About DEVELOP Enhancing Community Support

 Visit the DEVELOP Organisational website to get an overview of the Charitable Company that runs GROW, ECBL and Volunteer Centre Wiltshire:

www.developecs.org.uk.

Contact Us:

Head Office

 3-4 New Road

Chippenham

Wiltshire

SN15 1EJ

01249 654089

Bath & North East Somerset Office

 South Vaults

Green Park Station

Green Park Road

Bath

BA1 1JB

01225 330090

What is DEVELOP Enhancing Community Support

DEVELOP Enhancing Community Support is an independent organisation which operates across Wiltshire from an office base in Chippenham and in Bath & North East Somerset with an office base in Bath. We are a registered Charity set up, owned and run by local groups to support, develop and enhance local voluntary and community action.

We were first established in 1980 as CVS North Wiltshire. We are a Registered Charity, Company Limited by Guarantee and member of the National Association for Voluntary and Community Action, NAVCA.  The Bath & North East Somerset CVS service started in 2004. In July 2009 we changed our name from CVS to DEVELOP Enhancing Community Support to reflect the changing environment in which we work.

As of April 1st 2010 we now operate across all of Wiltshire, together with our partners Voluntary Action Kennet, the service in Wiltshire is called GROW Enhancing Community Support. This service is in essence the same service we provide to groups in B&NES and have traditionally provided across North Wiltshire.

Find out more about how we are funded here.

As a member of NAVCA we deliver five core functions in Wiltshire

Services and Support
DEVELOP Enhancing Community Support promotes and enhances the effectiveness of local voluntary and community groups by providing them with a range of services. These include access to basic facilities, such as meeting rooms, photocopiers and ICT equipment and more involved services such as group support, networking opportunities and funding advice. DEVELOP also support local groups through regular e-newsletters, training courses, recruitment advertising, signposting and much more.

Liaison

As a focal point for the local voluntary and community sector, DEVELOP Enhancing Community Support encourages networking between individuals and groups within the sector, and between local groups and the statutory and private sectors. This allows local groups to learn from one another, establish contacts and work more effectively. We also help different communities to organise their own networking activity.

Representation With government encouraging involvement of voluntary and community groups in shaping and delivering services, DEVELOP Enhancing Community Support enables the views of local groups to be represented. For example, through our Community Lunches and Forums which provide an opportunity for local groups to put forward their views on local and national policies.

Development work Over the years, the local voluntary and community sector has pioneered some of the essential public services that we now take for granted. Child protection and care for the elderly, for example, had their origins in, and were developed by, the voluntary sector. This tradition has continued into the 21st century, and today DEVELOP Enhancing Community Support takes the lead in identifying gaps in service provision and work with groups to develop new and innovative services to meet these needs.