funded, even when these projects continue beyond the UK’s departure from the EU. This includes the ESF opt in funding such as Building Better Opportunities. Further advice will be given after the Government’s Autumn Statement for any projects not contracted before the date of that statement (date not yet announced).

Heritage Endowments grants are available to organisations in the UK who we are currently funding or have funded in the past. This is a match funding scheme –  where the HLF grant matches every pound raised by grant recipients.

You can apply for a Heritage Endowments grant of £250,000, £500,000 or £1million, to be matched £1:£1 by private donations you raise. Payments of the award will be made when evidence of the matched funding can be shown.

Richmond Fellowship regretfully inform their current service users they were unsuccessful in their recent tender to continue to provide community based services in South Staffordshire but will continue to provide services until the end of the contract which is 31 October 2016.

Looking Ahead, Positive Change