How often do you see things happening around you that concern you?
Things where you think - why is this happening? Why isn’t it being fixed? I could sort it given the chance with some help along the way.

If you think you could do better and have a dream to do this, then here is your chance. We want to hear from people with innovative ideas which could provide solutions to everyday issues they face within the Borough. There are cash prizes for the best ideas plus support for those who want to take their ideas forward and take a business approach to Social Enterprise in the Borough.

This competition is about identifying the best ideas to bring about these changes and beginning the process to make them happen. We would encourage you to take part either individually or on a collaborative basis with other partners or organisations.

Specifically we want to hear ideas for developing new Social Enterprise services or products from new or existing businesses, which have the potential to create work for local people while at the same time having a positive impact on the well-being of our wider community.

We know that there are lots of good things already happening in St Helens along these lines, but equally we know much more can be done.

For more information and to download the application form, please visit www.doyouhaveadream.co.uk/ 

Ovver the next 10 years there will be growth in employment opportunities within the Sports & Leisure Sectors. Sports Action Zone has devised a Sports & Leisure Training Programme called Steps to equip local people with the skills required to access these opportunities.

The Steps Project will deliver a Sports & Leisure Skills Passport aimed at Unemployed Lone Parents, Black Minority Ethnics (BME) and 16-24 year old Excluded Young People living in the Eastern Link Area of Liverpool.

The Skills Passport will lead onto three possible progression routes: Employment, Intermediate Labour Market (ILM) or Further Education and Training.

The Skills Passport will consist of both Generic and Role Specific Training Modules with links to employment opportunities.

We are currently recruiting local people to train to become:

• NGB Level 1 & 2 Casual Coaches (Gymnastics, Athletics, Basketball)
• FA Level 1 & 2 Football Coaches
• ASA Level 1 & 2 Swimming Coaches
• NGB (UKCA) Level 1, 2 & 3 Cheerleading Coaches

If you are interested in the above training or any sports related training contact us Monday to Friday 9am – 4pm

Steps Project
Life Bank
23 Quorn St
Liverpool
L7 2QR

Telephone: 0151 263 4356

(Post Codes Restrictions Apply)

Merseyside Disability Federation is looking for disabled people who would be interested in being added to our list of freelance/associate workers.

MDF is a Merseyside based charity that provides capacity building services to groups of and for disabled people on Merseyside and offers a range of services to all sectors. Please see our website to learn more about what we do. www.merseydisability.org.uk

We are looking for individuals who have the skills and track record to deliver work in the following areas:

• Disability related training
• Support to groups of and for disabled people
• Conducting research
• Bid writing

If you want to be added to our list, please forward your CV to:

Regina Bergin
Merseyside Disability Federation
Greenbank College
Greenbank Lane
L17 1AG
Tel: 0151-291-9570
Fax/Text: 0151-291-9569
Email: gina@merseydisability.org.uk

Work experience means different things to different people, but as a participant on our Wisdom Progamme you might think of it as an opportunity to gain additional skills and experience which will be useful in returning to work.  It will also be a time to observe current working practices and decide on the type of career you wish to embark upon.  Even perhaps providing a chance to think about  the question ‘What do I want to do next with my working life?’

The purpose of the Work Placement is to give you experience of working in a business environment, where you will up-date old skills, gain new ones and improve your confidence.  It will help you focus on what you want to achieve.

You will be provided with a mentor who will support you during your placement.  This role model and experienced person will be available to discuss with you any issues or concerns you might have as your work placement progresses.

Prior to starting your placement you will complete a skills training needs analysis to evaluate your current skills and attributes and produce an action plan for your work experience and also a training plan for your future development.

The placement will last for 6-8 weeks.  Additionally there will be workshops for you to attend.  These are designed to develop your confidence (generally), improve your CV writing and interview skills and provide you with an opportunity to learn more about what is going on in the world of work.  Importantly, you will meet other people who are also on the programme, make friends and find the supportive environment stimulating and rewarding.

There will be subsistence for travel expenses on production of receipts. 

