We’re very pleased to announce today that our work in cutting crime by strengthening communities has been recognised by the prestigious Charity Awards. We’ve been shortlisted in the Education and Training category, a nod to the work we do progressing at risk youth and ex-offenders into education, training and employment.
It’s wonderful to be recognised in this way. Our work throughout London certainly has its own rewards, but this shortlisting means a lot to us. It’s a privilege to share the stage with the shortlisted charities, and we look forward to the night when the winners are announced. You can read more about our shortlisting here: http://www.charityawards.co.uk/shortlist/ and below.
Full press release
The Charity Awards, which announces its shortlist today (11 May) is the charity world’s most prestigious excellence recognition programme. All 30 projects have scored highly against the ten Hallmarks of Excellence, as decided by the 10-strong judging panel of voluntary sector experts across a variety of fields.
The ten category winners, plus the recipients of the Overall Award for Excellence and the Outstanding Achievement Award, will be announced at a dinner on 18 June at the Park Plaza Hotel, Westminster, London. The black-tie evening will be hosted by world cup winning rugby star Will Greenwood, who will be joined by representatives of the shortlisted charities, alongside a ‘who’s who’ of charity leaders and celebrities from the worlds of theatre, television, music and sport.
Only Connect are shortlisted:
Reducing crime by strengthening communities
Only Connect aims to reduce and prevent offending. The charity worked significantly in Wormwood Scrubs prison, which borders the White City estate in West London. It was interested in working with the community to develop preventative solutions to the problems which led to offending.
It decided to build a community centre to bring together the inhabitants of White City - one of the most deprived areas in the country - with those in the nearby boroughs of Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea, where personal incomes are an average of 84 per cent higher.
The charity worked in partnership with its members, drawn from ex-offenders and at-risk groups, as well as local partners and funders, to develop the idea for a Member Centre which would provide family-style support and encourage progression into employment, education or training.
It worked carefully with stakeholders to find the correct location, and was eventually offered the disused parsonage of St Michael’s and St George’s in the heart of the estate. It recruited ex-offenders and local residents to make up the staff and set about refurbishing the venue – installing furniture, a recording studio and media suite. The process was completed in three weeks on a budget of just £5,000, offering a score of different services to attendees.
The charity exceeded its targets for the centre. In the year since OC West opened, Only Connect more than doubled its reach to 17,000 people, engaged intensively with 58 young people, and helped three-quarters into education, employment and training.
Tania Mason, group editor at Civil Society Media which organises The Charity Awards, congratulated Only Connect on making the highly-coveted shortlist.
“We had an almost record number of entries this year - just four fewer than our all-time high in 2011 - and the standard was excellent, so Only Connect should be very proud to have made the shortlist,” she said.
“For 16 years The Charity Awards have been identifying and celebrating the fantastic work that UK charities do, and the rigorous judging process ensures that only the very best-run charities make it through.
“We wish Only Connect all the very best of luck on the night”
John Low, chief executive of the Charities Aid Foundation, comments:
“I would like to congratulate all the charities shortlisted for this year’s awards, as well as all those who took the time to send in an application. CAF exists to support the amazing wealth of charitable endeavour across this country and around the world, and it is always humbling to see the great work being done by people in so many ways.
“These awards show charities at their very best, working to support people in communities around the country in myriad different ways at a time of continuing economic uncertainty. Celebrating that success is a massively important part of maintaining and building the culture of generosity in Britain of which we should be so proud.”
Notes to editors:
- The Charity Awards 2015, now in its sixteenth year, is organised by Civil Society Media, publishers of Charity Finance, Fundraising and Governance magazines and www.civilsociety.co.uk.
- The Charity Awards is sponsored by Charities Aid Foundation (CAF). CAF’s mission is to motivate society to give ever more effectively, transforming lives and communities around the world. They help people and businesses support the causes they care about, and provide financial and funding solutions designed specifically for the charitable sector. www.cafonline.org
- The Charity Awards is also supported by The Times and The Sunday Times
The distinguished panel of judges for 2015 are:
- Andrew Hind CB, editor of Charity Finance and former chief executive of the Charity Commission
- Dr John Low CBE, chief executive of the Charities Aid Foundation
- Danielle Walker Palmour, director of the Friends Provident Foundation
- Sir Christopher Kelly KCB, chair of the King’s Fund
- Paul Farmer, chief executive of Mind
- Sue Sayer CBE, chief executive of United Response
- Sam Macdonald, partner at Farrer & Co
- Dorothy Dalton, editor of Governance
- Colin Nee, chief executive of the British Geriatrics Society
- Richard Hawkes, chief executive of Scope
The Hallmarks of Excellence are:
- Leadership: Inspiration in the pursuit of your objectives, galvanising action within your team and encouraging others by example.
- People development: A commitment to developing and motivating staff and volunteers at all levels in your organisation.
- Planning: Developing and following a robust project plan, which is sufficiently detailed but also flexible and responsive to events.
- Innovation: Imaginative and creative use of original or adapted ideas and techniques. This could involve the application to your work of concepts first applied in other organisations or sectors.
- Enterprise: New ways of raising new funds or building support, especially from non-traditional sources. New methods of controlling costs, especially administration costs.
- Learning: A culture of sharing learning and responsiveness to changing needs and attitudes.
- Impact measurement: The use of appropriate techniques to measure the impact of your activity or organisation.
- Effectiveness: Being able to show with evidence that you are achieving or exceeding your intended results or ‘outcomes’ and that these results are being achieved cost-effectively.
- Accountability: A commitment to communicating with volunteers, staff, funders, beneficiaries and the public so that they can understand and influence the progress of your project or initiative and how it meets its objectives.
10. Sustainability: Elements in the management of a project or initiative which will ensure that it takes on a life of its own after the initial input of resources and/or management effort.