ECP Steering Group

The role of the Empowering Communities Partnership (ECP) Steering Group is to guide the Partnership’s strategic direction and inform its priorities and activity. To support this role the Partnership aims to provide:

• A safe and supportive space to encourage openness, respectful challenge and accountability.
• A chance for cross-sector relationship building to enable collaboration.
• Opportunity to ensure the needs of Norfolk’s diverse VCSE sector are represented in ECP’s sector support offer.
• Accountability to the sector through greater transparency around priorities and funding.

Membership:

The Steering Group comprises of ECP partner leads, representatives from Norfolk County Council, and 4 other Norfolk-based VCSE organisations, representing a breadth of size, geography and scale.

ECP Partners

• Michael Kitching – Voluntary Norfolk
• Tasha Cobb – Voluntary Norfolk
• Nicky Stainton – Voluntary Norfolk
• Helen Haynes – Momentum/Voluntary Norfolk
• Willow Farrell – FUSE
• Rik Martin – CAN
• Ben Scarlett – NCAN

Norfolk County Council

• Hannah Edge
• Anne Tansley Thomas

Norfolk VCSE Sector

• Jessica Luce-Rackham – Your Own Place
• Lou Gardiner – Ace Project
• Sarah Gardiner – Norwich Unity Hub
• Tabitha Nolan – Fen Zen

Advisory Members

• Tim Gardiner – Chair, Norfolk & Waveney VCSE Assembly
• Claire Atherton – Creative Health Lead for Suffolk and Norfolk
• Amy Griffiths – VCSE Representative, Norfolk Business Board.

 

Read the minutes of the most recent Steering Group meeting (Wednesday 8th July 2026)

The Steering Group will next meet on Thursday 8th October 2026