Urban Challenge 
Voluntary Centre Services Lincoln is part of Urban Challenge. Urban Challenge was established in 1993 in Lincoln to support community and economic development, its business has been expanded over recent years to cover the districts of North Kesteven and West Lindsey and to focus on two main aims:
Capacity building services to support the development of the voluntary and community sector Volunteering development services to support volunteers and volunteer involving organisations.
These services are delivered at district level from core premises and through outreach and are known as VCS Lincoln VCS North Kesteven VCS West Lindsey All these offices incorporate volunteer centres.
Urban Challenge is committed to delivering services which are: responsive to local circumstances, developed in response to consultation with beneficiaries and stakeholders, well planned and managed, can be effectively monitored and evaluated.
Quality standard frameworks, assessments and awards are tools to track and demonstrate this commitment. The quality frameworks used by Urban Challenge are:
IIV (Investing in Volunteers ) PQASSO (Practical Quality Assurance System for Small Organisations) MATRIX (Information, Advice and Guidance) VCQA (Volunteer Centres Quality Award) REACH (Youth Volunteering Development)
Urban Challenge’s mission is to enable the development of stable, thriving, communities with the capacity to plan and manage lasting improvements to their quality of life
Our aims are:
To develop the capacity and skills of socially and economically deprived communities in Lincolnshire, making them better able to identify and meet their own needs and so participate more fully in society
- To engage in social regeneration activities to improve the quality of life for peopleliving within Lincolnshire through:
Capacity building - equipping people with the skills andknowledge to take an active role in regeneration issues andenhance their own personal development
Community economic development - helping individuals and groups regenerate their community through developing sustainable enterprises
To reduce crime and the fear of crime in Lincoln through:
Working to the Lincoln Crime and Disorder Reduction Strategy
Working with partners to initiate, co-ordinate and monitor crime reduction projects
To promote any charitable purposes for the benefit of the community including therelief of poverty, advancement of education and such other purposes as the trustees shall think fit
Urban Challenge acts as a catalyst, attracting resources for our key areas of work:
Working with local communities to identify and agree solutions to problems of urban deprivation and community safety
Investing in targeted local community regeneration and community safety initiatives
Enabling individuals and groups to acquire the skills and capacity for sustainable development
Co-ordinating the work of partner organisations to maximise the benefits to the community
Contact Urban Challenge
Helen Kearsley-Cree
Urban Challenge,
c/o City Hall, Beaumont Fee,
Lincoln. LN1 1DJ
Tel: 01522 873454
Email: urbanchallenge@lincoln.gov.uk
