above and beyond

ABOVE...

...AND BEYOND

How charities, social enterprises and community groups are delivering public services and meeting local challenges.

The Social Investment Business, the largest social investor in the UK, helps social enterprises, charities and community organisations prosper by providing innovative financial solutions and business support.

All of these organisations have received funding and support from the Futurebuilders Fund, Social Enterprise Investment Fund or Communitybuilders – managed by The Social Investment Business.

CONTRIBUTORSHCT Grouphctgroup.org

Paddington Artspaddingtonarts.org.uk

Hebden Bridge Community Associationhebdenbridgetownhall.org.uk

t 0191 261 5200 e [email protected] w thesocialinvestmentbusiness.org

The Emily Jordan Foundationtheemilyjordanfoundation.org.uk

Jamie’s Farmjamiesfarm.org.uk

Mediation Leedsmediationleeds.org.uk

Burton Streetburtonstreet.co.uk

Norcarenorcare.co.uk

SIR STEPHEN BUBB, CHAIR, THE SOCIAL INVESTMENT BUSINESS

Charities, social enterprises and community groups are already transforming communities across the UK. Here we present a snapshot of organisations that we have supported and who are delivering vital services in their local areas. They are going ‘above and beyond’ that rather old fashioned view of what our sector can do; providing public services, contracting with local government and health service commissioners and taking on ex-council owned facilities and making them profitable.

Each of these organisations has worked hard to get to the position they are in now, and there are many more doing similar good work. They are run by committed, passionate people, dedicated to establishing financially sustainable organisations that deliver fantastic social good. It is vital to ensure they can continue to prosper and support more people despite the current tough economic climate. To do this they will need support, access to funding and business expertise which will help them scale up and compete for larger contracts. Efforts to engage with commissioners need to continue – showing them the benefits of working with our sector and proving the value that can be delivered to communities.

Here we show what some sector organisations are already achieving; changing peoples’ lives and changing how public services are delivered. Imagine how different society could be if there were more of them and they had more investment, more resource, and the opportunity to make a bigger impact. I’m proud to be the Chair of an organisation which has supported these organisations and hope we can support many more to achieve similar impact.

BURTON STREET FOUNDATIONThe Burton Street Foundation is a community organisation which specialises in supporting adults and older children with learning and physical disabilities and provides a wide range of other activities for the community.

Originally formed to save the Victorian Board School building from demolition, the now refurbished and reopened centre provides day support for 180 adults with learning difficulties and employs 60 people. Over 1500 people use the centre each week.

The services provided by the community facilities include; dance, drama, music, sport, education, conferences, meetings, social functions and business. Burton Street operates a cafe, restaurant, fully licenced bar and has over 20 business tenants including a beauty salon, hairdressers, boxing gym, youth offending team, software companies, accountants, a glassmaker, recruitment agency, events company and a number of small charities and social enterprises.

By providing a central location where many groups in the community can gather, the Burton Street Foundation has not only saved and given a sustainable future to a great set of well-loved and architecturally important buildings, but also provided the community with a focal point to call home.

Burton Street Foundation

PAM BAILEY, CHAIR, BURTON STREET FOUNDATION

“The buildings the foundation occupies have been serving the local community for over 100 years. We are now planning the next 100.”

NORCARENorcare is a charity helping some of the most vulnerable people in the North East. Set up in 1984, it has been working since then to support those who are homeless and socially or economically excluded.

The Norcare Veterans’ Centre, helping war veterans who have fallen on hard times, opened last year. The centre offers en-suite residential rooms and outreach facilities including counseling, family liaison, health and wellbeing services and employment support. The centre has been set up as a home to help residents feel part of a unit, providing them with the structure and community that is such a big part of life in the Forces.

Norcare

“There is a hidden army of veterans that are slipping through the support net and ending up homeless or suffering problems with alcohol or drug addiction or mental ill health. Many struggle to adapt to life outside the Forces and are reluctant to ask for help when they fall on hard times.

