The Here 2 Help consortium, owned and run by local voluntary organisations, was launched on 21st February at an event attended by over 60 people. Facilitated by members of the founding group of 12 local charities, the event gave a detailed presentation on the aims and workings of the consortium as detailed in the membership prospectus.

The consortium will provide a new way for local voluntary organisations to work with the Council and other statutory agencies to deliver cost-effective services for the people of Coventry. The consortium will enable smaller local voluntary organisations to work collaboratively and tender together to compete more effectively against larger, national commercial organisations, thus helping to keep a strong local provider base in the city, close to Coventry's communities. The consortium has been set up by a founding group of 12 local charities, chaired by Voluntary Action Coventry, and forms part of wider discussions with senior officers of the Council since early 2010.

Council Chief Executive Martin Reeves complimented the voluntary sector at the launch for quickly turning words into action by getting the consortium organised to respond to rapidly changing times. He expressed a strong personal interest as the germ of the idea for the consortium came in discussions with the local authority starting in early 2010 around co-design of services and ‘pipelining' to deliver better, more cost-effective services to improve the quality of life for Coventry people. He noted the need for the Council to be determined to take balanced risks where appropriate and to radically change the way it works with the voluntary sector, as the sector is often much closer to the client and understands what services are actually most needed.

To download the membership prospectus and application form, please click on the attachments below: