Social Economy Review

Resource Paper 4

Case Studies

Colin Stutt Consulting, 2001

Table of Contents

Introduction

Creggan Enterprises Limited (CEL)

Community Technical Aid (CTA)

Naiscoil Ard Mhacha

CARELINE

Ulster Community Investment Trust (UCIT) Belfast

Playboard Business Development Scheme

Newry and Mourne Co-operative and Enterprise Agency

BIH Housing Association Limited

The Nerve Centre Derry/Londonderry

Conclusion

Introduction

This Resource Paper describes ten case study social economy organisations operating in different sectors across Northern Ireland. The case studies are not representative of the social economy but are selected to reflect the diversity of experiences, knowledge and good practice.

The studies primarily describe, in summary form, some of the activities of the organisation and do not do justice to the struggles and investment made by people to built viable enterprises. They emphasise that the social economy is not new to the region and that there is an existing body of practice, skills and experience in different areas, sectors and agencies.

But the Paper also emphasises the need to build a knowledge base of case studies as a resource for the sector, potential entrants and people designing policies and programmes. The Social Economy Agency has developed some important models of practice ion this area.

Creggan Enterprises Limited (CEL)

Rath Mor Business & Community Enterprise Centre

Creggan , Derry, (Derry/Londonderry)

It is necessary to locate the experiences of CEL in the deep poverty in that part of the city. The area was ranked as one of the most deprived in the Robson Index of material deprivation in 1994, experiences high and persistent levels of unemployment and a growing reliance on benefit dependency.

CEL was established in 1994, is incorporated as a Company Limited by Guarantee, has an annual turnover of £300,000 and it currently employs 6 people. The organisation is a community–owned company which has developed a £3.2m community enterprise, Rath Mor, providing employment itself as a social economy enterprise but also creating opportunities for employment in retail and community services for the area. During the course of 1996, CEL helped secure a further £3m to develop a new sheltered housing scheme in partnership with North and West Housing.

Following research carried out in the area by the Derry Unemployment Worker’s Group, Naiscoil na Rinne and NICDA in 1990, local people came together and formed Creggan Community Initiative. They produced a development plan for the area which was submitted to IFI and DoE under Creggan Co-operative Society.

However, this legal structure was not acceptable at the time to the funding agencies. What CEL call a Social Economy structure (CEL) was then established to bring forward the original plans which secured funding in 1994. In partnership with IFI/DoE the community through CEL established the Rath Mor Centre costing £3.2 m of which £540,000 (17%) of which was the community’s input.

A total of 125 new jobs have been created as a result of the various enterprises and projects now located at Rath Mor with an estimated £850,000 pa in wages being earned, spent and circulated within the local area. There were also around 80 temporary jobs created during the construction phases of the main building, the housing complex and the community service units. CEL has also secured the relocation of the local Post Office to the Centre and has negotiated with the First Trust Bank to open an ATM service – the first such banking facility in the history of both the Creggan/Bogside areas. Retail/community service space: the Centre is presently fully occupied and CEL has negotiated a 35 year lease with its Anchor Tenant (Wellworths/Supervalu) who have also invested in the region of £800,000 to equip their supermarket. CEL estimate that in excess of 3 million people have now used the services at the Rath Mor Centre.

CEL also secured £350,000 for the development of a Neighbourhood Partnership (CNP) to facilitate and support local community activity and has redistributed in the region of £50,000 (surplus profit) to assist community based initiatives within the area. CEL and Creggan Neighbourhood Partnership played a crucial role when the EU URBAN Programme was allocated to the city between 1994-1999. CEL developed 8 new community service units were constructed during 1998 costing £340,000 and financed by IFI, EU Urban Programme and the community itself through CEL. CEL was able to provide £80,000 of matched funding from its own sources and the units are now full occupied and produce a total of 23 full-time jobs.

Following the closure of UTA factory in 1997 with the loss of 600 jobs, CEL purchased part of the site to establish a community-owned enterprise park. CEL now provides 50,000 sq.ft. of retail, business and community service space. CEL introduced a new clause in its Memorandum & Articles of Association giving the company powers to distribute its profits to other social and charitable organisations.


Community Technical Aid (CTA)

CTA was established in 1984 primarily in response to major urban renewal and housing redevelopment projects affecting inner-city communities in particular.

The Housing Executive’s Belfast Renewal Strategy (1982) was in particular having a major effect on the physical, economic and social fabric of especially vulnerable communities. In 1994 the short lived New Northern Ireland Assembly through its Environment Committee recommended the establishment of a technical aid service to help groups and local people gain access to the expertise, knowledge and resources to respond to redevelopment plans. There was in recognition that planning and design expertise was, for the most part, contained in the large statutory agencies such as the Housing Executive and the Planning Service and that this created unequal relations between planners and the planned. The restoration of these imbalances by developing advice and advocacy alternatives was the conceptual basis of Community Technical Aid.

