This last year, we built on the legacy of community action during Covid19 and continued to champion Croydon’s Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) by:

* Being the main promoter of volunteering in Croydon - brokering supported volunteer placements in the VCS by recruiting the volunteers, capacity building the volunteer-involving delivery groups and targeting new opportunities at people (refugees and asylum-seekers, young homeless people, people with learning disabilities etc) who face barriers to volunteering

* Having a strong voice and acting as a powerful representative of Croydon’s VCS - advocating on its behalf, campaigning to promote its services and the people it serves and, where necessary, acting as an independent critic of government to secure VCS interests

* Acting as the main fundraiser on behalf of Croydon’s VCS, attracting financial investment both directly by fundraising on behalf of our VCS partners and indirectly by representing the social value provided by Croydon’s VCS to local commissioners

* Acting as an incubator for local community action - starting at the grassroots, supporting active citizens and nurturing local community activities by taking an asset-based approach that builds on and develops self-help and peer-support at the street and neighbourhood levels

* Managing community hubs that host local community activities and create a supportive and enterprising environment for VCS delivery-partnerships in all six Croydon localities

* Promoting the VCS’ unique strengths in prevention, early intervention and tackling inequalities

* Managing VCS delivery partnerships that achieve transformational outcomes for local people

* Acting as the custodian of due diligence and best practice in the VCS through training and organisational development in the required policies and practices

* Presenting all the latest information on Croydon’s VCS and providing our VCS partners with the latest news on fundraising, legislation and local decision-making

* Working in partnership with the statutory and private sectors to open up opportunities for collaboration