Support for voluntary and community organisations
We recognise the need to provide support for the voluntary and community sector (VCS) and the wider Third Sector in the borough.
We host a forum for voluntary and community sector organisations who provide or are interested in local health and social care services.
The council will review the operation of the Lambeth Community Fund. It will be replaced with a new targeted programme for 2008/09 designed to better support community initiatives that will deliver genuine benefit for our diverse communities and neighbourhood areas.
The Lambeth Compact is an agreement that shapes and influences relationships between the voluntary and community sector and statutory sector partners in Lambeth.
Gifts database management system
Gifts is an internal database management system which is being developed to minimise the administrative burden for contact management across the council.
The system is intended to inform residents and organisations with relevant communication, consultation, available funding and events of interest. The system will be developed in collaboration with partners and in the longer term, aims to provide wider access for individual organisations.
Details of training courses for the voluntary and community sector taking place in October 2008.
External funding opportunities that may be of interest to providers of play and other children's services in the borough
The Streatham Darby and Joan Club based at 16 Leigham Court Road was one of 37 projects nationally and one of only 10 Third Sector led projects which were successful in their recent bid to the Government’s Community Assets Programme. The project, which is one of the two flagship projects within the Lambeth Communities First Programme was been successful in securing £1m funding from the first round of the Community Assets Fund and £85K from the Big Lottery Peoples Millions.
Under the programme local authorities and community groups were invited to submit bids for capital grants of between £150,000 and £1 million specifically for the refurbishment of buildings for projects lasting no more than 2 years. The Community Assets Programme was established after the publication of the Quirk Review in 2007 to facilitate the transfer of genuine assets from local authorities to third sector organisations for their use as community resources.
The project is led by a local community organisation established in Streatham since 1942 in partnership with the Lambeth Asian Centre and the Make a Difference Black Afro-Caribbean Group who also occupy the building.
Streatham Darby and Joan Club have received an ‘in principle’ grant offer of £1m to develop an Older Persons Resource Centre and Carers Hub on the site. The Carers Hub is one of the key elements of the Lambeth Carers Strategy which was launched last week. Work to refurbish the site is due to begin in early 2009 and the new building will open in January 2010.
Further information
For more information on support for voluntary and community sector organisations, please contact:
- Advice - 020 7926 6196
- Arts - 020 7926 0764
- Education - 020 7926 9633
- Parks/Sustainability - 020 7926 6209
- Regeneration - 020 7926 2741
- Community Services - 020 7926 4704
- Active Communities - 0207 926 2468
- Sports - 020 7926 0754