Developed by NESTA and the Big Lottery Fund, the programme has invested in 17 different organisations and partnerships around England, selected because of their ambition to test out innovative ways of building co-operation, collaboration and action within their communities

At the midpoint of the programme, this paper presents observations, drawing on evidence from the people that are funding, delivering and supporting the 17 projects. Visit the NESTA website for more details and to download a copy of the report

The research also reveals the depths of the UK’s social problems with 1 in 20 Britons knowing no neighbours at all, 71% of people not being involved in any local social activities such as clubs, faith or community groups, and half of all adults feeling they don’t belong to their neighbourhoods.

In the planning for almost two years, but made more urgent by the recent riots, Your Square Mile launches today: the world’s first citizens’ mutual, designed to start tackling these social problems. The mutual has a citizens’ web-site – yoursquaremile.co.uk – available on computers, mobiles and soon to be available via public access screens.

All citizens of the UK over the age of 16 will be able to become a member and shareholder of the Your Square Mile mutual for the deliberately modest annual subscription of £10 per year, which includes £1m of Public Liability Insurance for any kind of volunteering and a free legal services helpline. Other member benefits are imminent.

A mutual is an organisation owned by its members and run for their benefit with no external shareholders. Every citizen joining Your Square Mile will be an equal member and have an equal vote. All surpluses made by the mutual will be ploughed back into helping communities and developing citizen services.

Your Square Mile has been working with 16 of the most challenged communities in the UK for the last several months. Projects are underway in all areas and 5 of them are the subject of a documentary. Learning has been shared between all 16 areas in a recent National Summit. The learning from these pilots is being fed into all of YSM’s work and it will continue to support all the 16 communities.

Paul Twivy, Your Square Mile’s founder said:  “Most of the 62+ million of us live in 8,000 square miles of the UK. We tend to only hear about two of them – “The Square Miles” of the City and Westminster – and have felt badly let down by both of them in recent years. Your Square Mile is about enabling citizens to make changes in as many of the other 7,998 square miles where we live as possible.

“We aim to channel current citizen anger, frustration and anxiety into something practical, positive and constructive, focusing people on their local neighborhood. By encouraging a local exchange of ideas, resources and time, we can greatly leverage the power of existing local community groups and social enterprises, as well as fostering new ones.“

Your Square Mile’s research shows that 1 in 5 people (18%) don’t know how to go about changing their neighbourhood and 1 in 6 lack the confidence to get started, while an overwhelming 42% feel they lack the time.

Your Square Mile aims to help people overcome these barriers, by providing a one-stop shop and portal of advice for any form of volunteering or civic action.

The digital platform includes a Personal Planner that generates ideas based on your passions, hobbies, skills, life experiences and needs from your neighborhood; an interactive “Savvy Citizen” section that shows how local areas work and how to pull the levers of change and live, up-to-date information on your local area.

Paul Twivy further commented, “At a speech I gave with the Prime Minister last year, I suggested that we should stop talking about the Big Society and rather provide the best resources for communities to change themselves. That way, in a few years we might find ourselves living in a big society. “

David Cameron added his support, “I’d like to congratulate Your Square Mile on its launch today. We all want a bigger, stronger society where people get involved and do their bit. There are already thousands of people right across Britain taking responsibility and making our communities better places to live. Your Square Mile will make it easier for people to do more and learn from the great things that are going on. That’s why I wish Your Square Mile all the best in every one of the 93,000 square miles that make up our country.”

55% of Britons say they like the idea of Your Square Mile and 1.4 million adults would like to lead local Your Square Mile neighbourhoods.

Your Square Mile believes that no ideology born out of party politics can unite and inspire the majority of citizens, particularly coming at a time of cuts. The urgent need for a genuine and everyday empowerment of citizens should unite The Big Society, The Good Society and Localism under one banner. This idea has received widespread support from across and beyond the political divide.

