What makes a good CLT funding application?

What makes a good CLT application?

Lets start with the obvious:

• First read the guidance – it’s there to help you.• Read the question • Answer all the questions – we really do need all the information we

ask for• If in doubt – ask – [email protected] 01785 278771

07800626536

What not to forget:•UKPRN number – costs nothing and takes seconds BUT Skills Funding Agency rules say all subcontractors must have one - http://www.ukrlp.co.uk/•Join your Locality Working Group – www.communitylearningtrust.org.uk•Policies and insurance – why do we ask for professional indemnity?•Do complete the accounts section – it’s a quick reference to check solvency•Complete tutor TEACHING qualifications

Completing the detailed sectionsSection 3 The Project Please describe the evidence of need for your project (NB no projects will be approved without clear evidence of community need including evidence from local consultation) (Word count 200 to 500 words)

What do we mean by evidence?

Some Examples

MSM wishes to apply for funds to repeat a money management course that was delivered during June and July 2013. The original application made the argument that through our own research we found that the majority of our clients said that they found managing their money to be a very real and on-going problem. The evidence of community need that was derived form a survey carried out amongst our clients remains the same as it was previously.

On the previous course we have recorded where one learner made changes to her spending and had already saved £45.

We have now completed a term of delivering courses for the community learning trust responsiveness fund and have had the day to day contact to confirm the need and aspirations of the local community. With all of the courses we have delivered we have asked students for their comments at the beginning of the courses and asked them to complete feedback and what they would like next at the end of the courses. The comments we have received back highlight what we have had indicated from earlier consultations. This includes the lack of crèche facilities to run alongside learning on offer which creates a huge barrier to parents of young children to be able to move forward in their lives. The second factor that is a common problem to many learners is that they can only attend one short term course and that does not allow them enough time to gain the skills or confidence to change their lives in any significant way. Lastly they have focused on how they like the learning to take place in informal settings where they feel comfortable and relaxed. Below is the conclusions to the consultations undertaken before the previous course were delivered, I would like to update where we are now in relation to this and in response to our learners.

The barriers to learning. The lack of a crèche facility. Overall more than 60% stated this as a barrier, “the cost of courses” with approx 50%. Highlighting the need for learning to take place in centres which can support learning with crèche facilities) Learners identified the need for learning in the local area, many did not wish to pursue formal education within a college environment. 50% of respondents identified the normal courses supplied i.e IT, Maths, English etc! a shift in attitudes people are becoming more conscious of the savings of maintaining their own vehicles and want courses to fulfil this need. An increasing need for courses about food and nutrition. stories regarding the nutritional value of foods and the horse contamination have given an impetus to the value of planning and preparing your own food. The final change is that people would like signing as a subject. This is encouraging given that signing is being made available from Pre school age.

We have offered food courses, and now have evidence of home cooking and an understanding of nutrition. We offered maths through the local college and have sign posted to a sign language course. We have offered a crèche with all courses and it has all been delivered locally. All our students are asking for more courses and when can they sign up for them. The centre anticipates, based upon feedback , to provide courses both in the daytime and evenings. After the feedback we received from the end of course forms all students requested courses for the next term and beyond both in the leisure sector and the formal sector. Leisure courses include:

Advanced Cake making and decorating Car Maintenance Cooking and nutrition Formal courses include

Maths English IT Developing Business ideas Sign Language Developing Families

A number of families have requested courses on child development and understanding how their child learns and how they as parents can help their children The following plan is designed from the feedback we have received. As stated previously this has been a major consultation by a number of organizations to ascertain the needs of the area and in our opinion offers a great opportunity to engage with the local area whilst raising aspirations.

