Our Steering Group comprises representatives of the regional NCVCCO network, the West Midlands Voluntary Youth Sector Forum (WMVYSF), the accountable body, and others to represent the diversity of children, young people, family and play voluntary and community organisations within the region.

Current members of the Steering Group

Jim Jenkinson

Joined the Steering Group in March 2006 and has been part of the wider consortium since its inception. He is involved in the delivery of the Governance work.Regional Executive Officer for YMCA England working with the 15 YMCAs in both West and East Midlands and Milton Keynes. The main focus of his work is to provide support, representation and development opportunities to the YMCAs in his Region. Jim is from the East Midlands, born in Lincolnshire and studied in Nottingham, now lives in South Derbyshire.He began his involvement in the sector as a youth club volunteer 13 years ago and has worked locally, regionally, nationally and internationally with the YMCA in two other government regions. He has just completed 2 years in current role so has an up to date and growing knowledge of the Midlands. Jim is particularly passionate about helping to achieve greater involvement of young people in governance structures and making young people aware of the benefit of international experiences, specifically within the World-wide YMCA Movement

Bruce Kirk

Regional Manager - Midlands (West) for Spurgeons Child Care, a medium-sized national voluntary organisation providing a range of local family and youth support services; has a background in community work, youth justice and work with children and families; has responsibility for projects working with care leavers, young carers, independent visitors, young people at risk of becoming accommodated and SureStart. He is a member of the NCVCCO group.

Dave Marsh

West Midlands Development Officer for Play England and a recent addition to the steering group in the January 2007 transfer window! Play England is a five year project to promote strategies for free play and to create a lasting support structure for play providers in England. The aim of the project is for all children and young people in England to have regular access and opportunity for free, inclusive, local play provision and play space. Current activities include supporting the development of cross-cutting and inclusive local play strategies and partnerships, developing a sustainable regional infrastructure for play, raising the profile of play and it's importance, organising regional events and influencing to ensure that play has a strong voice and representation at a regional level.

Peter Miller

Chief Executive, bayc, an umbrella youth organisation supporting and developing high quality youth work with affiliated groups, young people and with other partners. bayc has 200 affiliated groups in Birmingham, the Black Country, Staffordshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire covering the 8-25 age range. We are active in local, regional and national VCS networks and are members of The West Midlands Voluntary Youth Sector Forum and UK Youth National Network. We work with local CVYS's in Birmingham, the Black Country, Staffs and Worcs. We have a particular interest in Youth Involvement through Action Research and a network for disabled young people. All our work is based on collaborative working with both statutory and voluntary agencies, and directly with young people. At present, bayc is the accountable body for Growing Up in the West Midlands Change Up programme.

Sue Thomas

There is a lot of excellent practice developing around Children and Young People’s VCS Services, and I feel that to link that together and share the learning is absolutely vital. A regional forum for doing this seems to be an excellent opportunity.

I have a personal commitment to joint working practices and have developed skills and understanding around the issues that this raises, both positive and challenging both within the VCS and the Public Sector. I wish to share that experience.

I have spent the last twenty years either working in or as a trustee within the VCS around children and young people’s services. Since the 1989 Children Act and subsequently the 2004 Act, any role I have worked within has involved me in assisting in setting the strategic direction for services, and facilitating the engagement and collaboration of services to achieve outcomes for both the sector and the client.

Currently I am involved in the facilitation of a Children and Young People’s VCS Pillar group linked to the Children’s Trust. This has involved the development of a strategy of engagement, mediation and facilitation to enable organisations to engage in collaborative working. In addition I am engaged with the Children’s Trust at Board and executive level and have an awareness of issues affecting all sectors not just our own.