Community Chesterfield preparing proposal for next phase of Lottery funding

Community Chesterfield is preparing a proposal for the National Lottery to fund its second phase to build on the success of its achievements in bringing together the University of Derby and voluntary and community sector (VCS).

The project, which is a Lottery funded partnership between University of Derby and Derbyshire Voluntary Action (DVA), launched in 2019 with the aim of strengthening the voluntary sector locally and bring together health and social care workers across sectors

Over the last two and a half years, the project has flourished. It has been successfully building a partnerships between the university and VCS groups to share and improve skills, knowledge and resilience of those who are involved in the project. This includes present and future health care professionals, voluntary sector organisations and students studying within the health and social care sector gaining real life experience with the voluntary sector.

In its second year alone, over 26 new relationships and ‘meaningful connections’, where the activity organised brings benefits to both, were made and 183 people from differing backgrounds attended shared learning sessions.

The project, which provided a key support network for the voluntary and community sector during the pandemic after moving its training and shared learning provision online, delivered almost 1,000 training hours in its second year alone, benefitting individuals from more than 100 organisations.

The pilot project has been the first of its kind to invest in and measure the impact of bringing together voluntary, academic and statutory sector professionals and as such the project has evolved.

The proposals for the second phase will see the project aim to deepen the relationship between sectors and continues to deliver outputs on shared learning sessions, bring people with lived experience into the university’s courses and puts students out into the community supporting groups and understanding the vital role the voluntary sector plays in supporting peoples well-being.

Free training will continue to be available to support the learning needs of staff and students at the University of Derby, as well as community and voluntary third sector groups across Derbyshire which help people in Chesterfield. Tickets for some sessions will continue to be available at a subsidised rate for anyone in Derbyshire.

The project will also build on its partnership working with the return of Careers that Care, a week-long series of events aimed at showcasing the variety of rewarding roles within health and social care sector, inspiring the next generation of professionals and giving them the knowledge and skills to embark on their careers.

There is also plans to develop the project further by bringing in involvement from the private sector, using the same model implemented to forge relationships with the VCS. Further funding from the Lottery would enable to project to build on this idea, something the voluntary sector has been eager to do.

The private sector is also keen to work more closely with the voluntary sector seeing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as key to doing business well. The East Midlands Chamber have recently published a report, which states that the strategic importance of CSR activity to a business achieving its overall goals has grown by 6.2% from 2018 – 2020. The report concludes that a third of survey respondents wanted further information on how to effectively contribute and engage with the voluntary sector.

Jenny Raschbauer, Community Chesterfield project manager, said: “We have proved over the course of the project so far that we have been able to develop successful methods for creating meaningful impact by facilitating relationships across the sectors.

"We are therefore not only applying for National Lottery funding for the next three years, but also working to develop additional funding for this piece of work with a Knowledge Transfer Partnership, which will additionally further strengthen our partnership with the University of Derby.

“We are excited by the future of this project, as it has organically evolved to truly meet the needs of the voluntary sector organisations which we work with. The impact which this project is having on participants is significant, with organisations feeling supported and strengthened for the future. This is something we hope to not only continue to achieve, but build on further to see the project and those it supports thrive, particularly as we navigate our way out of the pandemic.”