Would you like to lead a team who support local communities and harness the power of voluntary and community-led action?

If you have experience in leading community development projects, supporting community-led action and enabling best practice within local charities and volunteer involving organisations, then Durham Community Action needs you.

DCA is looking to fill a vacancy in our senior management team to help shape our work, enable community led action within communities across County Durham and lead a small team of community development staff.

We are looking for an experienced community practitioner, manager and communicator who understands community development and who can take the demands and expectations from both voluntary and community sector organisations, and public bodies in their stride.

More information about the post and how to apply can be found here: We are recruiting for a Community Development Manager

Durham Community Action is delighted to have successfully achieved the Investors in the Environment (iiE) Bronze Award for the second year in a row. This recognition highlights our ongoing commitment to reducing our environmental impact and embedding sustainable practices across our organisation.

Over the past year, we have continued to take positive steps to improve our environmental performance. From reducing waste and increasing recycling to making more energy-efficient choices, we are proud of the progress we have made. Achieving the Bronze Award again is a fantastic acknowledgment of these efforts.

We are committed to further improving our sustainability practices as we work towards the Silver Award.

Find out more about Investors in the Environment

Community Buildings – a Guide to Property Ownership and Leases has been produced by Durham Community Action to help navigate legal and property issues.

This guide is funded by the National Lottery Community Fund to provide practical help for people who carry responsibility for community buildings.

The initiative is a collaboration between Durham Community Action and Sintons Law which explains the different ways in which a charity can legally hold a property, and the rights and responsibilities associated with these.  It identifies how and why a property might need to be registered with HM Land Registry, provides help to understand a lease and looks at some of the issues which specifically arise for charities who have property.

The learning in the guide is drawn from legal casework undertaken with community organisations in County Durham with key themes translated to build wider understanding for trustees and others running community buildings.

For a free copy of the guide please email info@durhamcommunityaction.org.uk

Following the launch of the new toolkit, we spoke to Tom Wills from Sintons Solicitors about legal advice for community buildings:

Sintons Solicitors - Legal Advice for Community Buildings Podcast

Thanks to all who attended the County Durham Poverty Truth Commission launch event on Tuesday 11^th March. We had a great turn out and we hope it gave pause for thought and inspired you to think about how your organisations can work collaboratively with those experiencing difficulties.

We're sure those of you who attended will agree that the Community Commissioners were extremely brave to share their stories and experiences of poverty in its various forms and we thank them immensely for working very hard over the last few months.

Over the coming weeks, the Community and Civic Commissioners will be meeting regularly to build relationships and identify issues they wish to explore. The Community Commissioners are raring to go and are full of ideas!

Please follow the next stage of the Poverty Truth Commission on our website.

Last year Durham Community Action was tasked with identifying whether there was a need for more rural affordable housing in County Durham. As part of this Programme Durham Community Action worked with Parish Councils and communities to build up a picture of the housing issues faced by rural residents.

At an event held by Durham Community Action on 4^th March we fed back some of these findings. There were presentations from Durham County Council’s Planning Manager, Stephen Reed and Principal Policy Officer, Stuart Carter. Dr Mike Bullock, from ARC4, also presented his data on rural housing needs in County Durham.

Current policy guidelines (NPPF) show that County Durham will need to increase house building by 53% to meet the government’s new targets. The role of the Rural Housing Enabler, Susan Tron, is to ensure that rural areas do not miss out and that we build the right homes in the right places. Susan shared data that shows that young people are leaving rural areas and that key workers are struggling to pay the high cost of private rents. This has in part been caused by a huge increase in second homes over the last few years.

There are, however, opportunities for rural communities to better understand local priorities; undertaking a Neighbourhood Plan with support from DCC is one option, or requesting a Housing Needs Survey for an area is another.

To do this or to find out about the housing profile of your village please contact Susan Tron for more details: susan.tron@durhamcommunityaction.org.uk or 07496 461998.

The Charity Commission is warning charities about fraudulent messages recently send to charities and trustees.

The messages typically request action to be taken such as removing a trustee or chief executive from their position, releasing funds as part of a grant or supplying documents such as a passport or utility bill. They may be signed as coming from ‘the Commission,’ Chief Executive Officer and/or its Directors.  

It’s not always easy to tell if correspondence is real or fake, however please note the Charity Commission:

• will only send you a letter just by post if they do not have your current email address. Check and update your details
• rarely address letters generically, for example ‘to whom it may concern’
• do not write letters or emails of certification on behalf of UK charities regarding tax exemption or any other matters
• do not issue requests to authenticate an account online by supplying personal identity documents
• will not ask you to provide banking information.

They have reported the incidents to Action Fraud and will continue to monitor the situation.  

Join us as we launch the Rural Durham Community Research Network, a partnership between Durham Community Action and the Rural Design Centre aiming to support community-led research in rural Derwentside, Teesdale and Weardale

In these workshops, we will explore different ways voluntary, community and social enterprise sector organisations and their members can be involved in research on topics that matter to them – from local bus services to young people’s mental health or the climate crisis.

Please note the workshop is repeated in the three locations so interested people need only attend one.

All events start with refreshments at 9.30am. The workshops will run from 10.00am and finish at 1.00pm for lunch and networking.

Book here for the 31st March Teesdale workshop

Book here for the 9th April Derwentside workshop

Book here for the 11th April Weardale workshop

For any enquiries please email info@durhamcommunityaction.org.uk

We would like to invite voluntary and community sector organisations to a showcase event to find out more about organisations with staff volunteer programmes looking to support the voluntary and community sector in County Durham.

The aim of the event is to highlight the offers available and how to access and utilise the skills and time of staff through the Employer Supported Volunteer schemes to make a meaningful impact on the communities of County Durham.

The event will have presentations highlighting positive ways to achieve a wider impact by linking into staff volunteer programmes including examples of current offers.

There will also be an opportunity for discussions around potential support through different organisations with staff volunteer programmes to meet the needs of individual voluntary and community sector organisations.

It will take place on Wednesday 2nd April at Josephine Butler College, Durham University from 1.30 – 4.00pm with registration open from 1.00pm.

Booking in advance is required to secure places.

For any enquiries, please email info@durhamcommunityaction.org.uk

The venue and refreshments are kindly being provided by Durham University.

The Community Growing and Food Network is facilitated by Durham Community Action to bring together like-minded organisations with projects or an interest related to growing and food. It enables community groups and organisations from all sectors with similar visions to connect, communicate and collaborate, supporting each other and sharing good practices.

The next meeting will be in person on Thursday 3rd April at Pioneering Care Centre, Carer’s Way, Newton Aycliffe, DL5 4SF from 1.00 – 4.00pm.

We will hear all about the Pioneering Care Centre and in particular its community garden which is used as a multi-generational space. This will include talks from volunteers and staff about ways to make community gardens and growing spaces accessible to everyone. 

There will be a tour of the new hydrotherapy pool, community garden and outdoor gym followed by refreshments and plenty of opportunity to network, make connections and share experiences together.

We will also be joined by Sarah Doherty from Step Together Armed Forces Community Programme to learn about their gardening project at the Recovery Centre, Catterick.

For any enquiries please email lyndsey.hocking@durhamcommunityaction.org.uk

To connect, share and support alongside the network meetings, please join our Facebook group

We have a wide range of online fully funded Community Development Workshops taking place throughout the year. 

These are a selection of those taking place in April; click of the course titles for full details:

• 1st April: Managing Risk using a Risk Register
• 3rd April Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Workshop
• 8th April (AM) Introduction to Safeguarding
• 8th April (PM) Prevent Training