The Norcare Veterans’ Centre is designed specifically for people from the Armed Forces, providing the specialist support services that they need in an environment in which they feel comfortable.”

SUSAN BICKERTON, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, NORCARE

Norcare




Norcare




JAMIE’S FARMJamie’s Farm, near Bath, offers a unique combination of ‘farming, family and therapy’ to vulnerable inner city children who are at risk of exclusion from school.

Groups of up to 12 children live on the farm for 5 days, where they are supported by a large number of trained adults.

Children take part in a variety of seasonal farming activities and creative tasks such as lambing, fencing, hay making, horse work and rearing animals. All jobs at Jamie’s Farm are real jobs with a real result.

Children also benefit from small group and one-to-one sessions overseen by the charity’s lead psychotherapist.

To immerse them in farm life, children do not have access to electronics, mobile phones, fizzy drinks and sweets. Children take part in preparing healthy, locally sourced meals.

On return to school, the visit is followed up by Jamie’s Farm staff. Reports demonstrate that Jamie’s Farm improves attendance, behaviour, relationships and motivation, which prevents exclusion from school.

Jamie’s Farm produce is sold in farm shops locally. Jamie’s Farm contracts with schools, youth services, pupil referral units and charities nationally.

Jamie’s Farm

“We believe all children are capable and intelligent. I believe the difficulty is that the school system demands the ‘success’ of students to be judged in quite a rigid way. At Jamie’s Farm we work with a range of children who have found school difficult, and encourage their confidence and growth as individuals. Children are astounded at their own capability and resilience, whilst teachers are able to build positive relationships with students in a new setting. On return to school, over 80% of children have fewer behavioural incidents whilst 68% are no longer at risk of exclusion a year after their visit. This has a positive effect on exam results, and promotes engagement in school.”

RUTH CARNEY, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, JAMIE’S FARM

MEDIATION LEEDSMediation Leeds employs just 6 part time staff who manage a diverse team of 30+ fully-trained volunteer mediators. Contracted by local social housing providers and some local authority services, Mediation Leeds initiate mediation in a spectrum of circumstances: neighbour disputes, homelessness prevention between tenant and landlord, workplace disputes, care home disputes etc. Their charges, averaging £750+VAT per case, weigh favourably against the cost of evicting a ‘troublesome’ tenant which can range anywhere from £5k - £18k – and that’s without including the time and energy of local police, housing and environmental health officers. Through their volunteer work Mediation Leeds calculate they save the public purse anywhere from £140k - £600k a year.

Mediation Leeds

“Mediation offers a real and positive resolution to workplace, neighbour and community disputes. It’s a powerful, empowering, voluntary process which, once stimulated by the referrer, offers all parties an opportunity to be heard and have their needs addressed. Mediation Leeds hopes to further improve positive conflict resolution across the region through its range of training courses; open to past participants, referring agents and the general public - impacting on public wellbeing and further reducing local authority expenditure.”

STEVE EDWARDS, DIRECTOR OF SERVICES, MEDIATION LEEDS

PADDINGTON ARTSPaddington Arts is a Youth Arts organisation committed to developing talent and creativity in the community. It encourages young people to use the arts for self-expression and career development. The values at the heart of the organisation’s work are access, excellence, education and fun. They have been working with the community in West London for over 20 years.

With a loan of £100,000 from the Social Enterprise Investment Fund, Paddington Arts built a Digital Newsroom, where unemployed young people have the opportunity to develop their media skills and help produce an online magazine featuring young artists and covering youth issues.

This magazine promotes teamwork, improves literary and artistic skills, as well as developing software skills such as Logic (music editing), Final Cut (film editing), and Photoshop (graphic design).

This process helps set a concrete foundation for the participating young people to develop new and relevant skills that are transferable to the workplace.

