Home-Start helps families with young children through their challenging times.
Trustees help to lead & direct our work.
Kay Barton Chairperson
Katie Geeves Trustee
Martin Bowden Trustee
Robin Black Trustee
Anne Nixon Company Secretary
Jeanette Scott Treasurer
Jennifer Lowe Secretary
PLAY AN ACTIVE ROLE IN A LOCAL CHARITY
Home-Start Leith & North East Edinburgh (HSLNEE) is a local community network of trained volunteers and expert support, helping families with young children through their challenging times.
OUR VISION AND WHAT WE DO
HSLNEE is a small, local charity, which has been supporting families with young children since 1986. The goal we work towards is that:
Every family has the support they need, to give their children the best possible start in life, so they are able to take up and benefit from the opportunities available to them.
The outcomes we want to achieve, to help this happen are that:
- parents are confident and have strong relationships with their children,
- children are ready for nursery and school, and
- families engage fully with their communities and other local services.
Why we do it: the earliest years make the biggest impact. Home-Start makes sure those years count.
Our values as an organisation are:
- we offer families choice,
- we work in partnership – with each other, with families and with other agencies,
- we work in a spirit of openness, encouragement and enjoyment,
- we are flexible and responsive to the needs of families.
Our core activity is for trained volunteers, supported by expert staff, to visit families with children under 5 at home. They provide emotional and practical support at challenging times, and work towards goals agreed with the family. We also offer parents’ groups, information on and referrals to other agencies, baby massage, family outings, and peer support for our volunteers.
You can read our short strategic plan for the years 2019-2024
Home-Start Leith and North East Edinburgh Strategic Plan for 2019 2024
WHO ARE WE LOOKING FOR TO JOIN OUR BOARD?
We are looking for more people who understand and care about what we do, and have time to commit to help manage and plan the organisation’s future. We want our board to be as diverse as the families we work with and we welcome applications from people with lived experience of family issues locally. We would also particularly like to hear from you if you have previous experience and skills in any of these areas: communications, social policy, HR, fundraising.
All new board members will receive an induction into HSLNEE’s work and will be supported to get the most from their experience with us. We can meet reasonable expenses.
WHAT DOES BEING A BOARD MEMBER MEAN?
As a board member you will work with the Chair, fellow Trustees and HSLNEE staff to set the strategic direction of the organisation, so as to achieve the outcomes for families that they want. You will provide ideas, insight, feedback and practical contributions to managing our services.
You will, jointly with other Trustees, be legally responsible for the organisation and will make sure that we continue to give families high quality support.
You will meet new people, develop your skills and knowledge, and have the satisfaction of playing a role in HSLNEE’s work supporting families.
TIME COMMITMENT
There are 4 planned board meetings a year which last 2 hours on a Monday evening. We also hold 2 longer meetings a year to help us develop as a Board and explore issues in depth
We ask Trustees to join one of our board sub- groups that meet at times to suit members, usually during the day and sometimes by tele-conference. We have standing sub-groups on fundraising, HR, and quality assurance. We set up other time-limited sub-groups as we need them for particular purposes eg developing our new strategy last year.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Please submit a completed application form by email or post to Anne Nixon by 30th July 2019
ANY QUESTIONS?
Please contact Anne Nixon – anne@homestartleith.co.uk
We shall also hold an information meeting on Wednesday 24th July 2019 at 6.00pm for interested applicants.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
The chair of our board and another Trustee will hold an informal 30 minute interview in early August with potential candidates who meet our requirements.