Nick Hurd MP, Minister for Civil Society, “Your Square Mile is a systematic, ground-up approach to empowering citizens and strengthening communities. It provides a supportive and well-thought through toolkit of advice, tools, benefits and case histories to empower citizens and community groups, whilst recognising that local leaders will want to do things in their own unique way. I am particularly pleased that Your Square Mile can help leverage the work of 5,000 Community Organisers and the Business Connectors programme.”

DCLG Minister Baroness Hanham, “My Ministerial colleagues and I have been excited to hear about the innovative and proactive approach of Your Square Mile and applaud their work in helping communities access the tools and skills they need to allow them to harness their talents and enthusiasm in support of their neighbourhood or area.

The work of Your Square Mile resonates with what the Government is trying to achieve in shifting power to local people. Whether that is making the mutual option work better for communities, supporting truly localist working or helping people make better use of the Community Rights enshrined in the Localism Bill.

So I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Your Square Mile on their ambition and what they have already achieved. All of us at DCLG look forward to continuing to work with them in the interests of local communities across the country.”

Your Square Mile is supported by funding from the Big Lottery Fund (BIG). Dharmendra Kanani explains why BIG got behind the idea, “Your Square Mile combines the power of technology with a community’s ability to change their locality for the better. Enabling community-led action is something worth investing in and where the Lottery can most add value and power people’s imagination to do good.”

Richard Branson comments, “Business has a massive role to play in rejuvenating the social fabric of the UK. If we could harness the power of the millions of employees willing to volunteer their time and skill for the good of their neighborhoods and use our offices and retail outlets as community hubs, British businesses could pride ourselves as much on our social contribution as on our economic contribution. Your Square Mile enables and leverages business in this vital role and Virgin and I are proud to support it.”

Actress Emma Thompson, lent her support too, “I think democracy is harder work than we assume. It requires constant involvement, especially at a local level and I’m not sure we’re very good at it yet. At least I know I’m not. I hope that Your Square Mile contributes to our taking part in what we clearly need more than ever at the moment – a genuinely democratic, people-led society which actively encourages us to engage with each other, challenge each other and, crucially, support each other. For that reason, I support it whole-heartedly.”

- First half of £1.2m capital invested in innovative solutions in a time of increasing social needs and significant public service budget constraints

- Competition now seeks to encourage new investors to back exciting opportunities in the social venture market place

London, 20th September 2011: Today sees the announcement of the winners of UnLtd’s Big Venture Challenge, a competition to find 25 ambitious and dynamic social entrepreneurs and give them the money and support to help grow their ventures. The 25 were selected after a “Dragons Den” style pitch to an expert business panel, and each receives funding of £25,000 in this first stage. The winners have been congratulated by the Minister for Civil Society and business leaders alike.

The 25 successful ventures reflect the diversity of the problems they are seeking to tackle, and the variety of fields they are working in, from reducing re-offending to climate change, from mental health to disability, and from children’s services to homelessness.

The 25 include:

- Elixir Foundations CIC, a specialist recycling social enterprise which, inspired by founder Ben Donnelly’s own experience, has engaged with and employed nearly 600 ex-offenders and employed over 300 people with substance abuse issues

- London Early Years Foundation (LEYF), a 106-year-old charity which under the leadership of June O’Sullivan has transformed into a social enterprise providing accessible early years services, and is now replicating across the country

- SpaceHive Ltd, a new start-up founded by former journalist Chris Gourlay, which aims to be the world’s first online funding platform for neighbourhood improvement projects

The competition received 638 full applications, more than 25 times the number of available winning places, which demonstrates the demand for this sort of initiative and the sheer number of social entrepreneurs in the country. 41 shortlisted entrants were then invited to pitch in front of a panel of business experts, entrepreneurs and investors – including Pret A Manger co-founder Sinclair Beecham, O2 General Manager (Small & Medium Business) Simon Devonshire, and Big Society Capital CEO Nick O’Donohoe. The judges recommended the 25 winners on the basis of the venture’s potential to grow its impact, the viability of its business model, and the abilities of its management team.