ATTENDEES OF PADDINGTON ARTS

Paddington Arts

“I have gained more skills and learnt how to work in a team. I have also got a lot of work to put in my portfolio.” Mo, age 19

“I have gained great friendships and a great work environment. This project has given me an insight to how intense and demanding the media industry is. I have never been so under pressure at work but I am stepping up to the task.” JP, age 24

“I have become a journalist – organised and constantly thinking about potential new stories. I have found my own journalist head. It has improved my organisational skills and increased my quality of work.” Antillia, age 18

EMILY JORDAN FOUNDATIONThe aim of The Emily Jordan Foundation is very clear - to help individuals with moderate learning and physical disabilities to lead fulfilled lives.

As a new charity the Foundation is currently focused on helping these individuals to develop their employability skills, to stand a chance of getting into work. They run courses with Kidderminster College focused on employability skills.

They ask the public to bring in their old bikes and young adults then rebuild them and sell them. They also offer bike maintenance. This way the young adults are involved in all aspects of the business, including creating revenue, selling and invoicing.

The Emily Jordan Foundation also runs bike clubs on the local estates, where the young adults help to repair bikes and educate people in bike maintenance.

The operation is running well, with 70% of the revenue that they need to operate being generated by the young people with learning disabilities.

Emily Jordan Foundation

CHRIS JORDAN, CHAIR OF TRUSTEES, EMILY JORDAN FOUNDATION

“It is great to see that the Foundation is now starting to help so many individuals with moderate learning disabilities move forward in life. We have always said that with some support they can achieve so much. Why should they not be given the opportunity to work and contribute to society like everyone else? This is something the majority of us take for granted! The award from The Social Investment Business last year transformed what we are able to do – without a doubt it has moved this project forward by five years or more.”

HCT GROUPHCT Group is a social enterprise in the transport industry providing a wide range of services from London red buses to social services transport, from school transport to Park and Ride, from community transport to education and training.

HCT Group have 9 depots spread across London and Yorkshire, 320 vehicles, 635 employees and deliver over 12 million passenger trips on buses every year.

HCT Group work with local communities to design transportation routes, linking them to the services they need the most. The 812 bus route, for example, was developed through extensive community consultation with those people it is designed to serve. It has been designed by local older and disabled people to operate on a fixed route, linking residential areas with health facilities, a day centre, shopping and leisure facilities.

By focusing the growth of the organisation in areas of high economic disadvantage, HCT Group has also sought to create new opportunities for people who are long-term unemployed. They have developed Learning Centres, offering a number of training programmes preparing people for rewarding careers in the transport industry. With a commitment to local recruitment and suppliers, HCT Group continually and actively seek to improve the community benefit they bring.

HCT Group

“We believe that the Big Society should not be an excuse to leave essential services to volunteers, but be an opportunity to change the relationship between public services and people. At HCT Group, we are committed to the idea that public services work better when service users themselves are directly involved in their design and procurement, unlocking the potential for innovation in our communities.”

DAI POWELL OBE, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, HCT GROUP

Hebden Bridge Community Association is a democratically run community-based charity, which has taken over responsibility for managing and developing the Town Hall under an asset transfer agreement with its local council, Calderdale. Hebden Bridge is one of the first towns in Britain where the Town Hall is community-owned in this way.

The Community Association has worked hard to breathe new life into the building, making it once again the centre of civic and community life. With funding from Communitybuilders and ERDF, a major extension is now being built, which will provide among other things a new public hall and function room, new meeting rooms, exhibition space and enterprise units for start-ups and developing businesses.

HEBDEN BRIDGE COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION

Hebden Bridge Community Association

“The asset transfer of Hebden Bridge Town Hall from our local council into the hands of a community-run charitable trust in 2010 has been the key which will breathe new life into a landmark building, which in recent years had lost its role and was down-at-heel. We’ve already been able to extend considerably the community facilities we’re able to offer at the Town Hall, including for the first time providing a venue in our town for civil weddings and partnerships. Now, with investments from Communitybuilders and European funds, we are engaging in a major capital build programme, which will provide additional community and enterprise facilities for our town.”

ANDREW BIBBY, TRUSTEE, HEBDEN BRIDGE COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION

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E: [email protected] W: thesocialinvestmentbusiness.org

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