We Will Get There!

Our CEO, Jessie, regularly sends round updates to the staff team here at A WAY OUT, to inspire and motivate us, and to let us know what she's up to.  This week, she sent around the following email about we as an organisation respond to the challenges of being a charity in this current economic climate.  We thought we would share it with you.  It's a great read!

"I love my catch up’s with the team; hearing from the heart of the projects, listening to the journey that people are on, not just clients but the staff team too.  I love the culture in A WAY OUT, the community and family spirit, the “can do” attitude; the sense of team and the feeling that you are never it on your own, that we are all working together for one cause.
One expression I have heard many times over the years is “We’ll get there!”

We have always had big dreams and ambitions as a local charity.  We have high hopes for our clients, our projects and our organisation.  But the reality is this is an incredibly challenging environment to work in.  We are working with some of the most excluded people in society, with women and young people trapped in some of the most difficult situations. We are also operating in a time when pressures for professionalism and excellence increase whilst available funding is being reduced and therefore the sectors capacity to respond to these demands becomes tighter.

So how do A WAY OUT respond to these challenges? As we always have done; with Faith! With a knowledge that no-matter how great the challenge that is set before us, we WILL get there!

I was at a round table meeting last week at Whitehall, with the minster for civil society Nick Hurd (The guy behind the big society)
 
It was interesting to hear the story of many other small charities and the challenges that they faced around funding and external pressures.  What was particularly heartening though was that it was evident that this resilience you experience here at A WAY OUT, was so clear to see in many other organisations under the radar; smaller charity & community groups from all across the country, represented at this meeting.  These projects aren’t delivering services for financial gain, they are delivering services because there is a need and they want to be a part of offering a solution to that need.  They will exist no matter what. They will be entrepreneurial, resourceful, responsive and flexible.  They will be driven by their hearts and not the bottom line.  They are in fact (as a previous Big society report stated), the bedrock of our society; A civil society.  The issue though, is how we get the decision makers, our authorities and public servants to recognise exactly what the value of these organisations is to our society and communities. To recognise exactly what our value to our communities is.

All the work I am doing nationally is centred around being a voice for this sector; working to get projects just like ours to appear on the radar of decision makers.  To influence policy that could have a direct affect on either our service users, or on our ability to deliver services.  To look at how we work together with other similar organisations to strengthen each other, and maximise our impact.
It is not an easy task, we have some up-hill struggles and a tide of culture to turn, but I have learned one very important lesson over the last 10 years of leading a way out…

WE WILL GET THERE!"

Love from A Way Out x