Training will cover:

• CV writing
• Application writing
• Interview skills and practice
• Confidence building
• Up-date on business and administration
• Individual support
• Completion of a skills scan 

To ensure that you will find the experience rewarding you will receive continued support throughout the programme from Weston Spirit Trading Ltd.

For further information contact Fran Morriss on 0151-258-1058 or email: frances.morriss@westonspirit.org.uk

Weston Spirit Trading Ltd
5th Floor, Cotton House, Old Hall Street, Liverpool L3 9WS 

This programme has been made possible because of funding assistance from ESF Objective 1

This programme is exempt under section 47 of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (i.e. it is for women only).

Bid on a pair of tickets in an Executive Box with a five course meal thrown in to watch Liverpool v Fulham on 10th November 07, kick off 5:15pm and help raise money for this Mini Bus for Mary Seacole House through The Advocacy Project.

Auction will finish with an open auction at the LACE Conference Centre 26th October 2pm electronic bids accepted up to 25th October

We are excited to announce that The Liverpool Academy for Sustainable Enterprise is to re-launch in September 2007 in partnership with Blackburne House, Business Liverpool, Eldonians and Elect.
The Academy aims to support the effective management of community enterprises and to promote social entrepreneurship by building the capacity of local people to create, manage and grow social and community enterprises.
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The Academy Enterprise Programme will include the following activities:
FREE short courses and workshops, organised and delivered by Blackburne House, covering the following topics: (click here for booking form)

• Marketing
• Governance
• Finance
• Networking
• Project planning
• Legal
• Human Resources

FREE business support from ELECT to help you set up or develop your business

FREE social enterprise development - assistance with setting up and/or growing a social enterprise 
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For more information about the Liverpool Academy for Sustainable Enterprise and what it can do for you, visit our website www.sustainable-enterprise.org.uk and register today.

Readers may remember that through Greater Merseyside ChangeUp specific research was undertaken into leadership and leadership development in the voluntary, community, faith sector in our region. The resulting report “Heartfelt”, which you can download from www.changeupmerseyside.org.uk, sparked significant interest in a range of organisations.

On 19 June the Northern Leadership Academy was officially launched at Lancaster University and its ambitious leadership portal went live. Working closely with Greater Merseyside ChangeUp, the NLA dedicated one of five “communities” within the portal to the VCFS. If you go to the site at www.northernleadershipacademy.co.uk and look along the top banners you will see “Voluntary & Community” which will take you direct to content selected for its relevance to our sector.

There is a mixture of articles, interviews and a growing bank of audio and video files. The four main themes explored within the VCFS area are:

• Developing Leadership – looking at ways in which any of us can learn to become leaders in the first instance or improve our leadership practice 
• Harnessing Emotional Intelligence – in recognition of the fact that passions tend to run very high in our work and dealing with emotions is a vital skill in being able to treat people appropriately
• Influencing for Change – often our own organisations are not there primarily to directly deliver programmes or to reorganise services, but, with and on behalf of our clients and beneficiaries we can see how things done by other organisations could be done better and with fairer results, so we need to influence them
• Values – key to the success of all organisations but arguably of particular significance in the not-for-profit and social benefit arenas

Overall the portal contains a huge amount of leadership related material and a lot of the contents in other parts of the site will of interest and of use to existing and emerging leaders in our sector. It is great, however, to have our own area within a larger, mainstream resource and to see Voluntary & Community billed alongside the Corporate Sector and Public Sector as an equal.

Please do check out the site. You can become a member at no cost and tailor the content you receive to those aspects of leadership that interest you the most. Feedback about what’s good and what’s not; what helps and what doesn’t would be excellent. Development work is continuing behind the scenes and there is every opportunity to shape how it grows by sending in your comments and suggestions.

To feedback you can comment directly about individual articles on the site, take part in one or more of the regular opinion polls or email jackie@magmaeffect.com.  

Jo Jo Mind & Body is a social enterprise which goes out into the community delivering a unique service to people with a learning disability through workshop settings. Their workshops cover issues surrounding sex and sexuality, contraception, relationships, hygiene and health and use interactive puppets and trained actors and actresses to tell a story. 

