NAVCA (the National Association for Voluntary and Community Action) to deliver an “Empowering the Voluntary Sector” workshop in conjunction with CRCC (Cornwall Rural Community Council) in Bodmin on 10th April 2008

Only a few free places available!

"I feel I now know enough about public law to feel confident to incorporate it (when necessary) in my negotiations with public bodies".

"Wish we’d had this years ago!"

These are just two of the many positive comments we have received from delegates attending the "Empowering the Voluntary Sector" workshop.

To date around 450 voluntary and community workers have been trained in the principles of Public Law and supported over 70 local organisations, their advice and support has prevented over £250,000 being lost to the voluntary and community sector in cuts from public bodies.

The next opportunity to take part in this training in this area will be at Bodmin Shire House, 10th April 2008 from 9.30 to 4.30 including lunch and refreshments The group will be limited to 15 participants, and the CRCC is able to offer ten of these free of charge, but we only have a few left, so we suggest you get your place booked as soon as possible.

To reserve a place, contact Peter Burton at CRCC on 01872 273952 or email peter.burton@ cornwallrcc.co.uk. The free places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis, so hurry! The remaining five places will cost £25 per person; this includes VAT and a light lunch and should be booked direct with NAVCA via their website www.navca.org.uk

You may be lucky enough to be able to put your new found confidence into practice straight away, like Jo from Salford, who successfully challenged her Local Authority the day after attending the Public Law Project's workshop at the annual conference. Jo succeeded in putting Salford CVS in the driving seat by being asked to draft the process to be followed by all Commissioners when looking at service level agreement renewals. I’m sure it won’t be a surprise to hear that they have ensured it is fair to the sector and contains all the things that they want to see happen.

Other attendees have gone home at the end of the day feeling empowered and confident that they too could ensure a fair process at their Local Authority, and have expressed their relief at finally finding the information they needed to help them negotiate successfully with local public bodies:

"I have been waiting for a course like this for the last 5 years!"

"Excellent, exactly met both my needs and those of my organisation"

"It’s time the VCS had the tools to effectively stick up for itself, this course goes some way to doing that"

"Best and most useful course I have attended for ages"

You can also download the projects newsletters and information leaflet as well as finding out about the free legal advice line run by the Public Law Project as part of this project from www.navca.org.uk/evs .