Some groups have asked for training for their volunteers so that they can use email and the internet, and we will be able to offer this via our AccessAbility project in Gonville Place. Just 'phone the CVS office if you would like an individual session for anyone in your group. Again, we will be able to advise you on the options and help to find funding if this is a problem. We have been offered a long lease on a large building just off Hills Road and are hoping to be able to develop the building as a voluntary sector resource centre offering accommodation to several local groups. The building will offer a meeting room, print facilities and other shared resources.
Some parking is also available on site.
If you may be interested, please contact Lorna Davies in the CVS office on 464696. We are setting up a database and website with information about local learning providers and we hope there will be lots of opportunity over the coming months to bring together voluntary sector providers and interest groups to meet with other providers in the City. Following on from our meeting with Liz Railton in March, members of the Health Forum met with Social Services City team leaders on 21st May to discuss how to improve links between voluntary groups and Social Services staff. Cheryl Hodgson and Lois Arnold from Social Services outlined the way in which they currently work with a number of organisations but agreed there was a need for more information on the range of groups and services and that knowledge was sometimes patchy, depending on the experience of individual members of the team. Forum members also outlined the need for organisations to be kept up to date with changes within Social Services and we discussed how we could improve the information flow in both directions.