|
Projects
for Children & Young People
 (NEW)
Children’s
Centre Improvement Partner - Pilot Programme in London Boroughs of
Waltham Forest and Islington.
As a pilot project this programme is leading in the delivery of
improvement for Children's Centres.
It is at the cutting edge of ensuring that organisations are delivering
to the best needs of both the community they serve and the Sure Start
Children's Centre programme.
As a Children's Centre Improvement Partner (CCIP) working alongside
individual Children's Centres as a support and consultant
both for effective running and in helping the centre to prepare for the
Ofsted inspections.
(NEW) Project management of the Children’s Centre programme
in
the London Borough of Waltham Forest
Working as a consultant with LBWF as Children’s Centre Operational
Manager.
Strategic and operational management of Children’s Centres,
including;
Part of the borough Extended Services management team, working on
strategic documentation , including SLA’s and policy documents.
Leading with Together for Children on levels of support needed to
ensure the LBWF Children’s Centres are meeting targets and effective in
delivering to Sure Start framework and guidelines.
Supporting the 17 Children’s Centres in London Borough of Waltham
Forest on a wide range of issues to ensure Sure Start statutory
guidance is met for delivering universal children’s services and
providing easy access to a range of community services to improve lives
for all families with young children, offering strategic support for
governance, policies, procedures, organisational structure.
Engaged with seven of the Children’s Centres
directly in project development, sustainability through to website
creation.
Working directly with the management team and professionals of the PCT
and health teams in the delivery of services for children's centres.
Enabling the completion of self evaluation, data monitoring and
evidence based information.
(NEW)
Project
Management at London Borough of Waltham Forest for Free Early Years
Entitlement.
Engaging with 30 providers of Early Years Stage in effective and
realistic ways that they could extend the Free Early Years Entitlement
in their settings.
Providing expertise and delivery of network meetings and presentations
to enable a cross fow of ideas and methods of working.
Creation of a plan for LB Waltham Forest with a number of options to
ensure that flexibility and the needs of parents were met.
Children's Literacy
Projects (Current activity)
City Stories
Bringing children's literature into communities and for children and
their families to engage with books and to promote a love of reading.
A series of programmes which covered a 6 week programme of involvement,
delivery of books for children and a culmination of an interactive
author event.
The programme also included a website which could be accessed by the
children for reviews and for continuing the project and the development
of a book group as an after school club.
See more at www.citystorieshere.com
Dolphin Bookshelf
Bringing children’s books and information directly into Children’s
Centres for parents, children, families and staff.
An innovative approach to Centre's, with a willow basket display and
full supporting admin structure to help Centres both promote ther
eading agenda and add to sustainability.
See more at www.dolphinbookshelf.co
Children Centre website design
and hosting. (Current activity)
Working as an understanding partner to provide up to date and relevant
information for parents and families.
An ongoing raft of projects developing design and content for Centres -
as well as schools and charities.
Our partnership specialises in delivering web hosting, content
creation, newsfeeds and event galleries to inform parents and carers
and offer a reat vehicle to provide evidence of outcomes to parents,
carers, funders and partners.
See more of our technical infrastrucutre and portfolio at
www.thirdsectorweb.co.uk
Commissioned
by a community school to review the setting library provision. Design,
specification and resourcing of books and furniture for children.
Installation,
delivery and archival creation for the completely refreshed school
space.
Utilising our partnership education, design, procurement and project
management expertise to achieve a new space for children, without
creating a drag on existing school operational resources.
Working
with a
cluster of four Phase 3 Children Centres in North London. Offering a
diverse range of project management, budgetary and parternship
engagement services to the cluster.
Helping the new Centres emerge as effective community support vehicles.
Providing web and marketing links and provision for Centres through Thirdsectorweb
expertise and technical resources.
Working with a variety of partners, statutory and voluntary, to
implement the core offer and deliver employment and family and carer
support into communities.
Working
with a North
London local authority to
deliver a literacy event for children. Tapping into the energy of the
local community, we are working with a range of partners to create a
regular programme of book and reading events - designed to engage
families and carers who are least consulted - delivering books and an
interest in reading to children and young people,
The
project plan is to create a rolling programme of events, establish new
children's book groups and to keep reading and great stories at the top
of the agenda if we can. Using our community web and book retailing
expertise to provide a dynamic, well resourced infrastructure to
deliver durable outcomes.
Delivering
two community
consultations in
partnership with a Berkshire Local Authority, 4Children and the DfES -
designed to help children, parents and carers reach a community
concensus about which services should be provided as part of their
areas Exended Schools agenda.