Of the 25 successful ventures announced today, ten will receive a second round of £50,000, with a final two, which demonstrate the fastest growth, receiving an additional third round of £100,000 – a potential additional £150,000, but only if the ventures can match it with loans or equity from co-investors. One of the competition’s main ambitions is to attract new investors into the social capital marketplace, and the search for co-investment will begin today for the 25 winners.

The challenge, run by UnLtd and supported by the Big Lottery Fund and the Millennium Awards Trust, aims to find and support ambitious entrepreneurs who are seeking to change society for the better. This support is provided through a mix of funding, match investment and intensive business support from corporate partners, including Accenture, Coutts, Deutsche Bank, Ernst & Young, Hogan Lovells, and the Supper Club.

Nick Hurd MP, Minister for Civil Society, said,
“The Big Venture Challenge is an excellent initiative, and I commend the intention to attract new investors into the social sector and scale up some really exciting, impactful initiatives. I want to congratulate the 25 winning entrepreneurs being announced today. I look forward with interest to following the growth and development of their innovative social ventures. “

Cliff Prior, CEO of UnLtd, said,
“These 25 entrepreneurs are a dynamic and impressive set of individuals, and have the ideas which can tackle the challenges facing the UK. We are hugely excited about helping them to grow their ventures to full potential. This is just the beginning of their Big Venture Challenge journey, but I feel confident that the combination of their entrepreneurial skills and the first-class support from our partners will give each the best possible chance of success”

Dharmendra Khanani, England Director Big Lottery Fund, said,
“’The winners illustrate People Powered Change at its best. These ideas are generated by people in communities who are creating solutions across a range of social issues. In the current climate, these ideas and entrepreneurs restore hope in the art of the possible, and are fired by an ambition to make a better society which the Big Lottery Fund is proud to be supporting.”

Quotes from the judging panel included:

Sally Goodsell, CEO Finance South East, said: “The quality of the shortlisted candidates…shows that this market has reached maturity, and the variety of the businesses has been really quite astonishing”

David Hutchison, CEO Social Finance, said: “The Big Venture Challenge is an offer not just of a significant sum of expansion capital but substantial capacity building support – this is exactly the sort of trigger for entrepreneurs who want to build ambitious businesses to clarify their thinking and come forward with well rehearsed proposals”

See the full list of 25 winners or read more about the judges or the programme as whole

The Big Venture Challenge – The judges verdict.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3
 

“The Big Lottery Fund’s investment in the Dispossessed Fund is a commitment to enabling people and communities across London to do what they do best which is make a great difference to so many individual lives across the capital.

“The capital is the second most deprived region in England and has the highest rate of income poverty of any region in England with one in five people below the poverty line. Public sector cuts are having an impact on voluntary organisations and consequently on the most vulnerable communities in the capital, with at least £300 million less funding for VCS organisations in London in 2011/12.

”The projects funded tell a story of community good; the power of people and communities to drive change for themselves and the magic that can happen within some of the poorest areas of London. They also reflect the power of individuals to make things better for people around them. These are some of the real heroes and heroines of London today. The Big Lottery Fund’s People Powered Change funding, provides a platform to celebrate those with the commitment and energy in local communities that spark change for good.

“We need to be smarter in the way we allocate and deliver Lottery good cause funding. I believe that the best way to improve any situation is to trust those who know best – the people on the ground, the people on the front line. After all they are the people who put in the time and who give their support to others freely. They are the people who see daily the anxieties, needs and aspirations of their neighbours and the people and the communities in which they live.

“The partnership between BIG and the Evening Standard will support more Londoners to make a difference to their communities.

“The Dispossessed Fund enables small groups with bright ideas to access money for people able to do something for themselves to tackle some very serious issues facing them, their neighbours and the community in which they live. The need for such money is obvious from the fact that the money available from the Dispossessed Fund is so much in demand.

