Growing Community Enterprises CIC

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Background

Growing Community Enterprises is a Community Interest Company which operates in Charnwood. Its aims are:

• To support people with disabilities to earn money whilst they learn work skills

• To help people to think about starting their own small businesses and with the process of doing this

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Background contd.

• The Community Interest Company has been running for about a year and is still developing

• It was set up to work alongside WHM Work Connections which is a company which supports people with disabilities to learn skills and to undertake work based activities

• The idea is that this will be a stepping stone to paid work

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Background contd.

• We found that at the same time as learning skills such as horticulture, animal care, catering etc. people could produce things and provide services that other people would want to buy.

• Growing Community Enterprises therefore processes the money that people earn and is able to pay its members either an hourly rate or on a profit share type basis working within the benefits rules.

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How it works

• The Community Interest Company has Trustees who provide support and administration voluntarily.

• Each person that undertakes any work is a member of the company and has a share in the money it makes and a say in what happens

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How it works

• We have now started to develop individual enterprises under the umbrella of the CIC including: a free range egg project; car washing; and a community gardening business.

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The Gardening Team

• The gardening team is a group of 7 people who work in groups of 4 on three days a week doing paid gardening work for people in the community

• The team has a dedicated support worker and its own accounts book .

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The Gardening Team

• The team makes decisions together about what work to take and what to charge

• The money they make belongs to the members and they decide what to do with it i.e. whether to pay themselves or to buy equipment etc.

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The Gardening Team

• Since the team started 4 months ago we have earned over £900 .

• We have bought a Lawn Mower and a Strimmer and have now got 7 different regular customers

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The Gardening Team

• The other thing we have decided to do as a team is to volunteer on the Mountsorrel Railway which is a conservation project

• We do this one day a week which gives something back to the community and gives us a chance to meet other people and to learn new skills

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Thank you for listening