COgs - supporting others in our communities

Last year and after our very successful Share Fair we went through the feedback and took action from it.
What came from the feedback was the need to support community groups and volunteers. We simply found that that they have very little support in our area. Plenty for business but very little for Not for Profits or community interest groups so we set up a project called COGS
COGS stands for Community Organisations and Groups Support. The name might not be to everyone’s liking but we like it and it works for us. With our finding and evidence of need we successfully found funding that would enable us to set up and support people in the community. This started on the 8th January and will run for 12 months and so far, week, It’s been brilliant. Last week in our first month, we helped the 3rd community group get registered as a CIC and soon they will be able to have a bigger impact in our community. The works they do will, or should, increase and become more sustainable. A simple act on our part but a huge difference to the way they operate now and in the future. Alongside this, we have found that many of these groups need further support. This ranges from marketing for beginners, SEO for the more advanced, website building, telling their story – Press releases etc and governance has been highlighted. With this in mind we have started to plan out the first workshops that we will run for 2018. Starting in late March we will have sessions on Website Building, Dates to be confirmed but we will try to accommodate for everyone and make it accessible to all. Like most of what we do, the workshops will be free to attend as to make them inclusive to all. There will be limited spaces so sign up early to make sure you are on. The workshops will mainly be run by professionals in their line of work and will be tailor made for the audience needs.
We will also be publishing a quarterly newsletter and the first one is due to go out in late March. This will include dates for your diary, news from the community, workshop updates and so much more. We have been lucky enough to have a fantastic volunteer come on to help us with the Newsletter and I am sure it will be a great benefit to everyone, the reader, the community groups, us and him as it really will give a place for him to show his skills and to work his magic on helping to build better communities.
If you have a story that you would like to see in print, an event that should be in there or would simply like a copy of the newsletter then contact us and we will make it happen.
On a final note. If you are looking for volunteer opportunities we do have constant contact with groups that are looking for help. We can make our communities a better more resilient place to be but it might involve a little help for time to time.

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