“The fact is, without BIG’s funding support a great number of projects supporting the aims of People Powered Change and the Dispossessed Fund would go unfunded.”

Communities have a unique role to play when it comes to much of what we most value – our environment, safety, welfare, health and happiness. Moreover, communities possess the local knowledge, passion, creativity, sustainability and holistic perspective that are often lacking in bureaucracies.

Here are a few examples of community power from my home of Seattle:

• When their Columbia City business district fell victim to crime and became largely boarded up, residents organized revitalisation projects. Volunteers established a farmers’ market in the parking lot of the abandoned supermarket. A vacant store became a cooperative gallery for neighbourhood artists. Another became a non-profit business where young people are trained to repair discarded bicycles which are then given to foster children, homeless families, and the youth who complete the training programme. When these and many other projects still failed to revive one block, neighbours painted murals of businesses on the boarded up doors and windows to make it look like the storefronts were open. Soon, real businesses wanted to get in on the action. Today, there are no empty stores in Columbia City, new mixed-use development is being built in order to respond to demand, and parking is a bigger issue than crime.
• Confronted by a growing crime problem under the Fremont Bridge, local artists built a gigantic troll that attracts legitimate activity and keeps the neighbourhood safe.
• When the SODO industrial area became blighted with graffiti, community volunteers organised a programme that has involved 5000 young people in creating 1500 murals on the formerly graffiti-covered warehouses and other sites throughout Seattle.
• Fearing the loss of their children to the streets, the Eritrean community built and programmes a cultural centre for mutual support.
• Ballard neighbours planted 1080 street trees in one day in 1991 and went on to build 20 parks over as many years. Meanwhile, they organised Sustainable Ballard which, among other things, issues “undriving” licenses and has spawned 67 other locally-based groups throughout Puget Sound that are working to reduce the carbon footprint.
• 6000 people have built and maintain 85 organic community gardens that grow produce for their families and contribute another 10 tons to the food banks each year.

These are some of the more than 4000 community self-help projects involving tens of thousands of residents that have been supported by Seattle’s Neighborhood Matching Fund. The programme provides a cash match from local government in exchange for the community’s equal contribution of volunteer labour. It is based on the simple premise that both agencies and communities have much to gain by mobilising the neighbourhoods’ strengths rather than focusing exclusively on their needs.

The strengths-based approach is also present in the United Kingdom. For example, the UK is a leader in the international time banking movement. And, initiatives such as the Beacon Community Regeneration Partnership in Falmouth – a wonderful model of People Powered Change – are active throughout the UK. The number of community-driven initiatives should grow exponentially now that the Coalition Government and Big Lottery Fund are championing a strength-based approach.

But, how does such an approach address the very real needs of the most vulnerable? First, it recognises that everyone has strengths – skills, knowledge, passion and time. Unfortunately, we have labelled most of our population not by their strengths but by their deficiencies – at risk youth, old, poor, homeless, disabled, non-English speaking, offenders, addicts, etc. When we focus on people’s needs, they become clients in a service system. When we focus on their strengths, they become citizens of a community. Everyone has both needs and strengths and everyone requires services as well as community, but we tend to divide our society into two camps – those with needs and those with strengths. When we fail to utilise everyone’s strengths, our communities are less inclusive and powerful and the labelled individuals miss the joy of connection and contribution.

Equally important, strong communities are the key to holding government accountable for protecting the rights of the most vulnerable. Social justice never comes from the top-down. People must be organised to support one another but also to demand that their government provide what the community can’t or shouldn’t do for itself. There are some things best done by community, some by government, and some that can only be accomplished by working in true partnership.

Jim Diers is the former director of Seattle’s Department of Neighborhoods, author of Neighbor Power, and a principal with Nurture Development UK which facilitates strengths-based, community-driven change.

