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CEN Saturday Conference 14th March 2009

Whilst the country faces difficult times, Coventry’s community groups continue to bring people together and get things done. It’s even more important now for the community sector to pull together and make its voice heard and with this as the theme for the event, CEN held its latest Saturday conference on 14th March. 

As CEN begins a new chapter as a fully independent network, it’s an exciting time but there will also be some challenges, and the Saturday conference reflected this.  There were opportunities to hear about the latest proposals for a new city cente health facility, to engage directly with Coventry Partnership as Coventry continues to tackle difficult issues, and also to find out about a ground-breaking new national resource for community groups developed by our community colleagues from Cornwall. And given the milestone CEN is going to achieve, there was also time for some celebration and going forward together. CEN once again welcomed Peter Woodward, Quest Associates, who facilitated the morning for us, and the event finished with a celebration lunch.  Further information will be included in our next Speakeasy newsletter. 

CEN is planning to hold its next Saturday Conference in the Autumn so do check our website and calendar page for details in due course.

 

Charity Director/Trustee Training 

Due to demand the FREE Charity Director/Trustee CEN training course held on Saturday 18th April 2009 at the Ricoh Arena Community Space was increased by three additional places above the usual maximum limit.  Delegates who attended expressed an interest in a follow up event to explore how the training was being put to practical use.  Requests were also made for further courses.  If your group would be interested in attending future events please contact us at info@covcen.org.uk and let us know what training would be of interest.  

 

Community Safety Partnership Strategic Assessment 

As part of work currently being carried out by Coventry Community Empowerment Network with the Community Safety Partnership, CEN recently provided a number of opportunities for community groups and residents to discuss their concerns regarding crime and safety in their neighbourhoods.  In January six focus groups were held across the city to enable community knowledge and expertise inform the 2009/10 Community Safety Strategic Assessment, which will identify community and safety priorities in Coventry for the next twelve months. 

Cen has commissioned Kelly Hunt from M.E.L. (an independant research company) to facilitate this work.  M.E.L. has now completed the final report summarising the findings of the six focus groups.  This report has been passed to the Community Safety Partnership to feed into Coventry's Strategic Assessment.  

The next stage of the work is now looking more specifically at Safer Neighbourhood Groups (SNG's) and the development of an induction pack for all new SNG members (whether a Community Representative or from a Statutory agancy), based on feedback from a dedicated workshop held in February with SNG Community Representatives past and present.  Update to follow! 

 

Latest News ...

Eat Your ART out ... an exciting new project celebrating Coventry ... 

BBC Coventry & Warwickshire are looking for community groups to come and take part in an exciting new project celebrating Coventry.

This project follows BBC Coventry & Warwickshire’s previous highly successful award winning community projects Coventry Market the Musical!, Singing City Choir and Big Bard.

If Coventry were a recipe what ingredients would be used to make it?
What makes it special and couldn’t be left out? 
The Cathedral, ribbon, Lady Godiva, cars, elephants, bikes, Phoenix, Frank Whittle, the ring road, The Specials?

There are so many things that Coventry is famous for, we want to celebrate Coventry in a unique way.  We will be working with Coventry people to create a special representation of the City . . . using food.

We are looking for people who are creative, imaginative and love Coventry.

We’ll be creating a large outdoor sculpture representing Coventry’s culture, history, past and present, the difference is that the sculpture will be made from food.  Made in six pieces, the food will reflect the community groups making each section.  Artist Prudence Staite will be working with the participants to sculpt their Coventry.

The final event will be held in Coventry city centre on Saturday 5 September, not only will the finished work of art be there to look at but we’ll be inviting the city down to eat it!

We expect a group to be made up from 8-12 members.  Workshops and activities are likely to take place for a few hours every week.

All materials will be provided and the activity is free to take part. 
BBC Coventry & Warwickshire will be documenting the whole project for radio, TV and the website. Timings of workshops will be scheduled at a mutually (regular) convenient time for both the groups participating, BBC Coventry & Warwickshire and the artist.

We are looking for five community groups that reflect a cross section of Coventry to take part. There will be no cost implication for groups to take part, BBC Coventry & Warwickshire will follow the journey of participants along the way and the whole experience is sure to be a lot of fun.

The deadline for applications is quite soon, Monday 22 June.  Workshops will be held in designated community centres across Coventry.  For more details click onto the link below.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/coventry/content/articles/2009/05/28/eat_your_art_out_feature.shtml

  

City Centre Regeneration

Following extensive consultation with local people Coventry City Council has now unveiled the Jerde masterplan to redevelop Coventry's City Centre.  An exhibition of the initial designs drawn up by architects The Jerde Partnership was held over a six week period in the autumn of 2008 at 2 City Arcade.  Over 3,000 people took this opportunity to look at the designs in detail and talk to the designers, council officers and councillors about the plans.  For further details click  here

 

Consultations - did you know?

You can find out about the latest issues on which City Council are consulting by looking on the front page of their website - top left hand corner "Consulting Coventry".   Click   here for more details.

 

Coventry - the next twenty years

The Sustainable Communties Strategy, Coventry's twenty year plan for the future which CEN members contributed to through consultation, has been formally launched.  Following approval by Coventry City Council's Cabinet and subsequently by Rt. Hon Hazel Blears MP, Secretary of State for Communties and Local Government, the strategy is now being acted upon through a three year short term plan called the Local Area Agreement (LAA).  For a copy of the final strategy visit the Coventry Partnership website  here

 

Funding News...

Grants available for voluntary and community groups to stage events or activities that encourage people to think about employment or self employment as an option - find out more via this workshop.

Details of the latest funding and how to access advice. Click here for more.

Disclaimer: no responsibility is accepted for the accuracy of information on this site - you are advised to check important information at source. Information given here does not necessarily reflect the views of CEN or Coventry Voluntary Service Council. If you have any concerns, please contact us.