Part of the project is
also to research, write and deliver to the client local authority a
clear model of the consultation and background framework to help roll -
out provision across the LA area in the future.
Delivering
a complex project around the
development of a single Children's Centre in a North London Borough.
The work involves project managing the capital spend and build
elements, as well as transferring children and services from existing
satellite locations into the new building when complete.
This
nine month project is delivered against a background of structural
change within the Local Authority as Children's Services are further
integrated and rationalised. Political sensitivity and support for
teams during a time of change are an integral element of
the work.
Working
with a UK based client to establish childcare facilities in Ireland.
Implementing partnership contacts, site arrangements and
project
planning. Helping the client to create best practice systems
of work and reporting that are in advance of forthcoming Irish
childcare regulation.
Contracted
to deliver development support to a cluster of second tier Children's
Centres across a London Borough.
Providing a flexible and practical partnership building
programme of
activities, to coagulate and transform the imminent delivery of
innovative services for children and young people across a range of
housing districts.
Strong partnership engagement, with specialist expertise
needed in the
rollout of the Children's Centre agenda. Meeting and agenda
coordination, facilitating debate around options and help with
implementation of the resultant planning.
Engaged to plan, deliver and
support the
relocation of a complete children's Full Day Care Centre.
Doubling the provision to 100+ places. Providing professional expertise
and management skills to achieve targets.
Delivering staff recruitment and full spectrum best practice
to expand
and develop the services offered, on behalf of a major institutional
partner.
Involvement
in the developing agenda and models for Children’s Trust
arrangements
whilst being a member of
a Local Authority’s
Children and Young People’s Strategic Partnership
Board working group.
Meeting
the needs of Children and Young
People in an area of
disadvantage from within a large government
funded programme. Using
needs and gap analysis, de-commissioning and new
commissioning processes
based on quantitative and qualitative measures.
Working
with minority groups in inner city areas to successfully enable
sensitive projects to
move forward and reach all members of the
community.
This led to increased involvement and
participation through
genuine desire to create an organisation matching the
community’s richness and diversity.
This
was
particularly effective when
working with BME, refugee and
asylum seeker groups where
an atmosphere of misunderstanding
and
mistrust was ‘turned round’ to open up positive
dialogue.
Developing
a programme of meaningful participation and involvement for
children and young people,
through the ‘Here By Rights
Standards’ and the ‘ladder of
participation’. This included strategic liaison with a
Local Authority.
Part
of a team working on the Information Sharing and Assessment
process to create partnership and professional trust for enabling
sensitive information about vulnerable children to be used.
Voluntary
Sector -
Charity Development / pro-bono Mentoring
 (NEW)
Serving
as a board mentor and advisor to The Sandringham Centre - a Norfolk
based full spectrum community centre, which is developing its
governance, operational processes and partnerships to become a seed bed
for rural social enterprise.
Becoming a training and support centre for both enterprise and personal
development, with the addition of both training kitchems and childcare
facilities as part of its own social enterprise plans.
Partners have been involved in
the
take up of training to develop business coaching skills. Tim Smith of
SmithMartin LLP has attended an ESF funded business coach development
course run by Social Enterprise East of England.
Tim
Smith says '...I was delighted to develop my skills in this way - as an
ethical practice, honing coaching skills for the Social Enterprise
sector, allows us to transmit our ethical business development
knowledge into this growing sector. Sharing experiences and having an
objective and supportive coach can be critical in managing change and
growth for small organisations'.
Donating
time and partnership
resources, with a
variety of other professional practices, to develop an
Imagination Centre in East Anglia.
SmithMartin
sponsor the ImagineNewmarket
website and provide community development, community
consultation and funding expertise to the project. In concert withother
commercial partners, architectural and child care, partners donate
their time to transfer skill and growth into the community to
begin the building of a major regional education facility.
Donating
time for mentoring a chief operating officer of a London based
charity for women. Advising and supporting on issues of
governance, management and service user development.
Donating
time and partnership resources to a growing East Anglian environmental
charity. Providing the charity with a professional web
presence and contributing to governance and marketing issues.
Social
Enterprise - Funding and Community Business Development
 (NEW 2010)
Providing governance, systems, web services and policy development for
this full
service community centre.
The work is sponsored by the Royal Air Force, which hopes to
see a range of social enterprises emerge from this new community
project. The team will manage the delivery of services across
childcare, youth work, training kitchens and learning activities for
the whole Centre.
Tim Smith says - '...it is immensely
challenging to deliver such a diverse and complex agenda in a
relatively short rime. There is no doubt of the passion and commitment
of the Centre team, which is what will carry us forward this year...
