Support and Resources

This area of the website provides support and resources for residents, communities and those involved in (or wishing to get involved in) running community groups. You will also be able to find links to partner organisations in Leicestershire, which provide specific support and resources.

Community Engagement Toolkit for Town & Parish Councils

This toolkit contains guidance for Town & Parish Councils, around ways of undertaking activities with communities within their Parish/Town area, including initiatives that Parish/Town Councils can lead the development of.

Developing a Community Idea

This section includes a step-by-step guide to developing a community idea, from planning and inception, to implementation and evaluation.

Support provided by Voluntary Action Leicestershire

• Volunteering - includes advice and support for organisations who use volunteers, and for people interested in become involved in volunteering
• Group Support - a range of information for community groups, including advice around accessing funding, governance, business planning and training.
• Training - information on training activities for community groups.

Support provided by RCC

• Good Neighbour Schemes - support and advice to help communities to set up and run volunteer-led Good Neighbour Schemes
• Community Buildings Service - this service is available to provide professional advice and support to volunteers and Parish Councils who have responsibility for operating village halls and other community buildings

Support provided by CASE

CASE (Co-operative & Social Enterprise Development Agency) delivers advice, support and training to people who want to set up a social enterprise, community interest company or a co-operative.

Support for Parish & Town Councils

The Leicestershire & Rutland Association of Local Councils (LRALC) is a membership organisation which provides information, advice and support to Parish/Town Councils.

Creating Accessible Documents

More and more people are accessing and sending information electronically. Digital accessibility is the process of making digital products (websites, mobile apps, etc) accessible to everyone. It includes documents that may be uploaded on a website or sent electronically. It is about providing all users access to the same information, regardless of the impairments they may have.

Part of this involves making sure that any documents we produce, which are intended to be used in the public domain are created to be as digitally accessible as possible. In order to assist people in creating accessible Word and PDF documents we have created two guides which aim to cover the basics.

Support provided by Locality

Locality is a national organisation that provides a range of support to communities and community groups, including the following:

• Support for Community Organisations
• Neighbourhood Planning
• Developing a Community Project or Idea

Support provided by the UK Veterans Hearing Foundation

The charity aims to help UK veterans suffering from hearing loss caused by their years of service to access funding and the aftercare they require. There are no costs to the veteran and the charity accesses funding directly from the government as well as donations from the general public and armed forced benevolent funds.

The Ear Wax Removal Specialists

Partnering with the UK Veterans Hearing Foundation are the The Ear Wax Removal Specialists. This is a free online tool that enables people to find audiologists near to them using an interactive map. It can be used to find audiologists who are still open during the pandemic and request home visits.