20 March 2009; 9.30 am - 4.00 pm;
Birmingham Town Hall

The event will celebrate the achievements of the GoldStar Exemplar projects in promoting good practice in managing volunteers from socially excluded groups. There will also be an opportunity to hear from key organisations who are tasked with taking forward the development of good practice in managing and supporting volunteers. There will be inputs from:

• The Office of the Third Sector;
• The Mentoring and Befriending Foundation;
• The Third Sector Research Centre;
• The Media Trust;
• Volunteering England
• The GoldStar exemplar projects.

They will be holding a marketplace providing a showcase for the diverse range of work to support volunteers, and plenty of opportunities to network. There will also be a chance to attend workshops hosted by experienced practitioners, and to talk to volunteers.

GoldStar Live 09 will be free to delegates from the following groups:Voluntary sector organisations interested in sharing good practice in volunteer management; Infrastructure organisations; Government Agencies; Local Authorities.

Please click here to sign up

• Planning and managing an effective marketing strategy.
• Marketing through the recession.
• Branding as a social enterprise.
• Using social outcomes as a marketing tool.
• Pitching to the buyer: getting ahead in procurement and commissioning.
• Communicating the power of the social enterprise movement.

• Consultation on Draft Sector Skills & Qualification Strategy
• How should the new body operate to deliver its remit?
• How apprenticeships work and case studies
• Could your organisation take on an apprentice?
• Opportunities and support

• An update on important developments in employment law, including the repeal of the Statutory Dispute Resolution Procedures
• A range of workshops on employment related topics, all delivered by experts in their field
• Opportunities to network with your peers from the second tier and grassroots voluntary sector and to discuss issues with lawyers and HR experts
• Expert speakers and facilitators from a range of organisations, including, Bates Wells and Braithwaite Solicitors, LVSC's PEACe employment service and PEACe BAMER project, Russell-Cooke Solicitors and Total Conflict Management Solutions.

LVSC offers free training and support for voluntary sector leaders from London’s BAMER communities
Professional development, training and support for voluntary sector leaders, managers and social entrepreneurs from Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic and Refugee (BAMER) communities in London.

• Ready Steady Start
  A free interactive training course for individuals from new or recently established voluntary and community groups, particularly those representing BAMER or other marginalised communities.
  You will learn about: setting up a sustainable organisation; planning a project; governance issues; fundraising basics
  Participants are expected to attend the full course consisting of one full day and three half-day sessions.
  Call 020 7700 8110 or email karin@lvsc.org.uk (click here for more info)
  
• Social entrepreneurs’ leadership training
  A one-day training session providing: an introduction to social enterprise; how it relates to other types of social organisations; including charities; what makes a social entrepreneur successful
  The sampler session includes first hand reports from those who have already successfully set up their organisation. Call 020 8981 0300 or email dorota.luksza@sse.org.uk
  
• Mentoring and training programme for BAMER leaders
  Flexible, tailored, one-to-one mentoring support for first-time managers and management committee members covering: developing leadership and management skills; producing strategic, business and operational plans; creating a fundraising strategy;
  Participants must be available to receive a minimum of four mentoring sessions and attend short training courses over a six-month period.
  Call 020 7700 8110 or email karin@lvsc.org.uk (click here for more info)
  
• Social entrepreneurs’ year-long learning programmes
  Part-time programmes for individuals who strive to improve people’s lives and affect change in
  their communities. While on the programme, you will develop: your personal and professional skills; your ability and confidence to set up and grow a sustainable community organisation
  Participants either attend the programme every Thursday each week, or in blocks of three days approximately every six weeks.
  Call 020 8981 0300 or email dorota.luksza@sse.org.uk
  

Friday 27th March 2009; 1:00 – 4:30pm
Harrow Civic Centre, Station Road, Harrow HA1 2XF

TAHA's seminar is part of a series of events organised within our Women4Change programme and aims to:

• provide perspectives & presentations on the under-representation of women from Black Minority Ethnic & Refuge & Migrant (BME) communities within elected & appointed positions, decision-making structures.
• examine the barriers that still exist to BMER women’s engagement and participation within diverse BME communities, community leadership & community organisations as well as within mainstream public independent & political institutions, civic roles and leadership positions

For more information and to book please call 020 8571 7928 or email to leadership@taha.org.uk

The Goldstar website contains a downloadable toolkit that can be used as templates or frameworks to make specific good practices easier to carry out or follow in volunteer projects and organisations involving volunteers from socially excluded groups. This toolkit section contains a collection of useful toolkits that can be downloaded and used as templates or frameworks to make specific good practices easier to carry out or follow in your volunteer project or organisation.
They have organised the toolkit into six sections:

• Recruitment and selection
• induction and training
• support and supervision
• progression pathways
• involvement and recognition
• others

Sport England has published its new funding strategy, which outlines the programmes available to grassroot sports projects from April 2009 - March 2011.

By 2012/13, Sport England aims to increase and sustain grassroots participation in sports for all ages. It also aims to provide opportunities for talented sports people to grow, sustain and excel.

