What a Year of Advocacy Has Taught Us

Reflections on our first year at Connected Voice Advocacy

We both joined Connected Voice in March 2025, stepping into roles that we hoped would make a difference.

On the 18th of February 2026, we held our first networking event focusing on issues affecting LGBTQIA+ led VCSE organisations in Newcastle and Gateshead. The name of the event was “Tackling Challenges Together”.

Ten years on from the release of the Ken Loach film ‘I Daniel Blake’ and Northern Stage is showing a fantastic stage arrangement. I highly recommend a visit.

A wonderful piece of theatre but it’s also frustrating to reflect on how current the storyline still is.

Here at Connected Voice, we offer bespoke Young Trustees training for organisations whether they are looking to diversify their board or upskill their young people. We have recently completed a training package with Northumberland Wildlife Trust, here’s what they had to say:&nbsp

We hosted a networking event in November that brought together solicitors and local authorities to explore the vital role of advocacy for parents in child protection proceedings. 

On 6 November, we invited our friends and colleagues from the personal Injury Case Management sector to join us at One Strawberry Lane in Newcastle to explore how we could create a new Advocacy Referral Screening Tool designed to transform how we triage and refer cases. 

The Gateshead Digital Inclusion Project in Health and Social Care has been running since April 2023. Digital inclusion has been recognised as the super-social determinant of health, because it has a crosscutting impact on all the other social determinants of health.

Every November, communities across the UK come together to observe Islamophobia Awareness Month (IAM) a time dedicated to raising awareness of the challenges faced by Muslim communities and promoting greater understanding and inclusion.

At Connected Voice Advocacy, we support people who are affected by hate crime. For Hate Crime Awareness Week, we want to share Lisa’s story (we’ve changed her name to protect her privacy).

This week is Small Charity Week. To celebrate, each day we're going to feature a small charity and tell you about the amazing work that they do. Today's small but wonderful charity is...