“Jo and Joanne” are life sized puppets made of cloth whose tummies open to expose internal organs. Joanne has detachable internal organs. Joanne also has detachable breasts, one housing a lump while Joe has detachable testicles, again one housing a lump to teach self examination. The group received support from Merseyside Expanding Horizons Social Capital fund in 2006 to help fund the making of ‘Joe’ and support training costs.

Jo Jo Mind & Body was set up as a response to the cultural barriers faced by people with a learning disability. The social enterprise argue that cultural barriers have prevented people from learning about relationships through prejudice and a misguided notion of, ‘keeping people safe’ and the lack of opportunity to meet and make relationships.  The lack of accessible sex education has been identified as a key barrier and Jo Jo Mind & Body’s solution is to provide an exciting and innovative way of using drama and puppetry to deliver safe, accessible education to people with a learning disability. All actors and actresses are CRB checked and have experience working with people with learning disabilities. The group also work as a consultancy project to other organisations and offers training.

A typical workshop begins with a play in which the actors and actresses play different characters and scenarios. At the end of the play a forum theatre starts which allows the audience to answer and ask questions about the play and join in with the production as different responses are acted out. The aim is to increase the audience awareness and knowledge about the issues raised. 

                           

Lynda Hicks, Manager of Jo Jo Mind & Body says, “The reason why our methods are so successful is because drama is not seen as an authoritive figure and our clients feel more at ease to open up and share their thoughts. Drama with the right balance of seriousness and humour is a useful way to interact and get a positive response from our clients and ultimately break down barriers”.

Jo Jo project has been running for several years in Newcastle and their work has already made a big impact in the North East. Based in Birkenhead, Jo Jo Mind & Body delivers to Merseyside, Wirral and Cheshire and the team hope to build on their success and lead the way in innovative best practise around relationship support for people with a learning disability in the North West.

Jo Jo Mind & Body hope to further develop their capacity to teach Deaf children using British sign language and are looking at new communication techniques such as visual aids to enhance their workshops and forum theatres.

Jo Jo Workshops include:

• Personal Health & Hygiene, Transition through to Adulthood
• Self Awareness & Self Examination
• Relationships
• Screening
• Pregnancy: Prevention and/or planned, signs and symptoms
• Drugs, Gambling & Alcohol Abuse

For best results workshops should consist of no less than 5 and no more than 20 participants. Workshops cost £350 for a morning or afternoon session and are tailored to suit clients needs.

For more information contact Lynda Hicks on 0151 653 6645 or email info@jojoproject.co.uk.

Visit the website at, www.jojoproject.co.uk.

Dingle-based Perform L8 Youth Drama Group is celebrating after receiving £7,000 from the Community Foundation for Merseyside.

The money, awarded from the Community Foundation’s “Local Network Fund”, will support two Health-related Drama Projects for Young People to be performed in 2007.  The first will be on Healthy Eating, the second on “Safe Living”.

The group’s portfolio to date includes theme-based shows on Human Rights, Crime in the Community, as well as a modern version of Macbeth, performed at Parklands theatre in Speke.

Dingle Community Theatre Perform L8 Youth Drama Group recieved £5,000 from Merseyside Expanding Horizons Social Capital fund 2006 to support their drama projects.

Their current project, a sci-fi version of Shakespeare’s “Tempest”, is due to be performed at the Leverhulme Drama Festival at Port Sunlight’s Gladstone Theatre as well as at Liverpool venues.

Any young people (11-17) wishing to take part in the “Tempest” or Health Drama Projects, please contact Perform L8 on 0771 684 8894 or email info@dinglecommunitytheatre.co.uk.  

Perform L8 Youth Drama Group was set up in 2005 to encourage young people in the South Liverpool area who wanted to gain real theatre and performance experience, working with experienced tutors and other young people.  The group operates on a project-to-project basis, with each project ending in a production at a theatrical venue.

