In my view…Maggie Williams, NORCAS chief executive.
Posted on | January 24, 2011 | No Comments
With the New Year upon us, it is a natural time to reflect on the past twelve months and look forward to the next twelve, and looking forward is exactly where we find ourselves focussing at NORCAS.
As a charity we have entered the New Year as we left the last; in a unprecedented world of change, or ‘certain uncertainty’ as we have the coined the phrase!
The climate within which we operate is very different to the past, not only financially and with the changes in charitable tendering, but also in government thinking. The coalition’s new drug strategy, criminal justice reviews and changes to public and mental health strategies, all promise radical reform. Much of the reported thinking aligns with the NORCAS philosophy and approach that we have been developing over the last few years and we look forward to seeing how this evolves as final papers are published.
With change comes opportunity and as we welcome in 2011, the dust of last year’s announcements has settled somewhat and as an organisation we feel optimistic that we are in a position to strongly swim our way through the choppy waters that will no doubt continue for some while yet.
NORCAS is an established provider which has long laid plans that are flexible enough to enable us to respond to change as required. This leaves us ideally placed to take advantage of the various opportunities that are arising from government strategy and from decisions we have taken as an organisation, which in some respects has seen us bring forward future plans.
Whatever the changes may be, our management, staff and trustees all remain clearly and passionately committed to our charitable objectives and to what NORCAS stands for. We respond to need, rather than chasing funding, however challenging that may be on occasion!
A good example of this is our new youth service for Norfolk and Suffolk which we have funded independently with support from our partners at Comic Relief. The programme provides services around the education and early prevention of substance misuse among young people. Early intervention and education is the key to preventing young people having problems with drugs and alcohol. These new services have been launched where we have identified a need that is not currently provided for and are designed to complement those services currently supplied by statutory sources. This investment is already opening up new opportunities to expand the service.
So here’s to a New Year spent building on the successes of the last. Highlights from many in 2010 included prestigious awards from Investors in People and for the Chartered Institute of Public Relations for our communications programme. We also developed valuable links with many of the MPs in our region, aiding us to raise awareness of the demand for our services and related issues and concerns. All of these factors help us to further improve the vital services that we exist to provide for those that need us. In the last year alone, we supported more than 10,000 people affected by problems with drugs, alcohol and gambling and there are many more than need our help.
I would like to say a sincere thank you once again to all those who lend NORCAS their support, from our fantastic trustees and staff to the partners we work with throughout the region in which we operate. A happy and bright year is wished for one and all.
Share/Bookmark
Category: Uncategorized
Comments
Leave a Reply
[Join us on...]