Supporting Middlesbrough’s Voluntary and Community Sector
At MVDA, our role is to support, promote, and develop voluntary and community action across Middlesbrough.
We provide a wide range of support services and represent the views of the sector to government and policymakers at both local and national levels.
Our Values
We are guided by values that underpin everything we do:
- Championing independent challenge to shape effective policy and planning.
- Promoting social justice, focusing on the most economically and socially disadvantaged communities.
- Encouraging collaborative and co-operative approaches to meeting local needs.
- Raising awareness of the rights and needs of different groups.
- Practising good stewardship of our resources with transparency and integrity.
- Believing that strong communities thrive on diversity and inclusion.
What We Do
We deliver our work through a wide range of services, projects, and programmes, including:
Community Engagement
We enable local people to have a voice and influence the design, delivery, and evaluation of policies and services that affect them.
Development Support
We help community groups and voluntary organisations grow and thrive, offering:
- Advice on setting up an organisation
- Guidance on governance models
- Funding advice and support
- Help developing policies, procedures, and good practice
VCS Representation, Voice, and Influence
We represent the interests of the voluntary and community sector, working with a variety of stakeholders, and facilitating networks and forums to ensure the sector’s voice is heard.
Projects
We host and partner on projects that support communities and drive change. Current projects include:
- You've Got This (Sport England)
- We Care You Care (communication and campaign for unpaid carers across South Tees)
- LocalMotion Middlesbrough
- Changing Futures (3-year programme)
Volunteering
Through the Middlesbrough Volunteering Academy, we:
- Support organisations in adopting good practice around volunteering.
- Help people in Middlesbrough find rewarding volunteering opportunities through our brokerage service.
Working Across Redcar and Cleveland
Enhance Redcar and Cleveland - the new service designed to support, strengthen and grow the local voluntary, community, and social enterprise (VCSE) sector. This new VCSE infrastructure support service is funded by Lloyds Bank Foundation, Rank Foundation, Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, Tees Foundation and The Woodsmith Foundation for the next three years.
Enhance Redcar and Cleveland, developed and delivered by MVDA, will support the improvement, growth and influence of the VCSE sector through:
- Information and advice: self-serve resources, group support and tailored one-to-one advice on funding, governance, volunteer management and more.
- Training: an evolving programme of opportunities to learn around key issues relevant to the effective running of VCSE organisations. Full details of our initial programme with courses starting soon are available here.
- Strategic working: supporting the development of partnerships, facilitating and improving VCSE representation and the developing policy position statements on key issues affecting the sector and the communities of Redcar & Cleveland.
Keep up to date with our work
Ebulletins
- Outlook - our fortnightly ebulletin covering news, training and events, jobs and resources for VCOs in Middlesbrough - sign up or view our latest ebulletins below.
- We Care You Care - information to support unpaid carers across the South Tees - sign up
- Find a Funder - fortnightly news on the latest funding available to VCOs - sign up
- Volunteering Academy opportunities - a regular round-up of local volunteer roles - email hello@mvdauk.org.uk to subscribe.
- Enhance News - Fortnightly ebulletin covering news, training and events, jobs and resources for VCSEs in Redcar and Cleveland- sign up.
We're social too!
MVDA on Facebook @mvdamiddlesbrough
MVDA on Twitter/X @MVDANews
Volunteering Academy on Facebook @volunteeringacademy
We Care You Care on Facebook @wecareyoucare
Share your Content
If you'd like to submit your own content to be shared, please visit our 'Share your content' page where you'll find guidance on what we can share.