Voluntary community sector’s Annual Assembly approaching
News from our partners Voluntary Community Sector Assembly
Shropshire’s Voluntary Community Sector Assembly board is busy planning for the Annual Assembly meeting, scheduled for Wednesday 20 May 2015 at 9am to 1pm in the Sovereign Suite, Shrewsbury Town Football Club.
Jackie Jeffrey, the current Chair of the VCS Assembly Board (and Chief Executive of Citizen’s Advice Shropshire) said:
“Once again we are looking forward to our Assembly AGM; we have had a very busy year and board members have worked hard to support our activity. This meeting will be an excellent opportunity to celebrate and share the success with our stakeholders and the wider sector, and we are looking forward to welcoming our regular delegates, plus new ones attending for the first time.”
The annual event is always well supported by delegates from the voluntary and community sectors, along with statutory partners, and this year’s event promises to be particularly interesting. The VCSA Board will be taking a look back, reviewing work done over the last year; for example, working with the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) to create the conditions for economic vitality and sustainable employment, and recent work undertaken to measure community resilience in Shropshire working with communities and individuals by using local resources and expertise to help themselves.
Matthew Jackson from the Centre for Local Economic Studies (CLES) is booked as this year’s guest speaker. Established in 1986, CLES is the UK’s leading independent charitable research and member organisation, focussing on economic development, regeneration and place-making – promoting action and implementing new progressive economic activities to create positive environmental, health and social outcomes. Matthew will focus his talk on current challenges faced by the VCS and the importance of partnerships in these difficult times.
Other speakers will include George Candler, Shropshire Council’s head of commissioning, and Shropshire Providers Consortium and Impact Consultancy, who will talk about current developments in their own organisations relevant to the sector.
There are over 1,000 registered voluntary organisations operating in Shropshire, plus many more community groups, all of whom are welcome to join Shropshire’s Voluntary and Community Sector Assembly free of charge. To find out more email VCSAssembly@shropshire.gov.uk, ring 01743 252740, or visit: http:/vcsvoice.org/
