NWCN Ebulletin 01 March 2023

1 Free Finance Training 

North West Community Network in partnership with NICVA are offering a Free Finance Training session:

Thursday 16th March
10:00am to 12:30pm
DiverseCity Community Partnership, 10-14 Bishop St

Preparing and independently examining the annual accounts is a vital and important part of a charity’s governance.

In this workshop, participants will gain an understanding of independent examination and what a set of receipt and payment annual accounts should look like.  The following areas will be covered:

• Independent Examination (IE), what does this mean?
• What should we look for in an IE?
• Can my charity have an IE?
• The difference between Audit and IE.
• What do receipts and payment accounts (R&P) look like, including Trustee annual reporting (TAR).
• What should I be looking for in a set of R&P accounts?

Funded by Halifax Foundation 

Register your place here

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2 Day of Hope

We want to create a Day Of Hope for the city in September 2023.  We’re inviting individuals, groups or communities who would like to be involved in helping us organise this day. Our people need hope more than ever.  This is the start of a journey to develop Derry/Strabane into a place of Hope.….
 
We are having a meeting on 10^th March at 11:00am in the Holywell Building, Bishop Street.  If you are interested in being involved, come and join us.  
 
Contact Marie Dunne marie92dunne@gmail.com or Roisin roisin@nwcn.org 028 7126 1941

3  NWCN Members Annual Catch-up

When: Tuesday 28^th March – 11:30am
Where: DCCP, Holywell Building, Bishop Street
Lunch included
 
Please join us for our NWCN Members catch-up event on Tuesday 28^th March. 

This is a chance to come together to build connections, seek support and an opportunity to talk about the challenges for you/your community.  And a wee update from us on our focus for the year ahead. 

Let us know if you are planning to attend - email us at info@nwcn.org

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4 Community Ownership - Round 3 

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) announce new application window for the Community Ownership Fund, which has already seen a share of £1.3million given to six projects in Northern Ireland.

It has been set up to help communities take ownership of assets at risk of closure.

Voluntary and community organisations can bid for match funding to support the purchase and/or renovation costs of community assets.

The Fund hopes to support a range of proposals enabling people and communities across the UK to thrive.

Proposals will need to prove the value of the asset to local people and that the asset can run sustainably for the long-term benefit of the community.

The deadline for applications for this funding round is 14 April 2023 at 11:59am.

For further information click here

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5 B&Q Foundation

The B&Q Foundation supports registered charities with a combination of grants, volunteering time and home improvement resources. It concentrates its efforts on local charities helping to create better, safes places for people who need them most.

Find out more and register interest in applying for a grant from the B&Q Foundation.

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8 Consumer Council - True Cost Stakeholder Pack

The Consumer Council have launched our 2023 True Cost Campaign which is running through February and March aimed at helping and supporting consumers. Building on our work to educate and empower consumers about borrowing money safely, and to create awareness of the help and support available to consumers worried about their finances. The multi-channel campaign will provide consumers online and offline with advice and signpost people to organisations that can provide support and guidance.
 
For more information about our True Cost campaign, please find attached our stakeholder pack which outlines campaign dates, resources, and signposting.

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9  Making It Work - More & Better jobs for Disabled People in the C&V Sector

Webinar  
Date: Thursday 9 March 2023 from 11am – 12.30pm
 
The Equality Commission for NI in partnership with NI Union of Supported Employment are hosting the webinar which aims to raise awareness of how to create more and better jobs for disabled people in the voluntary and community sector in Northern Ireland . This webinar will focus on creating job opportunities for people with disabilities, the reasonable adjustment duty in recruitment and lawful positive action. Contributors include :
 
• Dr Mary- Elaine Calvert, Brain Injury Matters
• Karen Smith, Disability Action
• Leo Quinn, Department for Communities
• Edyth Dunlop, NIUSE
• Una Wilson , ECNI

Paul Oakes, ECNI will facilitate a panel discussion about how we can work together to create more and better jobs for disabled by exploring the practical changes that employers can make and the support available to employers.  The webinar is aimed at HR Manager/Officer or Managers responsible for recruitment.
 
To register click here.

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10 Thirty - Legacy Citizens’ Assembly - Spaces still available

Holywell Trust has some places left for our Thirty citizens’ assembly project examining the issue - Legacy: Reconciling the Past with a Future Focus 

We are looking for citizens with an interest in the topic being discussed and in moving this place forward on one of our more challenging issues. Participants must be able to take part in the residential on 11th & 12th March 2023.

Further information on the Thirty project can be found on our website - https://www.holywelltrust.com/thirty

 Sign Up 

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11 FREE Compassionate Neighbour Training

Compassionate Communities NI works to support people to live well and die well!
 
This workshop raises awareness of the emotional, practical and social needs of people impacted by life limiting conditions and the frail elderly; their carers and those bereaved in our communities. It helps us to understand how compassion can help people to live better and shows how this can benefit all of us!

Free training workshop: Compassionate Neighbour - Compassion in action
Monday 6th March, 11am - 12:30pm
Foyle Hospice Committee Room at Day Hospice Area, BT48 8JE

Tea and coffee will be served
Kindly confirm attendance by emailing: susanne@compassionatecommunitiesni.com

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12 Foyle Hospice Make a Will Month

During the month of March, local solicitors very kindly agree to waive their usual Will writing fee in return for a suggested £75* donation to Foyle Hospice.  
 
The purpose of Make a Will Month is to encourage people to think about and write their Wills, whilst also raising much-needed funds for Foyle Hospice. 
Money raised will ensure we can continue to deliver high quality specialist palliative care to those in our community with terminal and life-limiting illness.

• In-Patient Unit
• 7 Days-a-Week Home Care Service
• 24/7 Telephone Advice Line
• Children and Young People’s Counselling
• Bereavement Support for Adults
• Carer Support and Wellbeing
• Integrative Care Clinic
• Day Hospice Unit

Legacy giving is a vitally important source of support for Foyle Hospice, helping to ensure that our community, and those we love, will have access to specialist palliative care long into the future. If you choose to write your Will through Make a Will Month, we hope you'll consider leaving a gift in your will to Foyle Hospice, although there is no obligation to do so. 
 
(*If your will is complex there may be an additional fee to pay. Please discuss your requirements with your solicitor).
 
I would like to finish with a quote from the wonderful Dame Cicely Saunders that I feel perfectly sums up the work of the hospice and the benefit that your support will bring.  
“You matter because you are you, and you matter to the very end of your life. We will do all we can not only to help you die peacefully, but also to live until you die.”

List of participating Solicitors 

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13 NI Human Rights Commission

Our vision: A society with human rights values and standards at its heart to achieve equality, peace and justice.
Our mission: To protect and promote the human rights of everyone in Northern Ireland.

Read more about our role in our Who We Are Leaflet
 

The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission and the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland have been tasked with overseeing the Government’s commitment to protecting equality and human rights in a post Brexit Northern Ireland.

Under the Ireland/NI Protocol to the Withdrawal Agreement reached with the EU, the UK Government committed to ensuring that the protections currently in place in Northern Ireland for the rights, safeguards and equality of opportunity provisions set out in the chapter of the same name in the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement will not be reduced as a result of the UK leaving the EU.

You can read more about this on our website here and in our Equality and Human Rights After Brexit leaflet

Telephone: 028 9024 3987 Email: info@nihrc.org