BSSEC » Covid-19 recovery planning

“Covid-19 Omicron wave – getting the sector prepared” — BVSC open letter

December 20, 2021

BVSC’s chief executive Brian Carr has just published an open letter calling on Birmingham’s third sector organisations to use their communications channels to promote key public health messages in advance of the mid-January point when cases of the Omicron COVID

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Online briefing to explain West Midlands’ £53m share of Household Support Fund

November 22, 2021

On 30th September the government launched a £500m Household Support Fund to provide winter support to families and vulnerable households with food, fuel, bills, household items and essentials between October 2021 and March 2022. This funding is being issued to local authorities to add

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Birmingham City Council announces new business recovery scheme grants of £5K-£50K, open to all types of SMEs

November 01, 2021

Birmingham City Council has just announced availability of a grant scheme designed to help SMEs recover, safeguard jobs and implement recovery plan projects over the next three months. The scheme is called the ARG (Additional Restrictions Grants) Business Recovery scheme and offers gr

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Online public health briefing with Dr Justin Varney to focus on VCFSE — 29th July

July 26, 2021

Thursday 29th July, 2:00pm-3:00pm: BVSC is hosting an online briefing with Birmingham’s Director of Public Health Dr Justin Varney who will be providing an update on the current Covid-19 situation. The event will have a particular focus on the voluntary, community, faith and soc

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Community conversation events — Business in the Community and Midland Metro Alliance

April 12, 2021

Business in the Community (BITC) is working in partnership with Midland Metro Alliance (MMA) to host a Community Conversation event as MMA extends its light rail services in the region. BITC is looking for local, cross-sector representatives to get involved in supporting the stre

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WMCA launches Community Recovery Innovation Challenge — three top prizes of £15,000

February 11, 2021

West Midlands Combined Authority has launched a brand new competition for bright ideas that will help people in communities across the West Midlands get through the Covid-19 pandemic and beyond. The Community Recovery Innovation Challenge will provide three top projects with up t

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BVSC/Shuut Videos — harness the power of smartphone video tech in a free online workshop

December 21, 2020

Free workshop: How To Get Better At Video Date: Wednesday 20th January 2021 Time: 10.00-11.00 Charities and voluntary organisations have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. Demand for services has increased yet fundraising opportunities – especially in-person – have

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New BVSC report reveals detailed picture of the impact of the Covid crisis on Birmingham’s VCS — and the sector’s contribution

November 26, 2020

A new report just published by BVSC reveals a fascinating and detailed picture of the impact of the Covid crisis on Birmingham’s voluntary and community sector. Birmingham Voluntary Service Council: State of the Sector 2020: Digest of Headlines brings together key findings from

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Micro-fund opens to grassroots community groups in Birmingham

November 26, 2020

BVSC has just announced the following: The Brum Recovery Micro Fund is set up with funding from Birmingham City Council and is aimed at unconstituted and grassroots community groups in the city. Groups can apply for between £500 and £2,000 to support activity that responds to the need

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‘Levelling Up Our Communities’ — new report by Danny Kruger MP published

September 28, 2020

Further to this post, Danny Kruger MP has completed his report on civil society and communities that Boris Johnson tasked him with producing and it has just been published… I started to read Kruger’s report, Levelling Up Our Communities: Proposals for a New Social Covenant

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BVSC state of the sector survey has never been more important

August 25, 2020

UPDATE 09/09/20: BVSC’s state of the sector ends on Friday 11th September Further to this post, this is a reminder to say that BVSC’s ‘state of the sector’ survey has never been more important. This year the survey has been completely redesigned to help gauge t

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Women’s Enterprise Hub — evolving to meet new needs

August 17, 2020

Since 2015 iSE has been delivering specialist enterprise support for women from its Women’s Enterprise Hub on Ladypool Rd, Sparkbrook. This was a partnership between iSE and Birmingham City Council. Things have moved on significantly. In March 2020 iSE secured a fifteen year lea

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Scottish Government urged to put third sector at the heart of recovery for a “wellbeing economy”

August 05, 2020

Regular readers will be aware that we have been trying to stay abreast of new documents that have a direct relevance to Covid-19 recovery planning (see all posts). What this reveals is that in England, Covid-19 recovery planning is still seen primarily as economic recovery, with an em

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Lloyds Bank Foundation announces £7.4m Covid recovery fund

August 03, 2020

Lloyds Bank Foundation has recently announced that a new £7.4m Covid recovery fund for small to medium charities will open for applications today. It is encouraging to see that Lloyds Bank Foundation is recognising the need for this funding to be unrestricted, enabling recipients to u

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‘A new life for the high street’ — report from the Social Market Foundation

July 27, 2020

Again, I’m indebted to David Alcock of Anthony Collins Solicitors on whose LinkedIn feed I saw mention of this. The Social Market Foundation has just published an extremely interesting report called A new life for the high street. Some will know that I have been trying to keep u

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Birmingham City Council launches important public health survey to assess impact of Covid-19 on city’s residents

July 27, 2020

Birmingham City Council has launched an important public health survey aimed at gauging the personal impact of Covid-19 on Birmingham residents. The survey asks about your background, your understanding and views regarding Covid-19 and the impact that lockdown measures have had on var

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Wales sets out plan to put social enterprise at the heart of Welsh economy and society

July 15, 2020

Social enterprises, support organisations and the Welsh government have worked together to produce a bold and ambitious vision for the sector in Wales. Transforming Wales through Social Enterprise, published by Wales Co-operative Centre, significantly raises the bar in terms of sector

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Free WiSE Wednesday webinar from iSE — Recovery, Innovation & Growth: 22nd July

July 15, 2020

iSE CIC announces the expert speaker for the next WiSE Wednesday webinar on Wednesday 22nd July 2020 at 10.00am. She is award-winning social entrepreneur Daniella Genas, founder of She’s The Boss and international speaker on innovation, motivation and growth, an

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New BVSC survey seeks views of voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise sectors on impact of Covid-19 and recovery prospects

July 14, 2020

BVSC‘s chief executive Brian Carr has just announced that the organisation is launching a major new survey to help gauge the impact of Covid-19 on the voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise sectors in Birmingham. His statement, issued today, reads: The C

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National Lottery and partners announce £18.7m Social Enterprise Support Fund

July 13, 2020

This terrific news, just in… The Social Enterprise Support Fund, a brand new £18.7m support fund for social enterprises, funded by The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest funder of community activity in the UK, has just opened and is taking applications now. The Social

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BIRMINGHAM & SOLIHULL SOCIAL ECONOMY CONSORTIUM C.I.C., trading as BSSEC. A community interest company registered in England and Wales with company no. 07992674. Registered office: c/o Anthony Collins Solicitors LLP, 134 Edmund Street, Birmingham B3 2ES | All rights reserved | Copyright 2013-BSSEC | Created by Citizen Click