Welcome to autumn folks
You can find a summary showing you more of the findings from our Member Needs Survey work that took place over the summer here. I want to flag some immediate actions we are taking based on your feedback, as we really have absorbed and tried to understand your feedback. It will also feature at a Strategic Planning session later this month with our Board of Trustees.
Firstly, we are holding some small focus groups to get into some more depth with you on a few of the topics, including how you want us to support you on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion work, Social Prescriptions and Volunteering. Secondly, we are immediately looking to update and make clear our Membership Criteria. Thirdly, we will be having some challenging and interesting debates at our away day about the balance between Staffordshire-based vs Staffordshire-delivery in the membership, and about complete ‘not for profit’ vs social enterprise support. We won’t be removing either support completely or significantly, as ultimately, it’s about supporting communities, but we think there might be some useful and pragmatic tweaks to be made.
One immediate change is the implementation of our updated Member Code of Conduct which alongside some administrative and wording simplifications, has a stronger and clearer stance on discrimination which 91% of you backed in the survey. This does mean we will be taking a decisive and unapologetic stand on overt discrimination and if we observe this in our membership, you can expect us to get in touch and ask you to take action to remove it; or we will remove your organisation from membership.
One final update from me is that I have held introductory meetings with our new MP for Stafford, and for South Staffs, and have them in the diary for Cannock Chase, East Staffordshire, Newcastle-under-Lyme and Tamworth. I’m still waiting on a reply from the new Lichfield MP. In this vein of renewed political engagement please note our collaborative workshop with UK Parliament on 22 October, where you will gain insight into how it all works.
Garry
Garry Jones (he/him)
Chief Executive,
Support Staffordshire
