Gloucester VCS Forum

Gloucester City Council Grants and Community Services Forum |

Aims

To bring together voluntary and community groups who work in Gloucester, to share information, experience, skills and good practice.
To provide one mechanism for the voluntary and community sector in Gloucester to have a strategic voice, ensuring that its collective views are considered and have an influence on planning and policy decisions.
To provide one channel of communication into the voluntary and community sector for the statutory and business sectors.
To strengthen, support and develop the voluntary and community sector in Gloucester.

Objectives

The Gloucester Community and Voluntary Sector Forum will achieve these aims by:

Encouraging the widest possible range of organisations to take part in the Forum, by making it accessible and welcoming in physical and all other ways, and by promoting Equal Opportunities principles and practices amongst all groups within the Voluntary and Community Sector.
Keeping abreast of political, social, economic and legal developments which may have an impact on the work of the VCS in Gloucester and disseminating this information as widely as possible.
Providing a co-ordinated response on key issues affecting the VCS in Gloucester, including the Community strategy, the Gloucester Partnership and other relevant local plans and policies.
Encouraging and developing partnership working and sharing of knowledge within the VCS and between the VCS and the statutory and private sectors.
Identifying specific concerns and issues and organising meetings to address these.
Inviting any representatives from relevant organisations, who will help to promote and advance the aims of the Forum, to attend meetings.
Electing, from the membership of the forum, representatives onto local partnerships and other Boards as required.
Providing an accountability mechanism for these elected VCS representatives to report back to, and consult with the VCS.
Contributing to and supporting the development of the Gloucestershire Compact or other protocols designed to improve relationships between the public and voluntary sectors.
Identifying issues for GAVCA to follow up and report back on.
Raising funds through grants, donations, contributions or subscriptions, if appropriate.

Membership

The Forum is an informal structure, organised by GAVCA. It is open to all voluntary and community groups who are based in or work in Gloucester City. Each organisation may send up to two representatives to Forum meetings.

Documents for download

Gloucester City Council Grants Forum, Job Description for Voluntary/Community Sector Representatives - Word file, PDF file
Gloucester Partnership, Job Description for Voluntary/Community Sector Representatives - Word file, PDF file

Meetings

The Forum will meet at least four times a year, although additional meetings may be called to consider urgent agenda items. GAVCA will, prepare for and notify VCOs of each meeting, facilitate the meetings and will report back in form of minutes and reports.

Minutes from previous meetings

Future Meetings

VCS Meetings for 2010 for your diaries
(note that at least one of these meetings will be rescheduled for a Monday evening so that different people can come to the meeting)

Monday 19 April 2010 17.30–20.00

Gloucester City Council Grants and Community Services Forum

Gloucester Grants and Community Services Forum – feedback from meeting held on 16 February 2010

The main item on the agenda at this week’s meeting of the City Council’s Grants and Community Services forum was the proposed cut to the VCS Grants budget. The main points raised were:

The VCS appreciated the fact that Cabinet members had listened to their case for reducing the level of cuts and the value of a collective VCS voice through the Forum was acknowledged
Lessons had been learned about the use of the online budget consultation tool and the consultation process as a whole, which would be borne in mind as we go into the future
There are only a few groups whose grants end this year who will be affected by the cuts, and the City Council have been working directly with them to make sure they can access other sources of grant funding
A working group of council officers and the VCS representatives will start working together immediately to agree revised criteria for the small grants round in September, and how the cuts to groups funded through service level agreements will be implemented
This group will work to the new Third Sector Commissioning Standards which are currently being consulted on by the VCS Assembly Team

The Forum also discussed ways for the Sector to engage better with city councillors and it was agreed that we would work together to make a DVD about the VCS which will be used as part of the new councillors' induction in the spring. We will also build on the Working Together Event held last year and hold a bigger event this autumn to which all public sector partners and members of the public would also be invited.

There is still one vacancy for a VCS representative to sit on this forum. If you are interested in representing all voluntary and community groups in the city in this capacity, please contact Sally Pickering on 01452 332424 or email for more information.

GAVCA
75-81 Eastgate Street
Gloucester GL1 1PN

01452 332424