Last Thursday, 21st October, we held our second virtual AGM (Annual General Meeting) and shared our latest Annual Review Report, reflecting on our work between April 2020 and March 2021. As you can imagine, the Pandemic meant this was a very challenging and unusual time for us, as it was for so many.
See your latest Annual Report (April 2020-March 2021) here
We were delighted to be joined by our Staff Team, our Trustees and a great number of local Voluntary Community and Social Enterprise Sector groups from Milton Keynes. Our Trustee, Julie Dawes, facilitated the event, and after the formal business, we focused the remaining time on highlighting the amazing work the VCSE Sector has done and continues to do throughout Covid-19, and the importance of connections and networks.
We took the opportunity to shine a light on the work of a handful of local organisations, to demonstrate the breadth and depth of the work that has been taking place. The theme of the AGM was “Many small things make a big difference”. All of the activities that took place between April 2020 and March 2021, from neighbourhood groups and food distribution, to mental health services and homelessness support, have all made a huge difference to people’s lives. We also illustrated how some of those groups have been part of MK wide, issue-based networks – some that have existed for a while and were so important in coordinating a response to the Pandemic, and some that were created as a result of the pandemic.
See the full presentation slides here (including a link to the Talent Unlimited short video here) – thank you to all the groups and organisations featured in the presentation that have shared their stories with us!
We were also delighted to hear from our keynote speaker, Dr Peta Wilkinson, the CEO of Willen Hospice, who gave an overview of the VCSE Alliance. This is an overarching network for local VCSE groups, which aims to work collaboratively and co-productively with a range of VCSE organisations and support them to have a strategic voice within local policy and decision-making. It also aims to work towards embedding the lived experience of community members and service users into local service design. You can see a jamboard with some of the feedback from the session here.
See the Jamboard with some of the feedback from our discussions here.
e will soon be sharing more information about the networks: how we have been supporting them, what the next steps are and how your organisation can get involved, so watch the space.
Thank you again to everyone that attended our AGM, and thank you for all your vital and hard work since April 2020.
View the recording of the AGM here.
Community Action: MK Team