In several H&F Cost Of Living Alliance workshops, local voluntary and community sector organisations have requested a single point of information for local VCS services and organisations. Such a centralised system would enable residents and referrers to find local community groups more easily, and raise the profile and accessibility of local community organisations.
To achieve this, Hammersmith & Fulham Council has been working with Sobus and other VCS Alliance Partners to develop an online signposting service: H&F Community Compass
What will H&F Community Compass do?
H&F Community Compass will connect people with the right services, support and advice that they need. It will also offer small and large VCS organisations opportunities to connect by providing:
- A searchable directory of services
- A digital platform to share accurate and reliable information in one place
- Information that is accessible and visually engaging
- Warm signposting and early intervention
- Community “what’s on” space
Who is providing the service?
Sobus is working with Ayup Digital to deliver the platform, in partnership with the Cost of Living Alliance partners and H&F Council. The data will be legally held by Hammersmith & Fulham Council.
To see examples of what H&F Community Compass might look like please have a look at these examples:
https://connectedkingston.uk/ https://hounslowconnect.com/
What will this mean for your organisation?
With more and more information and activities being online, having a digital presence promoting your organisation has become increasingly important. Accessing funding opportunities and a chance to showcase your service and what you do to support residents is vital but hard to do if you do not have an online profile.
Sharing your information
Sobus holds a directory of local VCS organisations. We would like to share some of this information with Hammersmith & Fulham council to load onto H&F Community Compass – but we need your consent to do so. From our database, we would like to share with the council ONLY the following information:
- Your organisations name
- Your organisations contact details and website
- A contact name at your organisation
- A short summary (2 or 3 sentences) of the services you provide.
Can we share your information?
Please click on the survey link – which will take less than one minute to complete! You will be asked if you agree to Sobus sharing your organisation’s name, contact info and service summary. You’ll have the options of Yes, No, or that you would like to review the information before deciding.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/RLQ3XBT
Time is of the essence!
We want to get H&F Community Compass up and running by the beginning of September – so would ask you to respond to the survey as quickly as possible!
If you would like further information, please contact Sobus at info@sobus.org.uk or telephone 020 7952 1230.