New research reveals that not only do 78 per cent of the UK public believe that businesses should do more to help society rather than just make profits, but 33 per cent would be prepared to become social entrepreneurs themselves if they were supported to do so – the equivalent of 16.6 million UK adults.

Putting ‘selfish’ corporations on notice, 76 per cent also said that it would be more rewarding to work for a company that did good work, with only 9 per cent saying it would be more rewarding to work in a company whose prime focus was making profit.

Of those companies which already do good work for society, The Big Issue was identified as having the most positive impact, with 23 per cent of respondents ranking it first. Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen followed with 17 per cent, and The Body Shop with 9 per cent.

Cliff Prior, CEO of UnLtd said:

“While we are not surprised that people are keen to see business play a stronger role in solving social problems, this research shows that the UK public is prepared to go further than simply waiting for it to happen on its own accord. If only a fraction of the 16.6 million people who would consider becoming a social entrepreneur took advantage of the help we offer to get such ventures up and running, we could make an incredible, lasting change to the lives of people in the UK.”

“For social entrepreneurs who are already out there making a difference, these results must be doubly encouraging. People are ready not only to listen but to take part, and with funding available through grants, investors and competitions like Big Venture Challenge, they should be looking to scale up their ventures to the next level.”

Nigel Kershaw, Group Chairman of The Big Issue Company said:

“Twenty years ago The Big Issue pioneered business solutions to create social impact through the simple business model of vendors buying a magazine for £1 and selling it on to the public for £2. We are so proud to receive this recognition from the public and to be part of finding the next 25 Big Issues through the Big Venture Challenge.”

Other findings from the report included:

• If given £175,000 to spend, more than one fifth (22 per cent) would use that money to make a positive change – with the rest choosing to buy a house, save or go travelling
• Almost 60 per cent of people think that businesses already make a positive impact on society (with Londoners twenty per cent more likely to believe this than average)

The survey was commissioned by UnLtd, the Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs, in partnership with market research firm Opinion Matters to investigate attitudes around social entrepreneurship in the UK. It is timed to run alongside the launch of Big Venture Challenge, a new competition to find the next generation of social ventures, backed by the Big Lottery Fund as part of its People Powered Change platform.

Dharmendra Kanani, England Director for Big Lottery Fund, said:

“People powered change happens when ideas emerge from people and communities in need and opportunities are provided for them to take charge, use their assets and determine services and responses to their circumstances. That’s why we are delighted to be a partner in the Big Venture Challenge.”

Big Venture Challenge runs until 30 June, looking for 25 winning entrepreneurs to receive up to £175,000 each in grants if they can attract matched funding. Winners will also receive intensive business support, including support from the competition’s corporate partners, including Accenture, Deutsche Bank, Hogan Lovells, Coutts and The Supper Club.

The competition runs in three stages, with 25 receiving £25,000 in grants, the best ten of those receiving a second round of £50,000 in matched funding, and a final two receiving an additional £100,000, if applicants can match it with loans or equity from co-investors. This mix of investment capital and grants is unusual in such a competition and reflects one of the competition’s main ambitions to attract new investors to the social capital market place.

Shortlisted entrants are invited to a business pitch in front of a panel of experts – including Prêt A Manger co-founder Sinclair Beecham, social investors and successful entrepreneurs and business leaders – and will be chosen on the basis of their venture’s potential and their personal ability to scale it up to the next level at speed.

The competition is already proving extremely popular – with more than 1,000 people registering their intent to enter before applications opened in May. Ambitious social entrepreneurs aged 16+ in England should visit www.bigventurechallenge.com to apply.

The Big Lottery Fund is enabling Media Trust to create an innovative UK network of local community news hubs that will support and empower local groups to tell their stories for online, broadcast and print media.

The Media Trust today receives £1.89 million to support citizen journalism and aggregate, package and distribute community news stories across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

A TV and online platform will be supported by professional journalism, UK-wide news distribution and a new online Academy of Citizen Journalism. The new Academy will provide community news hubs with the tools, online training and resources to support and develop the skills of the Active Citizen Journalists who will be at the heart of the hubs.

