It’s so heartening to see the days lengthening, spring bulbs pushing their heads up, trees budding and the hope of positive renewal. Despite current restrictions, there’s still much happening – we’re happy to share a flavour of it with you. Don’t forget to share your news and events with us.
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Book Now: Library of Things webinar
The average drill is used for 13 mins in total. What a waste of resources to build/buy/store it. Why not share, borrow instead of buy? Join us on 25/02 with Mirella from The Share Shed (the first mobile Library of Things) and find out how to set up a Library of Things instead. Grab your seat now. |
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Green Champion Winners!
CAG Group Sustainable Bishop had a great start to 2021 after being named Green Champions, in the Teignbridge District Council Sports and Community Awards.
Their Chair, Kate Yeo, has put together a short video which captures some the activities they get up to. For the CAG Devon team, it reflects the energy, diversity and tenacity of our groups. And also highlights the secret ingredient to community action… Check it out
And if your group has been celebrating achievements, do share them with us. |
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DCE needs you!
Many of you have attended online webinars as the DCE (Devon Climate Emergency) Task Force present their Interim Carbon Action Plan. The consultation deadline for the Plan is Feb 15th. We strongly encourage all CAG Groups to respond to the short or longer consultation survey. Have your say about the Plan, and let DCE know the value of what you are already doing. |
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Re-use/recycle and fundraising in one!
Ziffit provides an easy way to trade in old books, CDs, DVDs, and games via their website and app and donate the value of the items to a charity of your choice. This provides a great opportunity for local groups to raise funds and help raise the profile of your group during lockdown. It can also be a fantastic way to encourage your local community to reuse and recycle while charity shops are closed.
Ziffit are a registered B Corp™ (Like CAG Devon’s parent organisation, Resource Futures) and are part of the growing circular economy, reselling and recycling books and media through World of Books and other platforms. |
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Funding opportunities
ScrewFix Foundation – Grants for organisations to repair, maintain or improve housing and community buildings
Small grants of up to £5,000 are available to charities and not-for-profit organisations with projects related to repairing, maintaining, improving or building homes and community buildings. If you’re setting up a space for a community larder, or repairing a community building, this might be for you.
Matthew Good Foundation – Grants for groups passionate to make a difference locally.
A new fund. Every three months the Matthew Good Foundation will share £10,000 between five shortlisted projects that have a positive impact on communities, people or the environment. Applications must be on behalf of a local community group, charity, voluntary group, community interest company, social enterprise or social entrepreneur that has a positive impact on communities, people or the environment and has an average income of less than £50,000 in the last 12 months. Deadline – 15th March.
Local Connections Fund – Grants for projects tackling loneliness in communities.
Next round is in Summer 2021. Grant of up to £2.5k for projects which will tackle one or more of these priorities:
- build relationships in and across communities to help reduce loneliness and build connections between people and communities.
- bring together organisations who are working on social connections to celebrate their work, share learning and best practice, and form/bring together peer networks.
Check out the detail here. |
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Social Media communications
The Media Trust are running free online sessions in Feb/March, with top tips and strategies for creating engaging online content your readers will want to engage with. Dates and booking here. Also check out their great free resources online. |
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Food for thought
Talking of engaging with your audience, we’re loving Bradninch Community Food Shed’s facebook posts with tasty tips and mouthwatering recipes for using food from the Shed. A quick and simple way to build an audience, and increase uptake of excess items – particularly if folk like carrot cake and bread and butter pudding! You can also save time by linking to others’ recipes/hacks, such as Riverford. |
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Other online events
There are so many online events happening at the moment, this is a mini pot-pourri that have come across our desk in the last few days.
Feb 4th, 3.30pm – Doughnut Economics and Community Wealth Building: When Preston meets the Doughnut.
There is an increasing interest in the concept of Doughnut Economics, and how a Devon Doughnut might work. Kate Raworth who has pioneered this approach, is one of the speakers at the UCLan event. Get up to speed with these ideas – book here
Feb 16th, 7.30pm – Regenerative Farming, Blackdown Hills Farming and Woodland Group
Rebecca Hosking will be talking about “working with natural forces of sun, gravity, water and wild diversity, right down to the microbes in the soil, to restore the land’s health. By growing food in this way we regenerate the land, as the name suggests.”
Feb 23rd, 2pm – Food hygiene, safety and handling, training and coaching strategies. Plymouth Marjon Uni’s FLAVOUR project.
The first of three free webinars where you can join other coaches, mentors and coordinators to gain new tips on food handling and to discuss the best ways to support people who have been unemployed for six months or more. If you are running or looking to run a community food project this could be just the ticket. Register here. |
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Big Fix back in 2022
Catherine Causley, organiser of the amazing Big Fix 2020, shares this pragmatic news:
“It’s with a heavy heart that I have decided not to run the Big Fix again this year. Whilst the vaccination programme is progressing a decision had to be made early as there is a lot of work that goes in behind the scenes. The safety of people in Devon, the repair cafe volunteers and service users is our top priority. This was a successful event which saw over 2250 items repaired in a single day and Devon repair cafes contributing over 500 to that total so it will definitely be back in 2022.” |
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Job Opportunity
Resource Futures are seeking a Waste and Recycling Officer to join the existing team, working at a grassroots level across parts of Devon, promoting recycling/waste reduction to local residents. Closing date: March 1st 2021. |
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Need to get in touch?
Contact: helen.vines@resourcefutures.co.uk
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