A charity based in Poole has been nominated for the iStandUK Innovation Award.
The iStandUK Innovation Award is an award given by the iNetwork organisation in the UK, recognising public sector organisations that demonstrate exceptional innovation in effectively utilising data and information standards to improve services, promote transparency, and facilitate a common understanding of key issues within their operations.
Formed only in 2019, Community Action Network helps to bring charities together to collaborate and grow by innovatively using data and information standards.
Community Action Network have been nominated for the award for their Access to Community Support Services project – in partnership with Access Wellbeing, also based in Poole.
Kelly Hewitt is the project lead for this project, and says: “I think for us it’s about increasing awareness of Community Action Network as an organisation, and how we can support other local charities to flourish and grow. Also, we are adopting a nationally recognised data standard called open referral UK. We are currently looking at increasing awareness of this across local authorities in the UK, so hopefully we can increase recognition of that as well”.
Should Community Action Network win the award, they will be invited to a gala held in Manchester with lots of other charities who do similar work. This would be a great networking opportunity for them as a charity, helping them to head up more projects in the future, providing help to many other charities and causes that will benefit from the service they provide.
Hewitt finished off by saying: “Community Action Network is working with NHS Dorset to create a more connected way for residents and professionals to access local support services. As part of this project, we’re building a shared data set of services that will feature on the new Access Wellbeing website next year, as well as the current Service Finder website. Together, we can ensure that more Dorset residents get the help they need, when they need it.”
You can find out more about Community Action Network and the work they do on their website or by visiting their Facebook page where they post regular updates about what projects they have going on.