(NEW 2010) A brief
project to help the board of this arts based homeless support charity
to establish their governance.
Helping the team successfully create all the right evidence and systems
to successfully become a Company Limited by Guarantee and a registered
Charity in a very short timeframe- to trade out their exciting arts
concept as a charitable company to benefit the homeless in their area.
(NEW 2010)
Retained from
November 2009, to help develop a new social enterprise,
part of a charity for homeless support. Developing both the existing
model, helping create production capacity and schedules and to bring
forward both new clients for direct and wholesale sales, as well as
develop direct marketing of enterprise products by web, mail and retail.
We now support the charity and social enterprise (www.winterwillow.com)
with web and email services, installation and maintenenace of their CRM
system and marketing materials. Helping to deliver sustainability for
this great team.
Tim Smith of SmithMartin says...'this
new East of England Enterprise, already an award winning organisation,
offers the chance to develop ethical sales and distribution networks of
a fantastic green product range. The surpluses from which go to benefit
those in great need...'
Working with one
of our partnership supported charitable communtiy
organisations to create a new Community
Interest Company (CIC). Working to support the community
board, devising and delivering strategies to create a new revenue
earning arm of the project, the surplus of which will be channelled,
appropriately, to the core community vision.
Using governance, social business and project management skills to
deliver a new business model for a body delivering educational services
to schools, children and communities.
Delivering
suppport to an East Midlands Local Authority - assisting
both council and community projects to develop full capital bids into
the ERDF Urban II Programme.
Working to tight deadlines ensuring maximum take up of funds
and
successful approval processes to secure tight N+2 and financial year
end targets.
Using business plan development and technical ERDF skills to
support a
diverse range of clients. Delivering project value to the board of
£6.7m in three months.
Contracted
to deliver two substantial bodies of work around bid
appraisal and recommendation for the ESF/LSC Olympic
Infrastructure investment programme.
One
contract to deliver bid appraisal for a pan-London workforce
development programme, begining in August 2006. The second to deliver
appraisal for bids around company relocation, economic development and
workforce skill increments in the Olympic build zone in East London.
Deliberating
on contract proposals, in excess of £1 million,
with analysis turnround and delivery to very tight deadlines.
Contracted to a
South London Local Authority, a lead body for a
regional ESF funded Social Enterprise development project.
Tasked to
deliver a full spectrum summative evaluation of the Thames
Gateway Development Partnership EQUAL project. An international,
regional initiative to deliver cross-cutting and innovative Social
Enterprise capacity building and development, through the medium of the
region's Third Sector.
A highly
complex, transnational research exercise, delivering an
evaluation of overall programme effectiveness and measures of added
value, whilst assessing highly complex programme management issues.
Delivering a diverse,
politically sensitive judgement to very tight deadlines.
A paper on
the research
methodology can be obtained from SmithMartin
Partnership.
Developing
a time critical business plan
for a Community Warden scheme. This work involved both a review of
existing policy and practice,
coupled
to
a strategic review of management and information systems.
Implementation
of changes in operational practice, with the development
of new social enterprise activity - in exchange for external earnings.
A
programme of work dedicated to establishing an enduring social
business in a highly charged political and economic environment.
Development
of rural
community centre and nascent social
enterprise.The work involved base line assessment of centre use,
scoping of
potential development opportunities and advising the board on project
implementation.
Developing earned income potential for the site, as well as
capitalising on the energy within the Healthy Living Centre and
Community ICT Centre.
Involvement in developing new reporting systems for the
centre
management, as well as streamlining and making more effective and
detailed
reporting
to a wide variety of existing
funders - NOF, Heritage
Lottery, EEDA, ESF Objective 2, Children's Fund etc.
Working
with a
delivery agent for New Deal
for Communities - preparing
a large number of very diverse projects for the long journey from
grant-aided project to self sustaining community business.
Working with the trust senior management team to improve
customer
service, resident engagement, as well as project review and evaluation
mechanisms. Advising and supporting the delivery of Neighbourhood
Management - helping to develop the commissioning agenda for the Trust
and working across the organisation on a variety of tasks to support
organisational change in pursuit of a revised set of corporate
objectives.
Tasked to support the embedding of community development,
equality of
opportunity, individual development and cross theme, cross discipline
working throughout the organisation.
Working
with a London based SRB board to deliver social enterprise
solutions to a range of projects engaged with their local Primary Care
Trusts.
Working with local authority and VCS
partners, to offer help with
business plans for sustainability, fund raising, governance and project
guidance.
Promoting the health agenda for projects - delivering
enterprise as an
exit strategy.
|
