Firstly, can I please encourage all our members to respond to our invite to contribute to our 2025 State of the Staffordshire VCSE Sector Survey by adding your insights here. It is really important for us to know what you think and understand how things are for our members right now.
We use this insight in our wider leadership and advocacy work with statutory partners, such as the county council, district councils and NHS partners. Once compiled we will be publishing our results for everyone to use and we will also present our findings to key decision makers in the county. The results of our 2023 report were used to support the case for greater VCSE involvement in the NHS and it worked, with the VCSE Alliance now firmly established, and investment in health inequalities just around the corner. So please grab a cuppa and ensure your organisation’s view is represented in the data we use here.
This month we are celebrating Neurodiversity and shining a spotlight on how neurodiversity inclusion can benefit your organisation, the wider community, and individuals. Member organisation ADHD Pirates have told us about their journey to make Staffordshire a better place for neurodiverse people. Our own Katie Johnson tells us about how your group can become more inclusive by signing up for the LDA Friendly Self-assessment and Badge. And Elaine Denney lifts the lid on our own practices here at Support Staffordshire where we are striving to make our vacancies more accessible.
You can find out more by attending our Autism Training on 6 Feb, or our wider inclusion training exploring Unconscious Bias on 11 Feb. We also have a special event coming up in East Staffordshire this quarter ahead of the Women’s Health Festival, which explores the subject with a neurodiverse panel on 27 Feb.
With so much negativity in the mass media at the moment and a focus on plenty that feels regressive, I’m pleased to show what we and you are doing to keep inclusion on the agenda and progressing at pace.
Garry Jones
Chief Executive,
Support Staffordshire
