New community enterprise project in Dorset

7 December 2018 · Categories: Communities Care

Community Catalysts are excited to start a new partnership with Dorset County Council and technology company Bronze Labs.

We are working with the County Council and other local partners on the Dorset Community Enterprise Project which runs from December 2018 for 2 years. 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 care and help at home to older people and others that need support in their area.

We have watched the achievements Community Catalysts have made in many parts of the country and are excited to work with them to achieve similar success in Dorset. The project is about helping local people to help local people.  We will work with local communities, primary care, voluntary sector and community groups to help people to support each other. We are starting in areas of North and West Dorset where we have the greatest difficulty matching people’s needs with available care, with the aim to bring this approach to life across the whole of Dorset – Helen Coombes – Transformation Programme Lead for adults and communities at Dorset County Council

Work will start in the Sherborne Rural and Three Valleys in West Dorset and Blackmore Vale and Winterbourne in North Dorset, where increasing the number and range of homecare and support options available to local people is seen as real priority. Enterprises in other parts of Dorset that fit well with local priorities can also be supported.

As well as helping people to set up new enterprises Community Catalysts will also advise existing community enterprises already established in Dorset and looking to diversify or extend what they offer.

We will try hard to build on things that already work well and to value and nurture people, groups and organisations with strong local knowledge and expertise.  The project aims to capture learning and actively use this to affect local system and culture change – working hard to improve the way that health and care works for everyone in the county.

The project in Dorset and a parallel initiative in Shropshire are supported by a partnership with technology company Bronze Labs and their Tribe web platform.

Anita Wingad has been employed by Community Catalysts to lead the project in Dorset and can be contacted on anita.wingad@communitycatalysts.co.uk or 07407 789131

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