McCarthy Stone Foundation - Christmas Connections

The Christmas Connections programme is all about connecting older adults over the Christmas period. Grants of up to £1,000 will be available to support organisations running activities for people over 65 in their community over the festive period.

Funding will only be open to organisations with an annual income of LESS than £250,000.

Registered Charities, Community Groups and Community Interest Companies are eligible to apply.

Activities must take place between 1st December, 2023 and 2nd January, 2024.

Find out more here

Funding for Organisations Delivering Services to Blind & Partially Sighted People (London)

Sight loss charities and other specialist organisations that support blind and partially sighted people in London are invited to apply for funding from the Vision Foundation’s Vision Fund.

This funding round has two funding streams:

1. A National Resilience Fund open to organisations across the UK, who can apply for up to £10,000 of unrestricted funding.
2. A London-specific programme dedicated to reducing the levels of loneliness and/or isolation experienced by blind and partially sighted people living, working or visiting London. This programme has been made possible through a partnership with the City Bridge Foundation.

Across both funding streams, the Foundation is particularly keen to support organisations who demonstrate a strong commitment to involving experts by experience, i.e. blind and partially sighted people or people at particular risk of sight loss, in their work.

Deadline: Tuesday 31st October

Apply here

The Community Ownership Fund

The Community Ownership Fund is a £150 million fund to support community groups to take ownership of assets which are at risk of being lost to the community.

Funding is provided by The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Who can apply: Public Sector, Non-profit

How much you can get: up to £2 million.

Find out more or make an application here

Deadline: 31st March, 2025

Cosaraf Charitable Foundation - Hardship Grants

The Cosaraf Charitable Foundation provides funding of up to £500 to help people in significant hardship with the following: Household items, Basic Living Expenses (Utilities or food); Work- or education-related expenses, Rent arrears and Council tax arrears where there is a clear and obvious risk of homelessness.

Applications will only be accepted where they are made on an individual’s behalf by a third-party social organisation (e.g. charity, public body, social landlord, voluntary organisation, school etc.) acting as a referral partner who will manage the grant.

To be eligible for a small grant or donation, the following criteria must be met:

•  Financially excluded people
•  Prioritise items that will make the most difference
• Additional weight is given to those with caring responsibilities

This grant is open to applications.
Applications can be submitted at any time.

Find out more here

Substance Misuse Awareness Training

Change Grow Live Barnet are offering substance misuse awareness and comprehensive training on October 25^th at 10am-11:30am over Teams.

This Training will cover:

• Substance Misuse Awareness – Drugs and Alcohol
• Harm reduction strategies
• A walkthrough through the referral and assessment pathways and an overview of typically treatment options.

If you would like to be invited to this training, please can you confirm by email Kevin Farrell barnet.training@cgl.org.uk by Friday 20^th October

Celebrating Black History Month in Barnet

Black History Month, from the 1st - 31st October, is dedicated to celebrating communities and cultures all around the world. This year's theme, ‘Celebrating our Sisters’, highlights the crucial role that Black women have played in shaping history, inspiring change, and building communities.

View events happening in Barnet here

You can find more information and resources about BHM here

Unseen - domestic abuse of blind and partially sighted people

The Unseen is the first ever research into the shocking scale and nature of domestic abuse among blind and partially sighted people

The report, was researched and compiled by the charity SafeLives, highlights a lack of relevant knowledge and experience among organisations and professionals working in both the fields of sight loss and domestic abuse, and puts forward proposals for how to tackle the challenges and break down the barriers to accessing help.

The Vision Foundation have created a video to share with organisations that support or come into contact with people who may be affected by this.

Follow this link to the Unseen video

Find more information on the research here

1 in 12 visually impaired people in the UK may be experiencing domestic abuse.

Advice First Aid: delivered by Citizens Advice Barnet

Citizens Advice Barnet are keen to engage with community groups to raise awareness of, and increase trust in, advice services and support the delivery of Advice First Aid (AFA).

