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The Power to Change Roadshow kicked off at the Tiger 11 venue in Leeds on Friday 5 September 2014 with over 100 community entrepreneurs attending keen to make positive changes and a long term difference in their local community. 

Demand was high and the free event was filled to capacity. Free expertise was on offer to help anyone setting up a community business or keen to develop an existing enterprise further. Local community enterprises attending were bursting with enterprise plans such as The Able Project in Wakefield expanding its farm produce and activities for young people, Factory Street in Bradford organising open mic events to promote careers in music, and Berwick Community Trust’s wind farm in Berwick upon Tweed aiming to invest over a million pounds back into the community.

Run by Locality in partnership with the Plunkett Foundation and UnLtd and supported by the Big Lottery Fund, the day included talks and workshops with the, Power to Change Trust, Big Lottery Fund and Locality. Local entrepreneurs also took to the floor with tips on running a successful enterprise, business planning and accessing funding. Guest speakers from Leeds and close by included Threeways Centre, LS14 Trust, Headingly Development Trust and Bradford Moor PASS.

One of the speakers, Howard Bradley, LS14 Trust, which runs an events management enterprise in Seacroft said: “It has been inspiring to see so much energy and commitment come together in Leeds, celebrating community enterprise and sharing learning. It’s great to know that there is support and funding already out there and that more is set to become available through the Big Lottery Fund’s Power to Change scheme in the coming months.”

Delegate Peter Robinson of The Able Project in Wakefield said: “I’ve got so much out of today – with lots of enterprise know-how. At The Able Project we want to develop our enterprise with activities for young people including a youth club and motocross track. And our farm is expanding too, we’re planning to produce Yorkshire caviar – we believe the first time caviar has been produced in the UK!”

Led by Locality in partnership with the Plunkett Foundation and UnLtd, free support is on offer for community enterprises, with five more free roadshow events set to take place in Birmingham, London, Dartington, Manchester and West Lindsey. The support includes the Power to Change Community Network with enterprise tips, news and updates on support and funding.

Follow @localitynews and #powertochange for updates.

Another way to get involved if you have a great idea for a community enterprise, is by entering a film competition to win £1,000. Find out more on Locality’s website. The competition closes on 30 September.

Backed by Trinity Mirror, publisher of the Daily Mirror, the Big Lottery Fund’s Power to Change initiative will use £150 million of funds raised by National Lottery players to support community enterprises across England. The Power to Change Trust is currently applying for the endowment of £150M from the Big Lottery Fund and this process is expected to be completed by the end of the year. It is envisaged that the Trust will be up and running early in 2015.

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

Contact details: For more press information or to request interviews please contact: Clare Roebuck on 020 7336 9409/clare.roebuck@locality.org.uk  or Jo Shardlow 079 1226 9677/jo.shardlow@locality.org.uk Representatives from each of the case studies below are available for interview.

Notes to editors:
CASE STUDIES OF LOCAL ORGANISATIONS THAT SPOKE AT THE EVENT
LS14 Trust runs a high quality events management enterprise alongside a local market, and digital lounge to support people back into work. Creativity and people are at the heart of their venture. At the monthly Food and Boot market, they ask local people what would make life in Seacroft so much better. At their digital lounge they organise ‘round table’ chats putting unemployed residents in touch with local businesses. After receiving a grant, they set up LS14 Trust Event Hire as a social enterprise with all the profits reinvested. They manage events for Leeds council, commercial and community organisations including festivals. They want to develop further in the core events market, transform the upper floors of their building into a training and enterprise hub and inspire others to work creatively in a grass roots way.

Howard Bradley, LS14 Trust said: “The social enterprise work that we are involved in at the LS14 Trust, has local people at the heart of it. We believe that this work is a really positive way of showing that local people, with their skills and creativity, can work together to change the community that they live in for the better.”

Headingley Development Trust (HDT) was formed by Headingley residents. HDT develops enterprising initiatives that support the regeneration of Headingley and promote a vibrant local community. They run projects such as Headingley Homes to provide homes for families in the area, Headingley Community Orchard and an arts programme at HEART. HEART is Headingley’s Enterprise and Arts Centre which has become the heart of the community with a cafe, performance space, meeting rooms and offices. Headingley Farmers’ Market is a monthly market enabling the community to buy high quality locally produced food, it is FARMA certified. There is music from local performers as well as food stalls, and HDT has a stall where they meet the public.

Helen Seymour, Headingly Development Trust, said: “The success of Headingley Development Trust is down to the hard work and commitment and in some cases money of local people. Community enterprise takes time and energy but what it brings is so much more as the community owns and engages with it.”

Threeways Centre undertook England’s biggest asset transfer in 2013 – taking over the Ridings School in Halifax. They are not short of ambition and are currently working to turn the disused school, once called the ‘worst school in the country’ into a thriving community enterprise. Their plans include creating a community centre and nursery, a health and wellbeing centre, and office space for start-up businesses and enterprises. This adds to their existing conference centre with suites of meeting rooms, and a successful sports centre including gym, boxing club and sports hall. Threeways invite volunteers from the community to help out at the sports centre and with other work, like administration and event stewarding, giving local people vital work experience and helping them find full time jobs.

Colin Davies, Threeways Centre, said: “We believe our work to date has started not only to engage and involve local people but help them to realise that they have something positive to offer, more than they have been led to believe or have believed themselves. Above all we want to upset the aspirational apple cart and provoke people into believing they have what it takes to break through their own self-limiting beliefs.”

The Big Lottery Fund has contracted Locality, the Plunkett Foundation and UnLtd to inspire and support community-led enterprises ahead of the launch of the Power to Change Trust, which is expected in the coming months. This support will provide community enterprises with expertise and advice to develop their plans but is not a guarantee of future funding from Power to Change.

About 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 

About 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/WoodlandSocEntNetwork.cfm). 

Find out more about Plunkett on Plunkett’s website

Follow us: @PlunkettFoundat and https://www.facebook.com/plunkettfoundation

About 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

About Big Lottery Fund

The Big Lottery Fund has contracted 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