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Neighbourhood Watch Network
8th Floor
Elizabeth House
39 York Road
London
SE1 7NQ
3rd February 2020
Dear Neighbourhood Watch Association Leads,
It has been a busy start to the year with some projects nearing their completion, changes to the Central Support Team and the Board, and traveling to visit some local Associations and schemes.
Staff and Board Changes
As I mentioned in January there were changes to the Board of Trustees at the January Board meeting.
Joe Pearce stepped down from the Board, having been Treasurer for 2 years and more recently the Deputy Chair. Joe was a very skilled and able member of the Board offering financial and strategic advice and guidance, and very helpful support and challenge. We welcomed Peter Buchanan and Ian Bretman to the Board. Peter has a background in PR and marketing and previously worked for Sachi & Sachi and was Deputy CEO of the Central Office of Information. We are sure Peter’s background and marketing experience will be very helpful to NW over the next few years. Ian has charity experience, including roles at Oxfam and Citizens Advice Bureau, has held senior positions at Fairtrade and has extensive experience on boards, including companies, charities and the Barnet Clinical Commissioning Group. Ian will soon be by the Board to voting members to become the new Chair of the Board. His experience in organisational development will be hugely helpful in steering NW to expand and become even more relevant and impactful over the coming years.
David Huse has now stepped down as Chair of the Board but to support the board transition he will be remaining as Deputy Chair for a period.
Changes to the Central Support Team are also happening, with Robin Newman leaving NW and being replaced by Cheryl Spruce as Head of Membership and Community Development. We are really excited to be welcoming Cheryl to the Central Support Team in February as she brings great experience of developing NW in central London as Chair of Greenwich NW Association and developing innovative NW projects there.
Zoe Hart has left the Central Support Team for personal reasons and we are being supported by Jennifer Powell, an experienced charity finance manager, in the interim while we recruit to the role.
Finally, we have recruited Aga Korfel to the 1-year Development Manager role. Aga will be supporting and driving the development of NW in areas of high crime/social need using the knowledge from the previous acceleration area programme and liaising with local NW and Associations and the police.
Future Crimes
Following a national ‘Future Crimes’ workshop we are working with the Home Office, business leaders, academics and other charities to look at the emerging threats and opportunities from the rapidly developing digital world including Artificial Intelligence, machine learning, and the increasing range of internet-enabled and connected devices. We are excited to be able to work with leaders in the field and use the experience, knowledge and awareness of NW members to inform the work. We will be surveying members over the next year about their knowledge, awareness, concerns etc. in this area, and developing advice and guidance on the threats and how to keep safe in a rapidly changing and developing digital world.
Corporate Partnerships
Following positive meetings with ERA and Coop we are delighted that the Coop will be renewing their sponsorship arrangement with Neighbourhood Watch and will be developing this into a partnership with the wider Coop Group rather than just Coop Insurance. ERA continue to be committed to NW and are keen to offer our members additional benefits on their products, continuing their arrangement beyond 2021. We will keep members aware of offers and choices as we develop further partnerships with organisations that align with NW values.
Survey Tool for Measuring Impact
As you will be aware, we have been developing a survey tool that local associations and areas can use to assess the impact of NW locally and test any specific projects, events or work they are running.The Central Support Team has been piloting the tool with some associations and will be able to offer support to associations or local areas who wish to use the tool to measure impact. To develop a baseline, we will be using the tool to survey members and non-members across England and Wales in the spring. We will analyse the results and share these with Associations. Local areas can then use the baseline results to set some impact goals, benchmark against the average and see what difference local projects, events or work have on views, awareness and fear of crime by carrying out a survey after the project etc. We will conduct the benchmark survey across England and Wales every 2 years to assess change and ensure the data is current.
New NW Website
The new NW website is being developed and we plan to launch it in the next month or so, dependent on testing, links to other sites and the NW registration process. The aim of the new website is to support and inform members, and to be a modern, attractive site to non-members that will enable and encourage joining NW. It will be far more visual than the current site, with more images, simpler content, easier navigation and a good search function. It has been developed with input from members, the Central Support Team and skilled website developers, and will be tested by both members and non-members across different age ranges and varying understandings of NW to get feedback before it is launched publicly.
Safer Streets Fund
You may be aware of the recently announced ‘Safer Streets’ Funding that was announced recently. Only Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) can apply for the funds and the focus is to reduce crime in several identified high crime areas that the Home Office want to target. Bids can include funding for things like additional streetlighting, designing out crime in neighbourhoods etc. but can also include funding for local organisations to deliver specific services, projects and/or support in the high crime areas. There may well be opportunities for local NW to work with their PCCs to develop projects, with the PCC including specific funding for targeted NW projects in high crime areas. We will be sending out information on potential ways that NW could support or deliver relevant projects, and will support local areas or associations who want to work with their PCCs to develop work in the identified high crime areas and make the most of this opportunity.
Finally, the Central Support Team will be on the move again in the next few months. The office block we are based in is being demolished and re-developed so we will be moving to another low rent office space in London.
We are looking at various options and will let you know of the move, dates and changes of address and phone numbers as necessary.
As always please let us know what is happening locally with projectsand events and share this letter with your co-ordinators and members.
Yours faithfully
📷
John Hayward-Cripps – CEO, Neighbourhood Watch Network
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