For further Information, contact Tom Mclennan on 0771 684 8894 or email: info@dinglecommunitytheatre.co.uk

ADVENTURE CAPITAL FUND
The Adventure Capital Fund (ACF) offers a range of investments and support
to develop community based enterprises. The aim of ACF is to fill the
investment gap that faces community enterprise organisations, and to
increase investment-readiness of community organisations wishing to move to
greater sustainability through enterprise. The ACF offers two types of
funding for established community organisations: the Main Investment Fund
and the Managed Workspace Fund.
http://www.governmentfunding.org.uk/VCSLaunch.aspx?SCHEME_ID=12-S23
Matches saved search:Registration search

ADVENTURE CAPITAL FUND: BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT GRANT
The Adventure Capital Fund (ACF) offers a range of investments and support
to develop stable and sustainable community based enterprises. The aim of
ACF is to fill the investment gap that faces community enterprise
organisations, and to increase investment-readiness of community
organisations wishing to move to greater sustainability through
enterprise.The Business Development grant is targeted at community
enterprises in their early stages of development to improve their investment
readiness and sustainability through developing their skills and capacity.
http://www.governmentfunding.org.uk/VCSLaunch.aspx?SCHEME_ID=12-S111
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Merseytravel Charitable Causes Policy

Mission Statement
Merseytravel, promoting an integrated public transport network to improve
the quality of life on Merseyside.

Strategic Objective
To support one locally based registered charity per annum based on the
calendar year.

Support
The support offered includes;
 · A fixed sum of money (£2k) to be donated at the start of the
calendar year to the chosen charity in return for acknowledgement in
publicity materials produced during that year of the support being given to
the charity.
 · Saveaway and other pre-paid tickets to be made available as
raffle prizes to the charity up to a maximum of £500.
 · Donations and other monies raised by staff through their own
efforts.
 · The support and funding will be financed and managed by the
Merseytravel Marketing Department.

Criteria
Charitable causes will only be supported if they meet the following
criteria;
 · they must be registered charities
 · they must be based in Merseyside
 · they must support the mission of Merseytravel in improving
the quality of life of individuals or groups of individuals within the
Merseyside county boundary.

How to apply
Merseytravel will only support one charity within any given 12 month period.
The charity will be chosen in consultation with all staff.  Applications to
go on to this list, plus evidence that charities meet the above criteria,
must be made in writing to the Marketing Manager at the address below by 31
August in the year prior to obtaining preferred  charity status.

What happens after the year of support
After becoming our chosen charity for 1 year, charities will not be able to
apply again after for 5 years.  Charities who have been unsuccessful will be
able to apply each year until they are successful.

What Merseytravel wants for their support
As a minimum Merseytravel in return for their support require a mention in
all publicity materials, produced during the year of our support.
One media opportunity on announcing our support for your organisation at the
beginning of the year.
One media opportunity reporting on the full amount of support received from
Merseytravel at the end of the year.
However Merseytravel would hope to agree additional joint PR and promotional
activities during the course of the year subject to further negotiation.

Advance Notice of Community Access Grants 
Grants will shortly be available for a maximum sum of £20,000 from a pot of £220,000 (for 2007/08) for community groups to address accessibility issues. The Fund is being made available by the LTP Partnership which includes Merseyside Authorities and Merseytravel. The fund will be geared towards accessibility planning in the context of improving the ability of the population to reach key services such as Education, Employment, Health, fresh food and Leisure within a reasonable travel time. This could involve identifying barriers or gaps to accessibility and finding ways to overcome them. This could be by improving transport links, improving service locations, or reducing information barriers. An information pack about the grants will be available shortly and Liverpool City Council will circulate information about the pack as it becomes available.

For further details, please contact:
Helen O'Gorman
Community Resources Unit Acting Manager
Municipal Buildings
Dale Street, Liverpool L2 2DH (Postal Address)
Now based at 4th Floor, Venture Place
Tel 0151 225 2627  Mobile 07743813061
www.liverpool.gov.uk
helen.ogorman@liverpool.gov.uk