Black and Ethnic Minority Community Care Forum

Address: Office 2-3, St. Mark’s Community Centre, Tollgate Road, London E6 5YA
Telephone: 020 7474 3176
E-mail: enquiries@bemccf.org.uk 
Website: www.bemccf.org.uk

Primarily deliver services to - organisations

BEMCCF provides a range of services that sustain, strengthen and represent the voluntary, community and faith sector in Newham.

BEMCCF also enables individual community entrepreneurs to develop their ideas and have recently begun to support social enterprises.

Areas of specialism:

Whilst providing capacity building services to all communities, BEMCCF has specific expertise in providing its services to black and minority ethnic led organisations and to organisations operating in the fields of health, well being and social care. BEMCCF also has proven success in

• representing organisations on local strategic, decision making bodies
• undertaking consultation to impact on local and national policy
• undertaking action research and piloting projects to inform responses to new challenges
• forging flourishing delivery partnerships
• assisting self help projects and emerging community responses to identified community need.

Extent of support to organisations:

• One to one whole organisational development, including both crisis resolution and longer term capacity building based on an organisational health check.
• Group assistance for voluntary, community, faith and social enterprises, through training programmes, a series of lunchtime seminars and through the development of paper and website based ‘how to’ guides.
• Tailored consultation to inform local and national priorities, planning and service re-design, particularly in the areas of health, well being and social care
• Fundraising advice and support including using Grantfinder
• Provision of specific support to patient/carer and voluntary sector representatives on health and social care partnership boards. This includes information briefings, jargon busters, training on health and social care structures and developing succession planning for representatives. This also includes the provision of support to health and social care statutory organisations to enable their effective engagement of patients and the wider community in Newham.
• Dissemination of information through regular newsletters – ‘Forum Link’ and Health Voice and through regular mailings
• Support of workforce networks such as the Capacity Builders Working Group
• Provision of specific support to volunteer led, health related self help groups to enable them to flourish and provide ‘expert’ group support.
• Forging and facilitating delivery partnerships between voluntary, faith and community organisations and between statutory organisations and the voluntary sector
• All services are free

How support is delivered:

BEMCCF offers one to one support via pre booked appointment, drop in or referral. It offers group support through training or individual organisational development plan.

Number of groups seen in the last 12 months [to June 2006]:

297 for support and capacity building. 1100 for information dissemination.

Additional capacity to support more groups? Yes.

There is some capacity to provide group and one to one support. There is no limit to the provision of information, please contact the organisation and ask to be put on their mailing list.

Number of staff who are involved in work specifically with voluntary and community groups: 6