The charity was approached by the Yarnfield Pre-school group to run a course within their community for their parents to improve skills and to encourage participation in additional learning, community involvement and in widening employment opportunities amongst the families that used their pre-school. This was following a recommendation by parents who were aware of other courses we had delivered in particular a recent ACL in the Blythe Bridge area. We consulted with potential beneficiaries through attending the pre-school and with meeting with parents, other carers and those running the group. A further information coffee morning and taster session has been arranged for the near future. From talking to potential beneficiaries they were able to tell us that many felt that their skills in certain areas affected their employment prospects or had prevented them from taking part in other educational courses. A number of them related their own difficulties they had with literacy or maths and concerns about learning difficulties such as dyslexia (affecting about 10% of the population to some degree). Self esteem and confidence were affected which again can impacted on individuals in a negative way. Most were mothers or grandparents of children attending the group and were interested in improving their own skills in literacy and maths in order that they may support the learning of their child/grandchild. Across the group consulted with, they wanted learning opportunities delivered within their own local community. They felt that this would give best access to those who had family commitments, caring duties or who lacked their own transport. Pre-school staff were keen that those caring for the children they were involved with had the skills to support the child’s learning at home. This is often lacking or a lack of confidence prevents parents from becoming actively involved in supporting learning within the home. It was felt that a course directed at those families with pre-school children in the Yarnfield area would be beneficial to those attending but also raise interest amongst the community and encourage further learning and community involvement in the families as a whole. Other needs identified within the potential beneficiaries were social circumstances that had hindered employment and educational opportunities; lack of knowledge about volunteering and the benefits of taking part both to personal development and to help others; feelings of isolation through being out of work or being at home with young children.

Please describe your project (please include, what you hope to achieve, who the project is aimed at, how you will deliver it and how you will measure and evaluate its success) word count 200 – 500 words

Section 3 continued:

What do you hope to achieveWho is the project aimed atHow will you deliver itHow will you measure and evaluate its success

What commissioning priorities will this project address, both countywide and local( if local priorities are available?(Appendix 2 in the guidance) What BIS objectives will this project address? (Appendix 1 in the guidance)

We want to know how your project relates to the above priorities and also the local priorities generated by your Locality Working Group if they are available – WHY?

How will you measure wider outcomes? Please indicate below how you will collect evidence of change from individual learners. Examples of measures are focus group at the end of the course, ILPs, learner diaries, surveys, interviews. Please note: projects will be expected to complete an impact measurement tracking

Here we are trying to gauge how well you as a provider understand the need to capture outcomes from learners

Learning Activity (ies) Overview – please describe your activity (ies) and what you hope to achieve. Activity Title Overview/Content Total

Hours Number of Learners

How detailed should you be?What do we mean by total hours and number of learners?Total number of learners?

Total Number of Individual Learners on the project i.e. not per activity. (PLEASE DO NOT DOUBLE COUNT)

Section 5 Progression of Learners How will your activity help individuals progress to further learning/volunteering/employment: Please indicate how you intend to work with relevant agencies/organisations to assist learners in progressing and what referral processes you have to these organisations. For example Adult Advancement and Careers Service, Job Centre Plus, JET, local colleges, Voluntary services.

What are we looking for here?

Examples

Example 1 We work in conjunction with the local college and have a Maths course running at the centre and we have visits from the Community education worker who gives students information on what is available at the college for progression routes.

We work closely with the local CVS and the projects they have available for students to progress to in the future. We have a visiting worker from the CAB who advises what people are allowed to do in line with their benefit criteria.

We have a broadband connection to allow students to look at job sights and information from job centre plus.

Short but it says a lot

As stated, the programme is a recovery focused employment programme – that will provide learners with effective preparation, (i.e. via its training programme and themed and work focused peer-support groups) and pre-engagement activities for work, (i.e. through linkage with C’s volunteering programmes).

C will continue to build on and develop links with local JCPs and Work Programme Providers, and Making Space’s Mental Health Employment Service.

In order to both attract and support the progression of learners, Advance will continue to utilise reciprocal referral pathways with a range of partner organisations, i.e. in addition to receiving referrals from the following, Advance will continue refer learners to the following organisations in order to progress them towards their employment, education or mental health goals:

JHP Employability Burton (Work Programme Provider)

JHP Employability Tamworth (Work Programme Provider)

Moorlands North and South CMHT (NHS

C mental health services, (including opportunities for volunteer placements and its NOCN accredited Coordinator training programme).

A will continue to facilitate volunteering engagement by utilising volunteering opportunities available within the organisation, (i.e. Wellbeing Centres located in Uttoxeter, Burton-on-Trent, Lichfield, Burntwood, and Tamworth), along with existing links with South/East Staffs Community Volunteer Centres. C is able to provide ongoing support, training and supervision to users wishing to perform volunteer work in various areas of the organisation, i.e. as part of C Executive Committee, (the charity's management body); an Office Worker, (involved in administration, fundraising, PR work etc); a Group Co-ordinator, (involved in service delivery).

