Meet Vince – our Community Finance Engagement Manager
We’re delighted to introduce you to Vince Cox, our Community Finance Engagement Manager.
Working with the community finance sector is a really important part of what we do here at Fair4All Finance. Vince will be driving our relationships with, and working alongside, the sector as we seek to increase the availability of affordable credit to better support the 17.5m people in financially vulnerable circumstances.
Hey Vince, can you tell us a little bit about this new role?
While lots of the team speak to the community finance sector every week, we didn’t have a single point of contact that was dedicated to the sector, especially credit unions. This role is us trying to provide a consistent point of contact for anyone wanting to get in touch with us and is maybe not sure who to contact, plus try and help filter the right information and communication outwards from us.
What are your priorities?
As well as trying to continually expand my network of contacts and be that go-to contact for anyone in the community finance sector who wants to get in touch, my current focus is working alongside NPC to deliver the Community Finance Resilience Fund. This is a marque delivery for us this year as it will be there to deploy more than £5m into the sector from our additional £45m Dormant Assets funding provided to support the cost of living crisis. Thank you to everyone who has contributed their thoughts and time so generously so far, it is greatly appreciated.
How will you be working with the Community Finance Sector going forward?
I’m sure the next two or three months will be dominated by the Community Finance Resilience Fund, so keeping everyone informed of the progress and most importantly, when ready, making sure everyone is clear on how to apply and that the criteria are clear. The various trade associations will remain an important channel for me and I look forward after the summer holiday period to taking up several offers of visits that people have kindly offered. There is nothing like meeting people face to face in understanding their business challenges.
What are you most excited about at the moment?
As well as the Community Finance Resilience Fund I think we are doing some great work that will support the sector – the illegal moneylending research being a good example of looking to influence policy makers. In addition to that lots of practical support either in development or close to being made available – the Sustainability Guide, Good Lending Guide and marketing and PR toolkit being just three – all things that can be of practical help.