Notice Board

Manchester Youth Council
Manchester City Council are setting up a new Youth Council in 2009 and want your views about how it should be set up and run to make sure it is representative of children and young people across the city, is led by them and contributes to improving outcomes.  Save the Children are supporting this process consulting with adults, children and young people from now until Friday 20th February 2009 and the results will be circulated in March 2009. This is your opportunity to share your ideas, voice your opinions and to get involved!  There are a number of ways you can do this depending on how much time you can spare:

• Email your views to mancypcproject@savethechildren.org.uk
• Complete a short questionnaire (only takes 10mins)
• Take part in an interview (30-40 mins)

Youth Work Tender
Similar to the Parenting and Family Support tender, the City Council has launched (on 11th November) a tender for the provision of Youth Work by voluntary and community sector groups. The deadline is no later than 4pm on Monday 1st December. More information on both the City Council and MACC websites:
Link: Manchester City Council - current tenders
Link: MACC - Children's Commissioning 2009/2011

Workforce Development Strategy
The Manchester Children's Workforce Strategy covers the public, private and voluntary sectors and there is now an opportunity to give feedback on the latest draft. It can be downloaded from the link below. Please feed your comments back to Ross Grant at Voluntary Youth Manchester.
Email: voluntaryyouthmanchester@googlemail.com or call him on 0161 832 0169
Link: Manchester Children's Workforce Development Strategy
Link: Workforce Development

Parenting and Family Support Commissioning
The City Council has now released details of the first part of the commissioning process for 2009-20011. The deadline for submissions is 24th November 2008. The details are available on the Council list of current tenders on the Council website - click on the link below. We’ve also put more background information on the MACC website under Commissioning 2009-11. This includes an FAQ and contact details for support. We’ll upload details of the other commissioning streams there too as they emerge.
Link: Manchester City Council Parenting and Family Support Tender
Link: MACC - Children's Commissioning Update

Parenting Fund - Round Three now open
Round 3 of the Parenting Fund is now open. Here are the headlines:

• The total grant fund is just over £16 million over a two-year period (£8 million per year)
• It can only be used in the 23 English local government areas listed below
• Grants can cover more than one area
• It is open to “not for profit” organisations but excludes statutory services
• The grants will be for 24 months and the first payments will be made in April 2009.
• The amount applied for must be at least £50,000 for the two-year period but there is no upper limit.
• Organisations can apply to work in more than one area
• Funded projects are expected to deliver learning and outcomes that can be picked up nationally.
• Threre remains a focus on promoting social inclusion and improving access to services and support for less well-served communities.
• The localities are: Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Redcar and Cleveland, South Tyneside, Blackburn with Darwen, Liverpool, City of Manchester, Leeds, North East Lincolnshire, Derby, Leicester, Nottingham, Stoke on Trent, Birmingham, Peterborough, Norfolk, Croydon, Greenwich, Hackney, Southwark, Slough, Southampton, Cornwall, Bristol.
• Completed applications must be submitted by noon on Friday December 12th 2008.
• Assessment, decisions and award making will take place between December 2008 and January 2009.

Children Young People and Families Grant
This is a national programme to fund work by the third sector to improve outcomes for children, young people and families. The outcomes expected from this funded work are embedded in the Children Act 2004, the Every Child Matters outcomes and the Children's Plan. The deadline for receipt of completed applications is midday 31 October 2008.
Link: Children Young People and Families Grant
Link: Grant Application Pack

CAMHS Training Programme 2009
Dates have now been arranged for the 2009 Programme of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Multi Agency Training. The training has been developed to suit all frontline workers from all establishments, including education, social services, health and the voluntary sector and all training is FREE. It consists of a one day introductory course which covers:
•    Children and Young People’s Mental Health and available services
•    Mental Health in the context of Child and Adolescent Development
•    Early Identification of Mental Health Problems and looking at how we respond.
The introductory days are followed, later in the year once again, by the programme of workshops looking at more specialised topics.
•    (0-11 Years) - 26th February 2009, Kings House, Oxford Road
•    (11-18 Years) - 11th March 2009, Forum Centre, Wy/shawe
•    (0-11 Years) - 24th March 2009, MANCAT 1 Central Park
•    (11-18 Years) - 31st March 2009 (to be confirmed)
For more information or to book a place, please contact Tara Davies, Project Worker, Public Health Development Service, Mauldeth House, Mauldeth Road West, Chorlton-Cum-Hardy, Manchester, M21 7RL. Tel: 0161 882 2307 or email Tara.Davies@manchester.nhs.uk

