One of my new year’s resolutions has been to revitalise my lounge – don’t get me wrong, I love it! It’s comfy and cosy, but it needs a bit of a refresh as it’s looking a bit tired around the edges (cats, kids and a coal fire have taken their toll!). As I write this, with paint in my hair, I’m thinking of other makeovers.

When we launched Community First Yorkshire five years ago, I created and launched a website in four weeks! No mean feat – and necessary at the time – but perhaps not the best approach to building your ‘virtual shop front.’

It’s now time for a refresh. Like my lounge, we’re looking a bit outdated. So this week sees us launching not one but two new websites for Community First Yorkshire and our Community Support North Yorkshire service.

Same web addresses but a totally different look and feel that, we hope, offers something vibrant and engaging for the community groups, voluntary organisations, charities and people across North, South and West Yorkshire that we work with.

It’s not all about looks!

Revamping your website isn’t just about making it look nice; we’ve taken the time to understand what you, as a visitor, need and expect and have made it easier to find the support you’re looking for – whether that’s practical training, specialist resources or advice.

Working with our expert web developers, Castlegate IT, we’ve added more colour, more pictures, more videos and more thought into the visitor’s journey to help you find what you need quickly.

On the Community First Yorkshire website find out about:

• Support to help your community or organisation thrive
• The latest voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) jobs across Yorkshire
• Help for individuals who want to support their community or volunteer
• Ways that you can have your say about issues affecting VCSE organisations
• Guidance for anyone managing a community building or village hall.

Visit the Community Support North Yorkshire website to find out about:

• Everything you need to know about funding – how to be funding ready, finding the right funds to apply for and help with developing a funding application
• all things volunteering – whether you’re looking for volunteers or want to volunteer yourself
• Training to help you run your organisation, be a great trustee, find volunteers, make the most of social media and much more
• Resources to help your VCSE organisation or community group grow from recruiting volunteers and finding funding, to making sure you have the right safeguarding practices in place.
• Ideas  and support to help you fulfill your leadership ambitions
• Our peer support networks for people who run community buildings, charity treasurers, people who manage volunteers, or VCSE finance staff.

And there’s plenty more to be discovered.

What’s next?

While decorating my lounge is a one off for 2022 and then that’s it for the next few years, websites don’t stay still. We’ll constantly be improving the sites so do stay up to date by checking on our blog posts and news updates.

What do you think?

I have to say, I’m pretty chuffed with the results. If my lounge looks and feels half as good, I’ll be very happy. But it’s not about me – it’s all about what you, our website visitor, thinks.

Please have a scroll through both website. We would love to hear your thoughts – get in touch with us at marcomms@communityfirstyorkshire.org.uk.