News

Volunteer Scotland is promoting online training courses through the Open University to help third sector organisations involve, support and lead volunteers. The courses are free to access online, and aim to encourage participants to think about the volunteer voice, how these learning topics impact on their current situation and to discuss the ideas and concepts within their club, group or organisation.

This week’s Funding Insight Bulletin is now live! The insight bulletin is generated by the Grantsonline Funding Portal, the UK’s most comprehensive and up to date UK grant funding information service. Features include a range of funding opportunities and sources groups and organisations in Falkirk can apply for. 

The next meeting of the online COVID-19 Third Sector Response Forum takes place on Wednesday 16th September, 3pm – 5pm, and can be accessed via the Zoom link, or with the meeting ID: 963 2261 5679 (password: 171199). The meetings are currently focusing on recovery and renewal.

Christians Against Poverty’s (CAP) free debt counselling service focuses on providing a service which works well for those who are more vulnerable and who need support to help them gain freedom from their debts. The Forth Valley service is available to anyone living in postcode areas FK1 – FK20, and EH51. To access the service, people will need access to either the  internet or a post box. Anyone looking for support from the above postcodes can contact CAP by phone: 0800 328 0006, Lines are open Monday – Thursday, 9:30am – 5pm, and Friday 9:30am – 3:30pm.

As part of our focus on the recovery phase, we are highlighting third sector providers of PPE and other safety equipment. St Andrew’s First Aid has released their new First Aid Kit Guide, which aims to provide organisations with all the information they need to make an informed decision on first aid supplies and equipment for their workplace, group or facilities.

Families Outside is holding an online virtual conference to support families affected by imprisonment. “Health, Human Rights and Hope” takes place on Wednesday 18th November, 10am – 2:30pm, and is free to attend. Families Outside aim to show what more can be done to improve health, human rights, and hope for people in prison and their families outside.

The Scottish Council of Jewish Communities (SCoJeC) has released their latest enews bulletin, with information on upcoming events and available training, including Rosh Hashanah events. The bulletin also includes information on the upcoming “Goodbye Fiona and Hello Ruby” online open house event, taking place Thursday 24th September, 5pm – 6pm. Everyone is welcome, and donations are gratefully accepted to support SCoJeC fund their activities and events.

The Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland (the ALLIANCE) is currently working to gather lived experience to inform Scottish Government’s new Women’s Health Plan, with a short online survey. The Plan aims to tackle women’s health and inequalities by raising awareness around women’s health, improving access to healthcare for all women at all stages of life and reducing inequalities in health outcomes for girls and women. The survey should only take 10 – 15 minutes to complete; the deadline for responses is Monday 14th September.

With our partners, our team at CVS Falkirk is currently working to gauge interest in bespoke cyber resilience training for the local third sector. The training would focus on working at home and the cyber threat regarding this practice.