One Ummah Community is a fantastic new grassroots organisation in Wakefield District. Led by Amaina, they support women, children and families who have settled locally by improving access to education and health, helping members to feel confident in navigating a new culture.

In this spotlight feature, Amaina shares her personal experience of needing a guide when she came to the UK and how this inspired her to help others. Now, One Ummah Community empowers local women to understand their rights, offers activities, and coordinates community WhatsApp groups with 200 hundred members and counting!

Case Study of Nova's Support

This spotlight is also a brilliant case study of how Nova supports our members and the impact it can have. Here's a quick look into how our Adviser team have supported One Ummah Community over the past six months:

• We offered some initial support around the group's structure, including a number of advice sessions that led to wider conversations about organisational development, funding and sustainability which in turn, led to the following support...
• We provided intensive support around funding options alongside bid writing support, which resulted in a successful grant that allowed One Ummah Community to deliver a weekly women's wellbeing and education session.
• Our Advisers have supported with creating the group's safeguarding policy, signposting training and advice. This enabled the group to complete their Third Sector Framework application, putting them in a strong position for receiving further funding in future.
• We were able to provide details of other members - such as Well Women Centre, Turning Point Talking Therapies and Gasped - so that One Ummah Community could connect their members to mental health support.
• Representatives of One Ummah Community have started to engage in Nova’s VCSE Voices Network. Their specialist knowledge and strong connection to the views, needs and experiences of underserved and under-represented communities in Wakefield has already proved an indispensable asset, informing Advocates of the realities of personal circumstance, and individual experience which Advocates will broadcast in meetings.
• We have also supported the group to connect and network further with other colleagues and organisations in the VCSE sector to diversify and strengthen their offer. A strong example of the benefits of this connecting role for One Ummah is a successful partnership bid with Go Pop CIC.
• Finally, Nova are now supporting One Ummah Community to secure further funding to develop their website so that they can more widely promote themselves and their services, grow their offer and build sustainability. Additionally, we will additionally continue to support the organisation as they explore transitioning to CIO status.

Find out more about the support we offer to local VCSE organisations on our Why Become A Nova Member page.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you to One Ummah Community for getting involved!

You can find out more about One Ummah Community by getting in touch with Amaina at oneummahcommunity@outlook.com

‍Subscribe to our YouTube channel for monthly spotlight videos and more!