A will continue to provide learners with access to both accredited and non-accredited learning opportunities. Learners will have access to Cs’ National Open College Network accredited Co-ordinators Training Programme and Volunteer Training Course, (carrying NVQ Level 3 equivalent accreditation). They will also have access to a range of ‘wellness-focused’ ACL training courses currently provided by C. Importantly, A will continue to utilise links with other employment agencies, (i.e. JCP, Work Programme Providers, Making Spaces); training and educational establishments; ACL training providers, and third sector training organisations – to ensure learners are provided with relevant and effective learning opportunities.

The whole premise of the programme will continue to be to enable those with disabilities or experiencing physical or mental illness, (amongst the most disadvantaged groups in society), to develop the knowledge and wellness tools to promote the recovery, wellness and social inclusion.

Employment

L works closely with Jobcentre Plus and the JET service to support unemployed people with learning disabilities in N. Staffs. Referrals both from and to are via Disability Employment Advisors at JCP, the Jet Team, IAG advisors, National Careers Service and Entrust within the area. L has also built substantial links with many local employers and staff are experienced in developing good relationships with new employers.

Voluntary Work

L is a member of all voluntary infrastructure organisations (VAST, and SMCVS). L works closely with a wide range of other voluntary organisations both in gaining referrals and helping unemployed people progress into voluntary placements. The courses we run will help clients to progress to further support with L which will include: Supported work placement Accredited short course Healthy living Gaining independence

The full range of support is designed to help clients to progress to employment, voluntary work or to engage in further education or training.

Other Learning Opportunities

Attendance at our Work Clubs, running Tuesdays and Thursdays. Support is provided by a tutor to help people to look for jobs, to apply and to attend interviews. Where possible L also encourages and supports learners to progress to further training opportunities with local colleges and training providers and we have good links with these

Community activities

L’s Cornerstone Café is used as a venue to engage with the local community and we will seek to arrange community events throughout the year. Our client group will have opportunities to volunteer and take part in activities. We also encourage our client group to take part in community activities through contact with the local CVS.

Costs

Describe Resource Cost £ a

In-kind £ b

Additional source £c

Breakdown the costs- per hour costs,Describe any materials,Pay attention to what we cannot fund,Completing “a”, “b” and “c”

TOTAL COST (a+b+c =A)

How much of the Total Cost (above) are you or another organisation contributing to this project? (b+c=B) How much money are you asking us for? (A-B=C) COST PER LEARNER (C ÷ number of Individual Learners, as section 3)

£

£

£

Monitoring Your Delivery

Information and advice to you as a provider

Staffordshire County Council - Provider Information

And the systems we need you to use!

Why are we asking this of you?

Who have we funded so far this year?

Pulse for Music – deliver short music song writing and making computerised music tracks. Mainly in East Staffs but can deliver at any local venueChesterton Salvation Army (Newcastle) – First Aid, Food Hygiene, Manual HandlingLandau – Chatterbox, Made of Money, Cookery skills, crafts in Newcastle areaStaffordshire Care Farm Development – variety of activities designed to increase confidence of mental health adults plus volunteer training in Sudbury and South StaffsDyslexia Association – dyslexia awareness for parents in StoneMid staffs Mencap – budgeting in StaffordWest Chadsmoor Family Centre – crafts, confidence building, BSL, stress busters to name a few in CannockChanges – Advance – course for adults recovering from mental health issues across the districtMedia Climate – Photography, music, food hygiene and cooking in Cannock but can bring learners from elsewhere

Who have we funded so far this year? cont

Aspire(Stafford)- learn2earn course with young adults with learning difficulties and ex-offenders, in StaffordChase Aqua Rural Enterprise –wellbeing for work course through woodland crafts in partnership with QuestCherry Orchard Gardening Services- developing work skills and micro business in the gardening trade in BurntwoodCommunity Together – IT training for volunteers to assist at Work Clubs in TamworthGartmore Riding School- basic riding and stable management courses in HammerwichLichfield Scrap Barn- developing skills and confidence through craft skills, working with adults with learning difficulties and disabilities in BurntwoodPathway project – developing confidence and self-esteem courses working with abused adults in LichfieldStafford CVS – introduction to PTLLS and CTLLS across the county