Support for Young People with Chronic Health Conditions
Staying Positive Workshops are a series of three one-day workshops delivered over a period of six weeks for young people aged 12-18 who are living with a long-term health condition. The workshops give them the skills to improve the management of their condition from both a health and social perspective. They've been developed through working with teenagers on the format and content - including delivery of the sessions by young people aged between 14 and 25 who are themselves living with a long term condition. The workshops are usually held on a Saturday, Sunday or during the school holidays to prevent the loss of school time. A trained responsible adult is always on site to assist the young facilitators if any difficulties arise during the workshops. The North West Launch of Staying Postive takes place on 7th November 2008 at  Urbis, Cathedral Gardens, Manchester from 1pm till 3pm including buffet lunch and will cover:

• About the Staying Positive programme
  
• How the programme helps local trusts meet obligations under Every Child Matters and the Children’s NSF
• Hearing directly from young people who have experienced the programme and find out what it has meant to them
• How to make it happen in your area and network over lunch

Be in the know...join the MACC mailing list!
Join our rapidly expanding mailing list to get the latest updates from MACC on your chosen areas of interest. You can choose from Health and Social Care, Children and Families, Health and Well-being,Older People, Voluntary Sector Development, Mental Health, Advocacy Services and Community Engagement. If you're not already on our list, it’s simple to join, just;
   1. Click on the link below,
   2. Print the form,
   3. Complete all sections and,
   4. Post to : MACC FREEPOST, NAT 4533,  PO Box 189, Manchester M30 3BR.
We will send you information via email and/or post as you wish on your chosen interests... and it's all for FREE.
Link: MACC Contact Database Form

Worforce Development Funding Guide
Skills for Care, Skills for Health and Children’s Workforce Development Council (CWDC) have produced a workforce development funding guide aimed at employers in the social care and health sector. Click on the link below to download a copy.
Download: nw_hsc_funding_guide.doc

Every Organisation Matters
The National Council of Childcare Voluntary Organisations (NCCVO) and the National Countil of Voluntary Youth Services have published the results of a research they have been working on with the University of Hull into the size of the children and young people's voluntary sector in England. An important finding is that the children and young people's voluntary sector makes up about a third of the total voluntary sector workforce - MACC's own figures of the number of groups in Manchester would certainly agree that this is by far the biggest part of the local sector.

Link: NCCVO

CRB Checks for Volunteers
In June, the Office of the Third Sector released guidance to make clear what groups using volunteers need to do about Criminal Records Bureau checks. This is intended as a reply to concerns that some volunteers are being put off by the CRB check process. Obviously, organisations do need to manage risks in people doing voluntary work with children or vulnerable adults and there are some legal requirements but this new guidance tries to explain where a formal CRB check fits with other steps such as interviewing, training and getting references.
Link: Guidance on CRB Checks for Volunteers (pdf)
Link: Criminal Records Bureau

Every Organisation Matters: mapping the children and young people's VCS
The National Council of Voluntary Child Care Organisations (NCVCCO) and the National Council for Voluntary Youth Services (NCVYS) have recently published new research mapping the size and scope of the children and young people’s voluntary and community sector. The executive summary, full report and press release are available to download from NCVCCO's website:

Link: NCVCCO

Capacity Building Support to develop partnerships
Are you a voluntary and community sector organisation that works with children, young people or families? Would you like to improve your sustainability and increase your profile? Do you currently work collaboratively with other VCS organisations or would you like to develop closer working with other organisations? If you answered YES to all these questions then please read on....
MACC is offering practical, tailor-made capacity building support to voluntary and community organisations that wish to work together and develop their collaborative working.  We recognise that developing partnerships and making them work effectively can be challenging and time-consuming. We have a Business Improvement Budget, with which we can buy in expertise and practical support to help you to develop your partnership ideas.
We will be offering this service for the remainder of 2008-09. Due to the limits this places on our time and resources, we will only be able to offer this service to groups who have already identified potential or existing partners that they wish to develop their relationship with. For further details contact Alison Tansey at MACC for further information (alison@macc.org.uk or call 0161 834 9823).

Consultation on GP out of hours services in Manchester
Manchester PCT is planning to re-contract for the provision of GP services which operate outside normal opening hours. They have set up a short online survey to gather views on some of the key ways the new provider should operate. To take part, please click on the link below.
Link: Out of hours survey

The Children's Plan
The Children's Plan is a ten-year vision to make this country a better place for children and young people. It aims to raise attainment and aspirations for this and future generations, closing gaps in educational achievement and ensuring standards of educational excellence for everyone.  The aim of the Plan is to:

• strengthen support for all families during the formative early years of their children’s lives
• take the next steps in achieving world class schools and an excellent education for every child
• involve parents fully in their children’s learning
• help to make sure that young people have interesting and exciting things to do outside of school
• provide more places for children to play safely.
  

A beginners guide to children and families workforce development (Aug 07)
Produced by NCVCCO and Homestart this publication is for individuals and organisations that are uncertain about what 'workforce development' means in relation to children's services.  This booklet introduces the main features of the children's workforce development agenda and explains why these are important.  It concentrates on the basics but includes information about where to go to find out more.

Link: Download the report from NCCVO (pdf)