2013
• North East Community Solutions CIC (NECS CIC) is a social
enterprise, which came to being in April 2011. Company
registered in England and Wales, registration number: 7601003
• We work to improve the wellbeing of people in the North East of
England
• We do it through a range of targeted approaches
• We deliver services, implement projects and organise events
• Our approach is to work with the local community to utilise its
assets and address the causes to meet the needs.
• The directors had been running the International Community
Organisation of Sunderland (a community group, which became
a registered charity in 2011) since 2009 and have vast
experience of delivering Information, advice and guidance,
organising cultural projects, information and consultation
meetings and events
• NECS CIC is well embedded in the local community, in
particular, we have experience of working with BME
communities in Sunderland and other areas within the North East
• We enjoy a particularly strong relationship with the Polish
community
• Partnership work – we are always keen to cooperate with other
organisations, so far we have worked with organisations
including:
• LINk Sunderland
• Stroke Association
• Gentoo
• SOTW PCT
• SIDE CIC
• Sunderland City Council
• International Community Organisation of Sunderland
• In August 2011, we organised a family health information event in
Sunderland`s Valley Road School, during which more than 200 Polish and
British People had a chance to access free health checks and wellbeing
information from a range of organisations (e.g. Stroke Association) – this was
also a chance for both communities to overcome barriers and an opportunity
for a great family day out, with activities for children such as face painting
available.
• In partnership with SIDE CIC, we engaged 15 minority
ethnic people through the Memories Cafe project – the
project helped them to improve their wellbeing through
learning new skills, overcoming cultural barriers,
improving confidence and developing an interest in art
(e.g. creative writing and collage).
• Our involvement included advertising, engagement
and translations/interpreting
• In October 2011, together with LINk Sunderland, we
organised consultations with Polish families, in order to
capture participants’ views and experiences of the local
health and wellbeing services, in which more than 40
people altogether took part. As a result, LINk has now
send a list of recommendations to the local PCT (South Tyne
and Wear), which in turn caused the PCT to commission a
research into minority ethnic people’s access to health
services in the area
• In April 2012, together with Gentoo (the main housing groups in Sunderland),
we organised an engagement event with the Polish community living in
Sunderland. It explained the eligibility criteria for council housing and what
new and existing tenants could expect from Gentoo – there was also an
opportunity for feedback
• In June and July 2012, we organised a series of sports
activities to commemorate the London 2012 Olympics –
these served the purpose of engaging minority and ethnic
people in sport activities and through this – improving their
wellbeing.
• Taster sessions included Archery, Climbing, Golf and Tennis
and were very well attended – more than 30 participants,
with each event attended by an average 20. 5 volunteers
also gained extra skills while working on the project.
This project was supported by Sunderland City Council
through its Sunderland in 2012 grant scheme
• At NECS CIC, we provide a free smoking cessation drop - in and we
are able to provide smoking cessation advice in English, Polish and
Slovak.
• Since the start of our smoking cessation service we have advised
more than 80 people through our smoking cessation service, we have
been successful at working with harder to reach individuals. We are
also the only organisation in Sunderland, providing smoking cessation
outreach for people who cannot leave their house.
• We currently have 3 Level 2 accredited Smoking Cessation Advisors
and 4 Health Champions within the organisation. The smoking
cessation service is a service level agreement with the Public Health
(formerly PCT) and we work with clients from Sunderland, Gateshead
and South Tyneside
At NECS CIC, we are working on behalf of Sunderland City Council to prevent men’s
cancer through improving access to information and increasing the take up of sports.
• We are targeting 2 Sunderland regeneration areas – Sunderland East and
Sunderland West
• Our role is to engage minority ethnic men through a bespoke, needs tailored project
with 2 main types of intervention:
• Cancer risk awareness raising
• Sports sessions
We have exceeded our targets and we have been asked to provide evidence of what
works with minority ethnic men when it comes to health engagement by the Sunderland
East Area Committee. This is because of our success in engaging this community.
Our work is funded through the Healthy Cities Investment Fund.
• NHS health checks
• We have been commissioned by the South of Tyne and Wear
PCT (now Sunderland Public Health) to organise health checks
for local residents over the age of 40.
• Our role is to engage with the community and increase service
take up.
• NECS CIC ensures that minority ethnic people in the local area
have are aware of they can have a free health check and we
support them during their health checks (e.g., with translations).
• We are currently providing a free translations service for
minority ethnic people, who have problems understanding
and responding to official correspondence or filing in
forms and documents.
• Since our Community Translations project has started in
September 2011, we have helped 100 individuals to write
or respond to individual correspondence and dealt with
250 cases altogether.
• We have enabled 10 volunteers to learn new skills, gain
experience and contribute to their local community. The
project is funded by Big Lottery Fund
• This is a multilingual project…
• We are contracted by the Sunderland Healthwatch to
help engage minority ethnic people living in
Sunderland and identify the barriers face by them
when accessing health and wellbeing services within
the City.
We currently offer:
- Translations and interpreting
We can:
• Translate your information to Polish Act as interpreters to help you
communicate with your Polish speaking clients
• ... For competitive prices:
• Written materials - translations - £25 for the first 200 words, £20 for every
200 words thereafter
• Interpreting - £25 per hour per interpreter, £20 for each our thereafter
• Specialist documents, such as legal or medical: Please ask us for a quote
• WE ARE FLEXIBLE
We currently offer:
- Bid writing (our experience include Sunderland’s Communities Living
Sustainably Big Lottery Bid)
- Project management
- Advertising
- Event organising
- Representing your organisation in Poland
- Managing your communication/social networking in Polish
- Also: meeting room hire: £15/h or £40 for 8 hours
Please ask us for a quote
Case study:
Maria
Maria came to NECS CIC in July 2011. She did not have a job as, as the job market
in Sunderland was very difficult and she did not have recognised qualifications.
NECS helped her to improve her employment prospects – she received help in
creating a CV in English, as well as help with correspondence from various
agencies. After a couple of months of receiving help from NECS CIC through the
Fear the Postman No More project, Maria started helping other with their forms and
correspondence, which immensely increased her confidence. In February 2012, after
half a year of engagement with NECS CIC, Maria found a permanent job in a local
restaurant, a job she says she is proud to have and she enjoys doing.
Maria now plans to progress to become a translator and is currently learning to
other languages, apart from improving her English language skills. In the meantime,
she has completed a Level 2 Hygiene Certificate course at her new workplace.
In her own words:
“My involvement with North East Community Solutions CIC
has helped me to increase my self confidence. Thanks to this
voluntary organisation I have discovered routes which have
improved my job prospects. Thanks to the commitment of the
wonderful people who work at NECS CIC– Daniel and Michal, I
have started to volunteer myself. Since joining NECS CIC as a
volunteer I have made new friends and taking part in the
project improved my English language skills – I now know
many English expressions I did not know before. I can now do
many things on my own. I feel much more confident using
English.“
The total number of our direct beneficiaries is 400 and
we estimate that the number of indirect beneficiaries
to be about another 300 people (e.g. family members
of people who have stopped smoking).
As outlined above, we have extensive experience of
successful community engagement
References:
Jeanette Harold, Director - Continuum CIC
Nicol Trueman, Area Community Officer – East of
Sunderland, Sunderland City Council
Michael Lowthian, formerly Sunderland LINk
Gillian Laverick, SIDE CIC
Arrow Business Centre
14 Foyle Street
Sunderland
Tyne and Wear
United Kingdom
SR1 1LE
www.necs.org.uk
michal@necs.org.uk
07596538482
01916457771
NECS CIC