Cumbria Community Foundation - Furness: Opportunities and Challenges 2021

F U R N E S S – O P P O R T U N I T I E S & C H A L L E N G E S 37 Voluntary and ch aritable work plays a crucial role in the Barrow and Furness area. But Third Sector organisations are facing a struggle for funding. Ali Greenhalgh (pictured right) knows the sector inside out. She is Cumbria CVS district manager south, based in Barrow. Cumbria CVS is a charity which provides help, advice and training to the sector. “The Third Sector is really crucial in Barrow and Furness,” says Ali. “The relationship between voluntary organisations and residents and local communities is very strong. “Organisations are often run by residents who know what the issues are. They are at the heart of the community. “With cuts, and where councils and public sector organisations can’t meet need, it is the voluntary sector which often responds.” The sector has shouldered increasing demand as a result of the Covid pandemic, with a strong focus on mental health and wellbeing. Ali says, “People always think of health in terms of issues like cancer or heart disease, but there is an increasingly crucial role played by voluntary sector organisations that deal with healthy lifestyle, healthy cooking or services like sign-posting people to good quality housing or providing help to get a job. This kind of support improves people’s health and wellbeing.” Local voluntary organisations have been at the forefront of developing a collaborative model of working. She points to the food distribution hubs set up at the start of the pandemic, on Walney and on Barrow Island. “They have worked closely together and brought in other organisations and are now playing a wider role helping people with issues such as loss of jobs,” she says. The Drop Zone youth club in Barrow is another example, bringing in partners including the police, health services and council officers. Although the local communities are very active and innovative in responding to need, their organisations face a battle for survival. “One of the biggest challenges is securing funding,” says Ali. “It can be especially hard for ongoing projects which are successful, but not new, when they are competing with many others and when funding is tight, and many funds are over- subscribed.” Ali says small-scale community endeavours can also be overlooked due to grant givers prioritising crisis support rather than initiatives which seem less pressing but have preventative value. “An example is sports clubs with old facilities,” says Ali. “They work with so many young people as well as adults. They can have a massive impact on young people’s mental health and are often a lifeline. But they often have facilities which are not fit for purpose. Furness Voices Third Sector Voices – voluntary, charitable, non-governmental and non-profit organisations in Barrow and Furness. “It is about achieving great things by working together with other groups and sectors. In Barrow they are particularly good at that,”