Welcome to the first edition of Voluntary Action North Lanarkshire’s Employability & Financial Inclusion Bulletin for the North Lanarkshire Community and Voluntary Sector (NL CVS) . This bulletin will be issued monthly around the middle of the month and will feature a variety local and national information and news on these vitally important issues.  

The NL CVS make major contributions to employability and financial inclusion through provision of a wide range of services including:

• affordable credit – e.g. credit unions
• benefits, money and debt advice – e.g. Citizens Advice Bureaux and Advice Centres
• community food support
• digital inclusion support
• employability support
• social housing provision
• supporting community engagement and action to tackle poverty – through communities of place and interest (e.g. disabled people; carers; single parents)

VANL is keen that the work of the NL CVS is covered in this bulletin, so please send any items you would like to be considered for inclusion to michelle.thomson@vanl.co.uk

VANL also provides support to the NL CVS also assists cross-sector partnership working to promote employability and financial inclusion in NL, including delivery of  North Lanarkshire Council’s (NLC) Tackling Poverty Strategy through activities below and also through participation in key working groups – please contact maddy.halliday@vanl.co.uk for more information

VANL’s support for employability and financial inclusion activities include:

Employability

• convening and supporting the NL CVS Employability Network – please see article below
• participation in NLC’s Employability Board
• supporting a NL CVS “KickStart” consortia with Routes to Work to support young people into work

please contact michelle.thomson@vanl.co.uk on all above

• supporting volunteering across NL, including delivery of a new NL-wide youth volunteering project from April 2021 to strengthen employment opportunities for young people – please contact Kirsty.struthers@vanl.co.uk for more information

Financial Inclusion

• convening and supporting the NL CVS Children, Young People and Families Network, with many members active on financial inclusion issues – please contact Joyce.morgan@vanl.co.uk
• supporting Lanarkshire Community Food and Health Partnership and local NL CVS groups around emergency food support – please contact joyce.morgan@vanl.co.uk for more information
• working with NLC to support selected NL CVS organisations to reach eligible vulnerable groups with COVID-19 financial hardship payments, using funding from the Scottish Govt. – for more information please contact gina.alexander@vanl.co.uk 
• supporting digital inclusion through active membership of the Digital NL partnership and managing two digital inclusion projects including Digital Friends and TechShare – contact douglas.milne@vanl.co.uk for more information

VANL will consult with NL CVS during spring‐summer 2021 to assess:

• current and potential future contribution to tackling poverty and
• increasing community wealth
• how the CVS can work with partners to support wider community and
• citizen engagement in tackling poverty (as below)
• resource and support needs

Best wishes,
Maddy Halliday,
CEO, VANL