Advocates

Join the Sector Leaders' Network

11 February, 2020

Do you want to have a voice in policy development and strategic decision making at a city and regional level?

Do you want to stay up-to-date with the latest VCSE sector intelligence?

Are you interested in leading beyond your organisation, helping to make a difference to the work of organisations working across the city?

Sector Leaders is a network of proactive individuals working in Bristol’s VCSE sector who have come together in order to share intelligence, expertise and opportunities, as well as campaign for positive change in the sector.

Have your say on the issues facing women

16 December, 2019

Bristol Women’s Voice is speaking to women across Bristol to find out what issues they face and what ideas they have for change.

The City Listening Project will seek to capture the voices of women who are rarely heard through discussion groups, one-to-one interviews and interactive pop-ups.

Blog: Probation reforms should reflect best practice when it comes to social value

19 June, 2019

Voscur Trustee and Sector Leader Suzanne Thompson is CEO of The Restore Trust. In this article she explains why the latest probation reforms need to go further to ensure voluntary sector involvement.

I was among the many who welcomed the proposed reforms of the probation service last month.

Bristol Safeguarding Boards consult on new structure

30 April, 2019

Bristol Safeguarding Boards are changing the way that they are organised and operate, moving from four multi-agency boards to a single partnership board.

The four existing boards include Bristol Safeguarding Adults Board, Bristol Safeguarding Children Board and the Children and Families Partnership.

VCSE Strategy and Bristol in Partnership

Voscur led the development of a new Bristol VCSE Strategy, and also transformed the Bristol Compact (a set of principles for VCSE organisations to work together) into Bristol in Partnership.

West of England Civil Society Partnership (WoECSP)

The West of England Civil Society Partnership (WoECSP) is a registered Community Interest Company established by Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise sector (VCSE) infrastructure and support organisations across the West of England . The partnership, originally established in 2011, brings together Voscur, CVS South Gloucestershire, The Care Forum, Voluntary Action North Somerset, Wesport, West of England Rural Network and the newly formed B&NES Third Sector Group.

The role of the Partnership is to provide:

ACORN

Following a community organising campaign, ACORN UK started in 2014 when a group of residents in Easton joined together to take action against unscrupulous landlords. Through a network of volunteers trained and empowered to organise in their local communities, ACORN currently works to combat evictions, fight rip-off tenancy fees and insist on healthy housing.

Communications: audience mapping

Designed to help organisations to communicate effectively, telling the right people the right things in the right way, to achieve the best result, whether this is to raise awareness of your group / organisation or to promote its impact on service users to partners or funders.

Inclusion through positive action

Creating a more equitable and inclusive society requires taking proactive, targeted action - not just 'getting out of the way and letting the market decide.' Such positive action underpins all Voscur's work to support and develop the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector. We are also involved in a number of other initiatives addressing specific barriers to opportunity, and provide training and consultancy for organisations that want to improve their own inclusion and diversity practice.

Networks

You might find it useful to engage with a Network or Peer Network to help progress the work of your organisation.

Networks are groups of people and organisations that come together to share ideas, information, issues and solutions around a common theme, a particular interest group or a particular area. Peer Networks are peer-led, which means they are run by the people who take part in them.