February 2012

The sector is going through a period of change. Many of the Foundation’s grant holders are looking at sustainability and adapting their strategy to enable them to thrive in a new environment. This may mean working in a different way, looking to collaborate with another organisation or ‘skilling up’ to be able to compete for contracts. The two organisations featured this month are Growing Well and Kidsafe. Both organisations are piloting or running projects focused on future sustainability in a changing funding and political environment.

Growing Well – working with Workbase

Growing Well provides training and volunteering opportunities for people with mental health problems from its farm enterprise on the outskirts of Kendal where it grows organic vegetables. It is working with Workbase, another local charity. Workbase provides work and training opportunities to people with mental health problems through its printing and craft businesses in Kendal. These two organisations are working together on a project to provide 50 six-month placements for people with mental health problems. This pilot project will work closely with local GP practices to test and evaluate a model of social prescribing that both organisations hope will be funded by GP practices in the future.

A short film, produced by the Soil Association, introduces the work of  Growing Well.

Click here to visit Growing Well’s website.

Click here to visit Workbase’s website.

 

Kidsafe

The Kidsafe Training for Tutors initiative was piloted 12 months ago with the aim of training a member of school staff so that they can deliver the Kidsafe Child Protection/Safeguarding programme to Primary School pupils in their school rather than Kidsafe delivering the training themselves. Training will then continue on an annual basis.

Each school that signs up to the initiative becomes a Kidsafe Registered School and pays an annual registration fee to Kidsafe based on the size of the school.  The money generated will eventually enable Kidsafe to become more self-sustaining and less reliant on securing funding from Trusts and Foundations.  Part of the commitment schools make to the initiative is to agree that the Kidsafe trained member of staff attends an annual one day refresher training course to keep their skills updated and for the school to maintain their Kidsafe Registered School status.

Kidsafe have just piloted their first annual refresher training day and 100% of schools that were involved in the pilot course re-registered and all the tutors attended the day, this bodes well for the long-term sustainability of Kidsafe and ensures that many more children across Cumbria will be taught the skills necessary to keep themselves safe from all forms of abuse and harm.

To visit Kidsafe’s website please click here.