The Assembly is a wide grouping of interested VCFSE organisations from across the ICS, the ambition is to grow this as we progress. 

Advertised on Eventbrite and through local networks, it launched on November 30th, 2022 via Zoom. The recording, presentations and supporting documents are available via the links below.  

Open to all VCFSE organisations operating in the area who want to stay informed on this partnership journey, the Assembly provides a space to hear about and influence the developing ICS - VCFSE Partnership Programme. It also offers opportunities to get involved by; helping develop the functions and focus of the groups the Assembly requires, hear from system partners about their system-wide plans and activities, and become involved in their design / delivery / evaluation. The Assembly also aims to surface common issues and find ways to resolve them with partners. 

If you'd like to become involved please email: Stephanie Gorner - Community Futures' Business Support. 

Reshaping the strucutre of our Assembly meetings. 

At our Alliance meeting on 25th of September 2024, we discussed an important agenda item: reshaping the structure of our Assembly meetings.

A central theme of this conversation was how to avoid duplicating efforts between the Assembly and Locally Organised Communities Across Lancashire (LOCAL) meetings, while ensuring consistent messaging across all organisations in our sector.  Additionally, we emphasised the need to strengthen connections, given the complexity and intricacies of the sector.

Actions and next steps have emerged from this discussion, so stay tuned for further updates.

Assembly > LOCAL

Over the past couple of years, several VCFSE network have been working in Lancashire on behalf of the wider VCFSE sector to influence the development of our Integrated Care System. Feedback suggests that this has caused some confusuion over who is doing what, on whose behalf and with whom, and placed more demands on sector colleagues' time.

In response to this, and in an effort to improve clarity and reduce such demands, the LSC VCFSE Alliance has agreed to work with tghe Lancashire Association of CVS's LOCAL Project in "Lancashire-14" (the 12 districts of Lancashire, plus Blackburn with Darwen and Blackpool).

All Lancashire members of the LSC VCFSE Assembly will soon be given the option of joining a LOCAL Place Based Network.

In practice this means there will no longer be LSC-wide VCFSE Assemblies. However, each LOCAL network will incorporate opportunities for Assembly-related discussions and communication with the Alliance itself will be strengthened. Area-wide organiations will only need to attend one LOCAL meeting, not 14.

In South Cumbria the Alliance is discussing with existing Place-based VCFSE network how best to proceed.

Once agreed, the Alliance website will be updated to reflect these changes. LSC VCFSE Assembly newsletters will continue, re-branded as the Alliance to better communicate what the Alliance is doing.

If you have any comments, questions or suggesting, please contact Joe.