WIREDGOV

The Big Lottery Fund yesterday announced a contract of over £235,000 has been awarded to a consortium led by Locality, with UnLtd and Plunkett Foundation, to deliver support to community enterprises across England over the next six months. 

This practical support for community enterprises comes ahead of the Fund’s £150 million Power to Change scheme opening later this year. Power to Change will see the establishment of one of the largest new independent grant-making trusts in recent years. 

Backed by Trinity Mirror, Power to Change will use funds raised by National Lottery players to support community enterprises across England. 

The initiative aims to empower communities to find sustainable solutions to issues they want to address in their local area. Community enterprises are about local people helping to make their community a better place to live. This could range from saving a local library, shop or pub from closure to setting up a new enterprise that creates job opportunities for local people and reinvests profits back into the local area. 

Through this new contract the consortium led by Locality, with UnLtd and Plunkett Foundation, will offer expert guidance to support, inspire and empower communities to make a positive difference and become self-sustaining. 

Along with a peer support network, online learning and help with business planning and legislation, the consortium will deliver six free roadshow events across England. These will be open to community enterprises whether big or small, rural or urban. 

Details below: 

Leeds: Friday 5 September - Tiger 11, Hillside Bldg, 279 Beeston Rd, Leeds LS11 8ND

Birmingham: Tuesday 16 September – BVSC, The Centre for Voluntary Action, 138 Digbeth, Birmingham, B5 6DR

London: Tuesday 23 September - Redmond Community Centre, Kayani Avenue, London N4 2HF
 
Dartington: Wednesday 24 September - Dartington Hall, The Elmhirst Centre, Totnes, Devon, TQ9 6EL

Manchester: Monday 29 September - St Thomas Centre, Ardwick Green North, Manchester, M12 6FZ

Lincoln: Thursday 9 October – Epic Centre, Lincolnshire Showground, Grange-de-Lings, Lincoln, LN2 2NA

For further information and to book your place at a roadshow visit http://locality.org.uk/powertochange

Follow @localitynews for updates and #powertochange.

Lyn Cole, Big Lottery Fund England Deputy Director, said: “Power to Change is all about people coming together to tackle a local need and make their community a better place to live. We know that all over England, communities are already doing great things to make a positive difference. This support contract we have awarded to Locality, UnLtd and Plunkett Foundation will help give community enterprises an extra boost ahead of the Power to Change Trust launching later this year.”

Steve Clare, Deputy CEO Locality, said: “Locality and our partners are excited to be providing support to community enterprises in advance of the launch of Power to Change. Many communities have the ambitions and ideas but need help both in getting started and in scaling up their existing businesses. We look forward to meeting people at our roadshows and through the Power to Change Community Network which will provide advice and information, sign-posting, and a range of resources - as well as helping participants to share their own knowledge and expertise."

Further information about Power to Change can also be found atwww.biglotteryfund.org.uk/powertochange
 and by following @BiglfCommunity #PowerToChange 


Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 020 7211 1888
Out of hours media contact: 07867 500572
Website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Twitter: @biglotteryfund #biglf
Facebook: www.facebook.com/BigLotteryFund

Notes to editors

• The Big Lottery Fund has awarded a contract of £235,776 to Locality, UnLtd and the Plunkett Foundation to inspire and support community-led enterprises ahead of the launch of the Power to Change Trust later this year. This support will provide community enterprises with expertise and guidance to develop their plans but is not a guarantee of future funding from Power to Change.
• The Big Lottery Fund is responsible for giving out 40% of the money raised by the National Lottery.
• The Fund is committed to bringing real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need and has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK. Since its inception in 2004 it has awarded close to £6bn.
• In the year ending 31 March 2013, 28% of total National Lottery revenue was awarded to projects. Since the National Lottery began in 1994, £31 billion has been raised and more than 400,000 grants awarded.

Locality
Locality is the leading nationwide network of community enterprises, development trusts, settlements and social action centres. Locality’s membership has expertise in community asset ownership, community enterprise, collaborative working, community voice and advocacy. Locality assists people to work together to create and capture local wealth for the benefit of communities – helping to set up local organisations, giving hands-on support to existing organisations and promoting peer-to-peer exchange.Locality is running the My Community Rights support service with advice and grants for the Community Rights, Neighbourhood Planning and Our Place programmes. It is also the UK expert on asset transfer and leading the Community Organisers programme mobilising people across England to take social action.Locality was created through the merger of the Development Trusts Association and bassac and commenced formal operation in April 2011.Find out more about Locality and becoming a member on Locality’s website. Follow us:@localitynews and facebook.com/localityUK.

The Plunkett Foundation
The Plunkett Foundation is an award winning organisation founded in 1919 that helps predominantly rural communities to set up community-led enterprises as a response to the issues facing them. Plunkett’s specialisms include community engagement, community-led assets and services, community enterprise approaches and rural development.Best known for helping communities to save their local shops and pubs, Plunkett has been involved in the development of a wide range of community-led enterprises including community food enterprises and community enterprises in faith buildings. Our support ranges from start-up support through all stages of developing to providing membership schemes to enable existing community enterprises to access discounted services and suppliers. Plunkett runs a number of peer-to-peer networks including the Community Shops Network(www.communityshops.coop), Co-operative Pubs Network (www.pubs.coop) and the Woodland Social Enterprise Network(http://www.plunkett.co.uk/whatwedo/WoodlandSocEntNetfm).Find out more about Plunkett on Plunkett’s website. Follow us: @PlunkettFoundat andhttps://www.facebook.com/plunkettfoundation

UnLtd
UnLtd is the leading provider of support to social entrepreneurs in the UK and offers the largest such network in the world. It resources more than 1,000 individuals each year through its core Awards programme.UnLtd puts people at the heart of what it does and reaches out to find passionate, talented, resourceful people who are determined to tackle the key issues facing society. Its focus is on helping greater numbers of people to start up as social entrepreneurs, enabling those who want - and can - to scale up their impact.UnLtd aims to develop collaboration and networks that will create an ecosystem of support, through delivering support to social entrepreneurs in partnership with social investors and delivery partners. It operates a unique model by investing directly in individuals and offering a complete package of resources; from awards of funding between £500 and £250,000 to ongoing advice, networking and practical support.UnLtd is the trading name for The Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs.

www.unltd.org.uk
Follow us: @UnLtd and facebook.com/UnLtd