Advice First Aid is a free training session with lunch provided. The next session is due to take place on Tues 31st October. If you would like to attend please contact Nadya Bari, Project Manager on 020 8440 6356 or email nbari@barnetcab.org.uk

Black History Walks

View the streets of London from an African/Caribbean perspective and hear stories that the typical history books and tour guides never cover.

Join this interactive presentation to hear about Black World War 2 heroes, Ancient African architecture, museums of stolen goods, amazing black films, scientists/inventors, secret food history, black gold, pirates and much more.

When: Sat, 28 Oct 2023 12:30 - 13:30

Where: Colindale Library,                         7 Bristol Avenue, London, NW9 4BR

Book your free ticket here

Online Green Skills course available to anyone over 16!

Are you looking to learn more about potential careers and opportunities, especially  green jobs?​ Do you want to develop skills for employment and build confidence to enter or re-enter the workforce? ​ Do you prefer an on-demand digital learning course that can be taken at your own pace? 

EY and Microsoft have launched the Green Skills Passport, a free, online learning program focused on green jobs and developing skills for the workplace for individuals aged 16 and older. 

Through a 10-hour virtual course participants can learn about key topics such as: 

• Sustainability
• Entrepreneurship
• Skills for employment 

Green Skills Passport: sustainability skills and green jobs program

Lived Experience Network

The lived experience network's vision is that fewer lives are lost to suicide and anyone affected by suicide receives the best possible support. 

The network is for people who have experienced or live with suicidal thoughts, people who have attempted suicide, people living with or in relationships with those who have suicidal thoughts, and those bereaved by suicide. 

Join the network or discover more here

FREE Upshot Demo Sessions 

Upshot helps organisations, who make a difference, become more insight-led. Using a MEL (Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning) approach, they provide an easy-to-use online system for funders and delivers of all sizes to monitor, evaluate and learn from their data.

Barnet Together, with funding from the council, are excited to be able to offer eligible members the opportunity to use the Upshot platform for FREE for one year and at a reduced cost of £200 + VAT for the second year (following that, members will be offered a further one year at a discounted rate, before transferring to a full price Upshot membership in year 4).

Sign up for our free upcoming demo session on any of the following dates and discover how Upshot can elevate your Monitoring & Evaluation efforts.

19 October 2023 11:00-12:00               30 November 2023 11:00-12:00

Need a space to hold your workshop or meeting?

At Inclusion Barnet, we run two libraries in Barnet that have meeting rooms available for hire. 

With discounted rates for community groups, and potential to welcome up to 30 people, the spaces are flexible to suit your needs. 

Read more about hiring a library meeting room

Cost of Living Crisis

We now have a dedicated Cost of Living Crisis page on our website where we're compiling both local and national information, resources and guidance linked to the Cost of Living Crisis, and the impact on Voluntary Sector organisations. 

Do let us know if you have any activities and support that needs to be added.

Sign up to Barnet Together Alliance partners' Newsletters...

• Food Banks/Food Poverty support, email Barnet Food Hub.
• Children, Young People and Families (for Young Barnet Foundation members only)
• Local Environmental news & initiatives, sign up here.
• For Volunteer recruitment/ management support, sign-up. 
• Barnet Council's Together newsletter for the VCFSE, email.
• Barent Council's Barnet First eNewsletter for residents, sign up.

Sign up to Barnet’s voluntary sector Manifesto

Barnet Together is calling for community, voluntary, faith and social enterprise (VCFSE) groups as well as statutory organisations and businesses operating in the borough of Barnet, to sign up to the Barnet Voluntary Sector Manifesto.

The aim of the Manifesto is to create better understanding and deeper cross-sector collaboration between organisations working within Barnet. 

If you are a representative of a group, service provider or business based in or serving Barnet, then you can sign up to the Barnet Voluntary Manifesto.

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