About

Helping local people to have a stronger voiceThe Community and Voluntary Sector Forum (CVSF) has a positive track record of supporting and promoting the third sector in Brighton and Hove.  We have over 500 community and voluntary organisations from the local area who have joined us as members.

Our purpose is to promote a vibrant community and voluntary sector capable of making its views known.  We aim to promote strong cross-sector partnership working so that our sector can successfully help to shape the future of the city for the benefit of all local people.

"Our independence coupled with our close relationship
with the local public sector provides a unique mechanism by which
community views can truly influence local decision-making."

Over 10 years of solid achievement ... 

Giving communities a stronger voiceWe're proud of our record and our long heritage. The links on the left hand side will show you more about CVSF. In summary we have:

•  
  • built a diverse membership of over 500 organisations
  • published research and information materials which have developed the sector’s profile
  • supported a range of networking activities and events to support members in working together
  • facilitated members’ involvement in consultation
    processes and partnership structures
  • advised statutory partners on key policy areas in the
    Sustainable Community Strategy, Local Area
    Agreement and Children and Young People’s Plan
  • developed systems for representation and
    strengthened accountability
  • identified new opportunities to develop local
    decision-making
  • created new substantial local projects such as
    the LINk (Local Involvement Network)

We look forward now to another 10 years of success in promoting positve change and development in local communities for the benefit of everyone. Please use the left-hand links for a quick summary of CVSF. The diagram below is a formal representation of how CVSF works.