Media Trust will provide structure for the thousands of local community news outlets that exist throughout the UK including on websites and newsletters. Through the Academy, training will provide communities with the power to deliver quality journalism, whilst the existing Community Channel online and on television will form a national platform that aggregates community news, stories, blogs and videos. The local hubs will be supported by an amazing network of media volunteers and mentors and the Media Trust’s Newswire and Community Channel platforms.

Peter Wanless, Chief Executive, Big Lottery Fund said: “Media Trust’s plans to empower people to drive their local news agenda, inspire community action and build their media skills, are a great example of the ethos of BIG’s People Powered Change. BIG looks forward to seeing many more citizen journalists sharing their new skills with other local communities.”

Caroline Diehl MBE, Chief Executive of Media Trust said: “This funding is fantastic news for communities and charities throughout the UK. Together with Big Lottery Fund and Media Trust’s partners and corporate members, we will be able to connect communities to share their stories with each other locally, regionally, nationally and throughout the UK in a way that inspires us all to create positive social change.”

Watch Gavin Sheppard of Media Trust explaining their citizen journalism hubs

Credit: David Wilcox (Socialreporter)

BIG’s Improving Financial Confidence programme will specifically focus on social housing residents, as they are often most likely to be financially excluded^*. The funding will support projects across England to help individuals and families to avoid getting into financial difficulties.

Lottery grants of £500,000 to £1 million will be available for 3 to 5 year projects delivered by partnerships led by voluntary sector organisations.

Sanjay Dighe, Chair of BIG’s England Committee said: “The current period of economic stress has highlighted the divide between those who have access to a range of financial products, services and good quality advice, and those who are financially excluded. Financial exclusion can place a huge burden on individuals and their families and can lead further to social exclusion.

“Many people are unable to access or use basic financial services and products such as bank accounts, contents insurance, credit cards or affordable loans and instead fall into a trap of using high cost doorstep lenders, getting themselves into a debt spiral. This can make it difficult for people to manage their money, cope with financial pressures and plan for the future. It can also mean that everyday things such as household bills become more expensive. Research from Save the Children calculated the ‘poverty premium’ paid by poorer households for a range of essential goods and services is over £1,300 a year^**.

“With this programme, BIG aims to help people overcome these issues by giving them skills and confidence to choose, access and use financial services suitable to their individual needs.”

To maximise the impact of its funding, BIG is targeting funding at 69 local authority areas which financial advice research^*** shows have the most financially excluded residents.

The programme will also focus in particular on supporting social housing tenants that are moving in and out of work, or are in their first 12 months of tenancy, or young people in social housing.

Social housing providers will engage with the most in need residents to enable them to understand the relevance of financial inclusion and capability services. Voluntary sector partnerships will be expected to work with at least one major housing association and other relevant organisations from the area including advice providers and the local authority.

A consortium led by the National Housing Federation carried out an initial scoping study to establish the need for action in this area; and worked with BIG to help develop this funding programme.

Sanjay Dighe, Chair of BIG’s England Committee continued: “As part of our commitment to People Powered Change, applicants to Improving Financial Confidence will also need to demonstrate the involvement of the people who will benefit from it through its design and delivery. Ideas need to be powered by the people who will be the beneficiaries.”

In addition to Improving Financial Confidence, funding for debt advice and support projects continues to be available through BIG’s Reaching Communities funding programme.

BIG will be accepting applications for Improving Financial Confidence from Tuesday, 24 May to Friday 16 September 2011.Organisations interested in applying to Improving Financial Confidence programme should visit the BIG Lottery Fund website for more information.

^* The department of Work and Pensions Family Resources Survey has shown that the majority of those people who are financially excluded are resident in social housing.