Sport England will also fund solicited applications of up to £158 million a year for organisations that have specific objectives related to community sport, e.g. national governing bodies (NGBs), county sports partnerships and local authorities.£10 million per year will also be available for capital projects that promote a sustainable approach to community facilities, which is in addition to the support given to NGBs. To view the strategy and for more information on the individual funding streams visit the Sport England website or contact them by telephone on 08458 508 508.

Deadline: 14 March 2009
Maximum Value: £ 750,000

This fund provides financial assistance, in the form of capital investment, is available to community enterprise organisations to enable them to grow and develop. The Adventure Capital Fund (ACF) been designed to fill an investment gap, which is currently one of the barriers to growth for community enterprise organisations. These social enterprises, due to traditional market forces' failure to make sufficient finance available at an acceptable price, are experiencing difficulties in delivering their projects and increasing their capacity to deliver new or additional services to their beneficiaries or clients.

The ACF can make equity funding available to community enterprise organisations through a series of investment opportunities: Main Investment Fund; Managed Workspace Fund; Business Development Fund.

The programme's founder members include; the Development Trusts Association, the Scarman Trust, the New Economics Foundation and the Local Investment Fund.

For more information please email to info@adventurecapitalfund.org.uk or click here

Next deadline: 31 March 2009.

The Enhancing Communities - Large Grants programme offers grants between £10,001 - £50,000 for community improvement projects within 10 miles of an active SITA landfill site. Improvements can be for community, sport or historic buildings/structures. Not-for-profit organisations including community groups, parish councils, charities, local authorities and voluntary organisations are eligible to apply.

Contact the SITA Trust either by telephone, 01454 262 910, email to sita.trust@sita.co.uk or visit their website.

Capital Community Foundation is administering the Grassroots Grants programme in 9 London borough as follows: Bexley, Bromley, Camden, Greenwich, Kensington and Chelsea, Lambeth, Lewisham, Southwark and Westminster. The grants aim to help build thriving local communities, bring people from different backgrounds together and empower them to achieve change in their communities. Local voluntary or community groups with a good idea can apply for up to £5,000.

Basic Criteria

• Groups must have been active in their local area for at least 1 year before applying
• Groups must have annual income of less than £20,000 (This can relate to your last financial year or be taken as an average over your last three financial years. You will need to provide evidence of this in your application).

To download an application form and guidelines please visit click here or call 02075825117. Applications can be made at any time and Capital Community Foundation will aim to notify applicants of the decision within 6 weeks.

Are you a refugee or an asylum seeker? Are you also a storyteller, an actor, a museum guide, an artist, or a crafts-person?

The Victoria and Albert Museum is looking for volunteers to take part in its Refugee Week 2009 (13th June - 19th June) programme of events to be held at South Kensington. We need paid staff and volunteers for the following events:

• Public tours of the V&A (volunteers)
  Tours led by refugees and asylum seekers who will use the objects in the galleries as a springboard for their own highly personal stories.
  We are looking for volunteers with engaging personalities and a good command of spoken English. They should preferably have had experience of public speaking or be confident guiding up to 20 people. As they will need to research and prepare their own tours, they must be able to work independently. They will need to make a number of visits to the V&A when devising their tours so should ensure they have time to do this when accepting. We will provide support and guidance and reimburse travel expenses (London area only) with lunch included on the day of the tour.
  
• World arts/crafts workshops (paid staff)
  We are looking for refugee artists/craftspeople who would be interested in taking part in a short residency at the V&A. This vacancy is only open to professionals.

We are also looking for 2 individuals to lead separate craft workshops. These individuals should be highly skilled practitioners of a traditional craft from their country of origin and should also have the ability to transmit these skills to students. They will need to have a good level of English. These sessions (probably 4 hour morning or afternoon slots) will be paid.

If you are interested in applying to participate in either of these events, please contact: Clare Paul, ESOL & Arts Education Officer at c.paul@vam.ac.uk Tel: 07905226423 by Tuesday 3rd March

Salary: £23,748 + OLW of £1,692 pro rata; 21hours per week
Closing date: 25th March 2009

Ashiana provides refuge and outreach services to South Asian, Turkish and Iranian women aged 16-30 who are experiencing domestic violence, and training, counselling and support services for young
people affected by domestic violence.
You will provide practical and emotional support to residents and contribute to the effective running of the refuge. You will have proven experience of working with vulnerable women, be sensitive and aware of Asian/Turkish/Iranian cultural and community needs and be fluent in Farsi, Turkish or a South Asian language.

For an application pack, email info@ashiana. org.uk or send a stamped addressed envelope to the value of 65p to Director, Ashiana Network, PO Box 816, London, E11 1QY.

• Increase Kalayaan’s capacity to run a two year project supporting MDWs to access UK
  employment law
• provide advice on immigration and employment issues
• support workers to access mainstream services and information about their rights
• campaign for migrant domestic workers' rights