Council of Ethnic Minority Voluntary Sector Organisations

• CEMVO (Council of Ethnic Minorities Voluntary Sector Organisations)
• Aims & objectives
• Activities & programmes
• Achievements
• Future plans

CEMVO (Council of Ethnic Minorities Voluntary Sector Organisations)

CEMVO, a National charity established 1999 supports the development of the UK’s minority ethnic organizations, communities and individuals. It is committed to social regeneration of the disadvantaged Ethnic Minority Communities in the UK.

CEMVO’s nationwide presence comprises regional offices in London Region (Stratford), South West Region (Bristol), Northwest Region (Manchester), Yorkshire and Humberside (Manchester) and South East Region (Reading), as well as country offices in Scotland (Glasgow) and Wales (Swansea).

Ethnic Minority Voluntary and Community organizations have operated in Britain for over 4 decades but there was little information available about them. CEMVO conducted the only comprehensive mapping exercise to date. CEMVO’s Network of 9,500 minority ethnic voluntary organisations provides an unparalleled gateway into UK's ethnic minority communities

Aims & objectives

Infrastructure: supporting Britain's minority ethnic voluntary and community sector organisations through the development of an effective infrastructure; thus enabling them to play a key role in developing and strengthening communities.

Voice: There are very few Ethnic Minority voluntary organizations capable of effecting change at a national level. CEMVO remains the only national Ethnic Minority led organization with a network infrastructure. It acts as a national advocate for Britain's minority ethnic voluntary and community sector, by ensuring that the many voices of the country's communities and voluntary sector organisations are heard and listened to.

Leadership: Ethnic Minority organizations respond to specific community needs, are generally small and locally based. They tend to operate in a fragmented manner. CEMVO provides national leadership to the minority ethnic voluntary and community sector and the communities it serves.

Tackling Inequalities: ensuring that the country's voluntary sector becomes a level playing field, by building the capacity of voluntary and community organisations, so that they can play a full role in tackling prevailing socio-economic inequalities.

Strengthening Communities: bringing marginalised communities and minority ethnic voluntary organisations from the margins of society into the mainstream.

National evidence-based Policy and Research: developing national evidence-based policy and research into UK minority ethnic communities, marginalised groups and the voluntary sector; enabling us to influence national policy and share best practice.

Public Service Delivery: supporting the minority ethnic voluntary sector in delivering public services.

Activities & programmes

• National Database of the minority ethnic voluntary and community sector
• National Capacity Building Programme for the sector
• National Helpline for the sector
• Volunteering Programme for the sector
• London Health Advocacy Network
• HMRC Tax Credit and Child Trust Fund Information campaign

Achievements

CEMVO has worked with over 1000 organisations and its social regeneration drive has raised over £10 million worth of revenues into the sector.

CEMVO has built the capacity of 1000 minority ethnic organisations to strengthen communities, provide them with effective infrastructures and enhance their sustainability.

CEMVO’s outreach campaigns featuring hundreds of events and thousands of participants have allowed the voices of UK’s communities to be heard.

CEMVO have disbursed over £3 million through various small grants programmes to individuals and helped them develop their ideas.

CEMVO have developed volunteering programmes as a way of diminishing social exclusion.

CEMVO has worked to improve the NHS to ensure that Ethnic Minority and other excluded communities share in the new availability of patient choice.

We believe that , in all of our achievements, we have maintained our ethos of promoting success through ability.

Future plans

We must continue to grow and strengthen CEMVO so that it continues to help the communities it serves.  We need to make make our funding more secure and develop more sources of income utilizing our training skills through training courses and conferences, delivering consultancy and research projects, developing a community asset base and acting as a broker to ensure that ethnic minority organizations are able to share in the service delivery contracts on offer from statutory agencies.