This event, put on by Community First,was held to find out what opportunities there are for community transport in terms of social enterprise and was attended by members of local community transport groups that have set up, or who are in the process of setting up, enterprising services which help support their particular social aspiration
Sylvia Brown, Chief Executive of Action for Communities in Rural England (ACRE) gave a breakdown of how funding streams were made available, and why community groups should be encouraged to take advantage of available funding. She did, however, accept that understanding the complexity of the procedures and their deadlines was not easy for volunteer groups new to the game. She emphasised that she was convinced that the future lay in following this community action route.
CAT was fortunate enough to receive substantial funding from ACRE in August 2007 in order to carry out the Go-Between project research work. This work is ongoing and due to be completed in late February 2008. There will be a public presentation of the findings in April 2008…more detail on this in the Spring and through our next newsletter.
Fiona Hornby of the Wigglybus Social Enterprise Group gave a presentation on the obstacles which a new entry group can encounter. Small volunteer transport groups from local communities need to learn very quickly and be able to adapt to the working practices of local authorities and understand the Department of Transport complex licensing systems.
This was a good opportunity to network for all those involved in community transport and a great deal of helpful information can be gained through sharing experiences.
CAT needs energetic new members interested in attending such conferences. Come and join us.
Wow, I’m really interested in this!
Thanks !