^** Save the Children The UK Poverty Rip-Off: The poverty premium 2010

^*** Based on the 2007 Treasury commissioned report: “Mapping the supply of, and demand for, a wider range of financial services providers: – Research for the third sector credit Working Group of the Financial Inclusion Taskforce” (Experian, 2007). BIG has taken account of a recent refresh of the data, and rural factors not included in the original report.

Big Venture Challenge, a competition to find 25 of the nation’s most ambitious social entrepreneurs and give them the chance to fast-track their ventures to the next level, was launched on 9 May. The initiative, run by UnLtd and supported by the Big Lottery Fund and the Millennium Awards Trust, offers more than £1.2m of capital investment to the winners of the nation-wide ‘Dragons Den’ style competition.

The competition runs in three stages. In stage one, the search is on to find 25 winning entrepreneurs. These winners will receive funding of £25,000 each and intensive business support, including support from the competition’s corporate partners, including Deutsche Bank, Hogan Lovells, Coutts and The Supper Club.

Applications opened on 9 May, and close at 5pm on 30 June. Shortlisted entrants will be invited to a business pitch in front of a panel of experts – including Pret A Manger co-founder Sinclair Beecham, other investors and successful entrepreneurs and business leaders – and will be chosen on the basis of their venture’s potential and their ability to scale it up to the next level at speed.

Prior to the launch, more than 1,000 people had registered their intent to enter.

NESTA Neighbourhood Challenge

Event on 26 May

A learning event for successful projects is being held on 26 May in Manchester. The focus for the event is ‘Getting new people involved and inspired’. This is the first of a series of learning events that are planned over the coming year, and it is hoped that all the programme events will be really valuable, useful experiences for all projects.

Gathering information on resources

NESTA hope to gather information from projects about the resources they are using to run their project. This includes things like volunteer time given to run the project, paid staff time, community buildings, in-kind donations etc.

I attach the questions projects are asked to answer for the month of June. At the end of June projects will be required to use an online survey tool to submit the information for the month of June. Projects will be asked to repeat this for October and February so NESTA can get a snapshot of the projects at different stages in the year.

Blogging your reports

Projects are being asked to write a monthly blog answering four questions and posting a photo as the main way of reporting directly on how things are going each month. This is a really important part of the learning for the project.

Your Square Mile

Pilots

All workshops completed in England wales and northern Ireland. Two workshops still to take place in Scotland, should be completed by mid June. Citizen-led projects in development in all pilot areas. National conference planned for all pilot area project teams July – subject to additional funding.

Web platform

Decision made on digital agency appointment – Headshift/Conran & Singh.

Advisory panel appointed– Will Perrin (talk About Local), Tom Taylor (Newspaper Club), Charles Leadbeater (innovation consultant), Ben Jones (AKQA Chief Technical Officer).

The Mutual

Mutual to be constituted and endorsed by FSA mid-July

Ongoing discussions with potential partners to become benefit providers. Mutual to be launched end of September.

Young Foundation

The Young Foundation’s Building Local Activism programme is working towards its first milestones of selecting areas to work in, which will be completed during June 2011. For the Scaling Proven Models strand of work, they have undertaken an open call for organisations to partner with the Young Foundation and have received eight proposals from organisations across England. They have now shortlisted five of these and are scheduling assessment visits before they make the final selection of three organisations. Over the summer months they will work with each selected organisation to identify and begin work in two new areas of the country, collecting baseline data and conducting community mapping. They will also be working with each organisation to develop an organisational development plan. Both of these will be achieved by the end of August 2011.

Young Foundation will shortly be releasing a call for partners for the Low Cost Tools and Platforms strand – which has been renamed Digital Activism. They have developed a broad list of contacts that will be able to help disseminate the call for partners to community groups of varying sizes in areas of high deprivation and low social capital. They will also be actively engaging with community groups involved with NESTA’s Neighbourhood Challenge programme, who – if they decide to apply – will be given priority in the selection process. Young Foundation propose to work with each selected community to develop project plans to help them use digital technology to encourage local activism by September 2011.