Building on past work and looking to the future in Hertfordshire

1 June 2018 · Categories: Communities Care

Community Catalysts has a long and positive history in Hertfordshire, starting with a successful project from 2012 to 2014 with a focus on community enterprise and more recently a lovely partnership project with St Albans CVS. Having an opportunity to build on past work whilst looking to the future is always a joy so we are really excited to start a new project with Hertfordshire County Council.

There is growing recognition of the community’s potential to help meet the ambitions of the NHS Five Year Forward view, to support people in managing their own care. A focus on community health and wellbeing outcomes will be critical to the way we change from a ‘factory model of care and repair’ to a focus on the person and their community – Hertfordshire Community First Strategy

To help realise this vision Community Catalysts is working with the Council and other local partners on the Hertfordshire Community Micro-enterprise Project which runs from January 2018 for 15 months. The project takes learning from Community Catalysts’ highly successful project in Somerset and aims to work with local people who want to develop small enterprises and ventures offering highly personal homecare and wider ‘help at home’ to older and disabled people in their area.

Work will start in the St Albans, Hertsmere and Dacorum areas. As well as helping people to set up new enterprises Community Catalysts will also be able to advise small groups and organisations already established in the county and looking to diversify or extend what they offer.

I am delighted to welcome Community Catalysts to Hertfordshire. We want to explore whether encouraging smaller enterprises in local neighbourhoods will help people connect more to their community as well being supported to stay safe and well. – Ian MacBeath, Director of Adult Care Services, Hertfordshire County Council

We already have strong relationships and connections in the county so will be working hard to build on these and all the things we know already work well. We want to value and nurture people, groups and organisations with strong local knowledge and expertise.  We also see strong potential links with a similar new project we recently started in the neighbouring area of Central Bedfordshire – so much potential for positive working across county borders to the benefit of people in both areas…we can’t wait!

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