Annual review [ 1.4 MB] - Citizens Advice

It has been an exciting year for the Network which has seen our membershipgrow, the launch of our website, a successful catalogue of training events,networking lunches and our 2 nd Annual Conference.The project began with nine initial partners – seven Citizens Advice Bureaux,Cumbria Law Centre and Shelter and we are proud to say we now have wellover 100! These are both small and large organisations providing help andadvice to the people of Cumbria.The Cumbria Advice Network website went ‘live’ in June 2010. The websitelists all network members and the services they provide, as well as ageographical map showing where services are delivered. As the projectdevelops, agencies will be able to use the website to determine where torefer clients and how to refer a client to a particular organisation. The websitehas proved to be extremely popular with network members and by the end ofMarch 2011 had over 25,000 hits!During Advice Week in October we held a series of networking lunches acrossthe county. The aims of the lunches were for advice agencies to get together,promote their service and to learn about how other advice providers canpotentially help their clients. Each event attracted up to 16 differentorganisations and by the end of the week organisations were making referralsthey would not have made if it had not been for the Network. Due to thesuccess of the week we are already planning next year’s events!Our 2 nd Annual Conference was held on 20 th January 2011 which was attendedby 84 people from 55 organsiations. Andy Beeforth OBE, Director of theCumbria Community Foundation made the keynote speech and we gave six ofour members the opportunity to ‘showcase’ their organisations and explainthe work that they do and the services they provide. We held sessions onreferral and Working Together, Campaigning for Change, Discrimination andGetting your Voice Heard.If you are interested in joining the network or would like to know more pleasecontact Shelley on 01946 693321 or netchamp@whitehaven.cabnet.org.uk.www.cumbriadvicenetwork.org.ukFMember Feedback:“Informative and Inspiring”FMemberFMember Feedback:Feedback:“The Sharing of information &contacts is helpful to our clients asthey will often have multipleproblems. If we can signpost them tothe organisation most able to helpthem this will be of great benefit”“Really useful get together. Great tofind out what other agenciesspecialize in. Very helpful to knowwhat’s out there for clients that myparticular agency would deal with”Shelley Hewitson, Network Champion for Copeland