Durham Community News February 2022

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Welcome to the February 2022 Edition

Jo Laverick, our Executive Director, has announced her intention to retire. Jo has been at the helm of DCA since 2004, during which time she has worked with many partners and organisations to help bring about positive change for communities across County Durham.

This is the culmination of a 44-year career for Jo. She’s now making plans for a well-earned retirement from work, secure in the knowledge that she’ll be leaving DCA with a strong and stable team of staff and Trustees, to take forward our work.

The DCA Trustees are beginning the process of recruiting Jo’s replacement and already have plans to ensure a smooth transition later this year. For now though it’s very much business as usual for Jo and the team. After providing a lifeline for communities through the worst of the Covid pandemic, DCA has exciting plans in place to champion and support the recovery and future development of County Durham’s communities and volunteers, and to maintain and strengthen its leadership role within the county’s Voluntary & Community Sector.

Information on the vacancy for Executive Director can be found here - the deadline for applications is 12noon on Monday 21st February.

Did you Know - Hallmark Quality Mark for Community Buildings

Did you know that Durham Community Action can support Community Buildings to achieve the national ACRE Hallmark Quality Mark?

As we move into 2022 many volunteer trustees running Community Buildings are now considering how they future proof their organisations. The upheaval of the last two years has meant that some organisations are starting to look at their future funding plans, while others are looking to strengthen their trustee board or are wanting to undertake capital works on their buildings to make them more energy efficient. While trustees know that they want to put these plans in place, they often don’t know where to start.

The Hallmark Quality Mark can act as an MOT for community buildings and can be the first step that committees take when considering changes to their organisation.

We are running on online information session on Monday 28th February for those interested to find out more about the scheme.

Read more

Virtual Meet the Funder Events

We are delighted to be working with a range of funders to bring you a series of online information sessions this Spring.

We are welcoming Key Fund, County Durham Community Foundation, Believe Housing, The National Lottery Fund and Greggs Foundation who will provide information on the various funds they have available, how to apply and there will be an opportunity to ask questions.

Find out more

Online Training Workshops

We are continuing to run our fully funded workshops on a range of topics including safeguarding, community engagement, protecting finances, managing risk, GDPR, completing a funding application and volunteering.

These sessions are aimed at staff and trustees from voluntary and community sector organjsations; workshops take place online and dates are available to book up until July.

Visit the Training page

Listen to our Village Halls Week podcast

Thank you very much to the representatives of Framwellgate Moor Youth and Community Centre, Blackhall Community Centre and Dipton Jubilee Hall who took part in our podcast about the ways they are ‘innovating for the future’ for Village Halls Week 2022.

The podcast also included a chat with our Community Development Officers Tracy and Isla who talk about the support, advice and guidance Durham Community Action give to community buildings in the county.

We are planning to run a series of podcasts featuring different guests and topics and would love to hear your feedback - please email katie.baggott@durhamcommunityaction.org.uk

Listen to the Podcast

Are you looking to recruit volunteers?

The County Durham Volunteering Platform website is an online tool to enable organisations to recruit volunteers, and an excellent resource for individuals seeking volunteering opportunities.

For organisations, you can sign up through the website and it will allow you the choice to either manage your own account or Durham Community Action can do this on your behalf.

The website is thriving with many potential volunteers accessing it to look for their perfect volunteer role.

This demonstration video shows you around the system and how you can utilise it for your volunteer recruitment.

If you would like to have a chat about how the platform can support you in your volunteer recruitment please contact Charlotte Linton on 07960 210665 or by email

Visit the County Durham Volunteering Platform

Area Action Partnerships (AAP's) Community Priorities 2022/23

AAPs give you a say on how our services are provided. We want you to have your say on the community priorities for your AAP area for 2022 / 2023.

In the previous consultation held in 2018, over 8,500 responses were received from across County Durham including the views of 3,300 secondary school pupils.

Area Action Partnerships (AAPs), along with money from Councillors’ budgets, have allocated £12.4 million, and have helped bring £12.2 million of matched investment to deliver 2,833 local projects between April 2019 and March 2021.

In 2020-21, AAPs worked towards the common priority of community recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic.

You are being asked about whether you have seen change where you live, work, go to school or volunteer and for your thoughts on which priorities your Area Action Partnerships (AAPs) should tackle and invest in across the next financial year.

AAP’s also have additional funding to invest in towns and villages. Your feedback will help us understand what, if anything, will make life in your town or village better.

Following the consultation, AAPs will report the findings of the consultation and your feedback will help us decide which priority themes your AAP will concentrate its efforts on for the coming year.

The results from the consultation will be available from May 2022.

Residents, businesses and communities can have their say until 5pm on March 11th.

Have your say

Big Econ-versation

Durham County Council has just started a Big Econ-Versation, a chance for everyone to be involved in a process about developing an inclusive economic strategy that works for everyone.

What does an inclusive economy mean to you and what might it mean for your beneficiaries?
What are the distinctive contributions which might be heard from VCS organisations?
How might an inclusive economy improve the quality of life for people in County Durham?

Come and join an online focus group and explore these and other questions and take part in the Big Econ-Versation.

The session will be held on Tuesday 15th March 1.30 - 3.00pm via MS Teams.

If you would like to participate please email countydurhampartnership@durham.gov.uk to be sent a meeting link together with the Economic Statement as background information.

Find out more abou the Big Econ-Versation

News Highlights from across the sector

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