Jennie Williams

🤝 What is social value and why does it matter to business? Under the Social Value Act , public bodies must consider how the services they commission improve the wellbeing of local communities. For businesses bidding for public contracts, demonstrating clear, locally relevant social value is now essential to stand out to public sector buyers! That’s where The Wildlife Trusts come in 🐾🌿 Across the country, we’re helping businesses embed social value in their bids - offering the opportunity to fund and collaborate on place-based projects that directly align with framework agreements and recognised social value models. One standout example is our partnership with CityFibre, the UK’s largest independent full fibre infrastructure platform 📡 As part of the government’s Project Gigabit, CityFibre is rolling out lightning-fast broadband to over 1.3 million premises, many in rural and hard-to-reach areas. But they’re not stopping at connectivity... Through a four-year partnership with The Wildlife Trusts, CityFibre is investing in Team Wildera grassroots biodiversity programme delivered by six local Wildlife Trusts across the UK: The Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire, Leicestershire & Rutland Wildlife Trust, Warwickshire Wildlife Trust, Sussex Wildlife Trust, Kent Wildlife Trust, and Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust 🐝🌸 📍 From Kent to Cambridgeshire, this partnership is: ✨ Supporting long-term community engagement 🌈 Reaching underrepresented groups 🏫 Partnering with schools, youth clubs, and care homes 🗺️ Helping communities shape their own local nature recovery plans By funding dedicated staff and enabling flexible, place-based action, CityFibre is helping to build stronger, greener communities - right where they’re needed most 🌱💚 👏 A huge thank you to everyone involved in making this partnership a success! It’s a brilliant example of how infrastructure and nature recovery can go hand-in-hand: and how social value can be embedded from the ground up 🌐🌳 🔗 Learn more: https://lnkd.in/e3vijiSV

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🌟 Exciting Funding Opportunity for Youth Organisations! 🌟 https://lnkd.in/ekH3zdha The Million Hours Fund is offering grants between £30,000 and £100,000 to support extra hours of youth work in areas with higher rates of anti-social behaviour across England. Funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and The National Lottery Community Fund, this initiative aims to create safe spaces and positive activities for young people aged 10 to 18 (or up to 25 for those with SEND). Objectives of Fund The funding is for organisations to give extra support to young people in areas with higher rates of anti-social behaviour. The funding is for extra hours of youth work to give these young people more places to go and positive things to do. These extra hours could be used for things like learning, arts, and playing sports, or for activities like mentoring, and developing social or life skills. To be eligible, projects must: - Benefit young people aged 10 to 18, or up to 25 if they have special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) - Effectively engage with young people at risk of taking part in anti-social behaviour - Deliver more hours of youth work than currently provided - Involve young people in decisions about the work - Deliver youth work that is open to as wide a range of young people as possible (known as ‘open access’) - Be run by trusted adults such as qualified youth workers, youth support workers, or experienced volunteers. The eligible wards for this round are based on the youth population and levels of antisocial behaviour recorded by the police. Check elegible ward areas here: https://lnkd.in/ekaDx8Av Eligible Expenditure Most of the funding being requested should be for the direct costs of running extra hours of youth work. The funding can be used for: - Staff salaries to deliver this work - Volunteer costs to deliver this work - Training costs - Other direct costs to deliver youth work, like materials, equipment and food - The cost of reporting back to NLCF about the funding. - The funding can also include overheads, such as part of the rent, insurance, part of a salary for someone not directly involved in this work, such as a senior manager or an office admin worker. How To Apply: The deadline for applications is 22 October 2025 (12 noon). Applications will be assessed as soon as they are received. Note: Groups are encouraged to apply as soon as they are ready and not wait for the deadline as the programme may close before the deadline if more applications are received than expected. Guidelines and the online application form can be found on the National Lottery Community Fund website: https://lnkd.in/e89ewvyw #YouthWork #MillionHoursFund #FundingOpportunity #CommunitySupport #SEND #PositiveActivities #DCMS #NationalLotteryCommunityFund #grants #fundraising #schools #Kingston #charities

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Ensuring care-experienced children and young people have equitable access to physical activity is crucial to their development and well-being.   A new report commissioned by the LGA, and written by Coram Impact and Evaluation in partnership with Coram, Coram Voice and stormbreak CIO, highlights this priority. The findings were co-produced with 55 care-experienced children and young people through focus groups and workshops held in spring 2025, ensuring their voices directly shaped the recommendations.   As Cllr Julie Jones-Evans, Chair of the LGA’s Culture, Tourism and Sport Committee, emphasises:   “Sadly care-experienced children and young people are often a hidden group that is overlooked in physical activity policy and provision. This is why we are urging the Government to ensure care-experienced children and young people are a part of its forthcoming physical activity strategy, so we can better support their needs to help them develop and flourish in life.”   This report provides practical guidance for councils, health partners, and community organisations to create inclusive opportunities for physical activity.   Read the full report here: https://lnkd.in/e77vubqa 

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Our new report out today, calls for fairer, more accountable sentence progression that supports personal development and timely release for long-term prisoners in Scotland. The report, developed through a prisoner-led consultation at HMP Glenochil, reveals systemic delays, poor communication, and a lack of transparency in the sentence progression process—leaving many feeling forgotten and hopeless. https://lnkd.in/eSkHZn6S #prison #criminaljustice #prisonreform

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How can we use a radical safeguarding approach to challenge structural inequalities? Explore an open access toolkit that offers a new approach to safeguarding adults experiencing homelessness and disadvantage for #WorldHomelessnessDay. Rooted in social justice movements, radical safeguarding is an approach that the notices gaps, inequalities and injustices in services and takes steps to change them. The co-produced toolkit the principles of radical safeguarding and how this approach can help find potential opportunities to improve equity in adult safeguarding. https://ow.ly/cOyk50X5CVj Hear author, Gill Taylor, explain how a radical approach to safeguarding can help us to challenge the status quo and elevate the voices of those who are often excluded. #WorldHomelessnessDay2025

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CPD can involve many different activities which help you to learn, improve, and reflect - it's not just about training. Listen to a range of topics on our This is Social Work podcast. Hosted by social worker and regional engagement lead, Kate, we discuss the professional standards, diversity data, education inspections, and more with a variety of guests. Reflect on what you have learned and record it on your online account. https://lnkd.in/eYCT9dGp #SocialWork

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