CTA employs 5 planning staff, 3 architectural staff, 2 administrative staff and a Director. In order to assist groups in:

Planning improvements in local areas;

Preparing strategies for local area regeneration and development;

Developing community facilities and amenities;

Devising proposals for enhancing local environmental and housing conditions;

Responding to planning and development proposals affecting disadvantaged areas;

Presenting their views to Government on major planning and strategic initiatives; and

Preparing development and strategic plans for their projects.

CTA works in partnership with groups at all stages of the planning and development process:

“We encourage groups to network with other communities which are tackling similar issues and we participate in training and information events concentrating on planning issues and project development” CTA About Community Technical Aid.

Recent work has involved major community consultation processes on the Shaping Our Future Strategic Planning Framework for Northern Ireland and on the future of the railways for the Northern Ireland Railways Task Force. The Planning Service also recently commissioned CTA to facilitate public consultation on a range of Area Development Plans including Ards and Down, Banbridge, Newry and Mourne and Magherafelt. Planning work has also included the preparation of a housing and environmental strategy for South Belfast, a community audit in Clough, Co. Down and a community plan for Annaghmore and Eglish. Design and architectural services conducted the preparatory site and option appraisal for the new NICVA headquarters, Footprints Women’s Centre and the Oasis project to provide high quality play space in West Belfast.

The table below summarises the income and expenditure profile for CTA. The analysis illustrates the fee earning capacity of the organisation and in recognition of this the organisation established a separate trading arm Community Technical Services that is not constrained by Charitable status, trades as a commercial entity and prepares separate accounts.

Financial summary of CTA for year ended 31st March 2000

INCOME / EXPENDITURE
DoE Grant / £110,000 / Staff and associated costs / £157,659
Project income / £197,143 / Project costs / £76,780
Other income / £670 / Overheads / £52,050
Total / £307,813 / Total / £286,489

Source: CTA Annual Report, p.16

The table shows that the core grant by the DoE is 36% of total income and the amount of grant has not changed significantly in the last eight years. Most income is therefore raised on a project basis but this has created tensions within the organisation and presents some instructive lessons for social economy agencies. CTA make no policy or planning distinction between the two sides of the company and working patterns under tradable status or charitable status is treated the same way. The decision to accept tradable projects is the same as that for its community centred work and this helps to maintain a balance between the work of the organisation in respect of its core values and working principles. But in the late 1980s and the early 1990s CTA developed its staff and service portfolio in response to contact work including the Belfast Urban Area Plan. But this period of expansion was unsustainable and by 1994 the organisation faced serious trading problems. The commercial instincts dominated management decisions at that time and the CTA needed to engage in a process of significant retrenchment in order to stabilise the finances of the company. The reduction in staff, new management and a commitment to core social values helped to redirect the work of the organisation with a more balanced consideration of commercial opportunity and core organisational objectives.


Guildhall Press
(Derry/Londonderry)

Guildhall Press was founded in 1979 as a voluntary educational book publishing trust. Its original aims were to research, write and publish all aspects of local history in an objective and factual way and to create a platform for reconciliation through education by publishing material that increased cross community understanding and acceptance. It is based in Creggan, is a company limited by guarantee and has 2 full-time, 1 part-time and several freelance workers. In 2000 it had a turnover of £60,000.

In 1984, Guildhall Press received full-time T&EA ACE funding. The schemes had many advantages but underscored the precarious nature of grant assisted existence:

“Emphasis was placed on structured training for employment and personal development. While ACE support was undoubtedly of great benefit initially in sustaining the organisation and creating around 20 jobs, it had many limitations with 12-month work contracts and a veto on producing publications which could compete with other commercial publishing interests” (Guildhall Press, 2001).

T&EA funding ended in June 1999 with the closure of the ACE Programme. The organisation then attempted to secure funding under LEDU's Community Business Programme in 1999 but this was rejected because the status of the company was as a charity rather than a commercial concern. At this stage NICDA (Social Economy Agency) mentored Guildhall Press through successful applications to the Londonderry Development Office of the Department of Social Development and Derry District Partnership which initially enabled the business to become established and cover basic salary costs. The Director noted that the support of external support and expertise from the SEA was vital to the success of the initiative:

“The SEA put the clients and their potential economic and social contribution to the community first which encourages them to tackle all the hurdles that must be overcome to establish their business”.

The table below describes the core business areas and services of the organisation. They have published several high-quality publications for a range of clients in the private, statutory and voluntary sectors. These have included NIVT, Derry City Council and the Community Relations Council. They have also developed a series of web-sites for the community sector and for Derry City Council's Rialto Centre. The graphic design section assisted a wide variety of groups produce reports, leaflets, posters, publicity material etc. Areas covered included: Mental Health. Combat Suicide, Family Information Group, Adult Education and Community Development. Guildhall Press has also provided freelance employment to several adults in the fields of editing, design, photography, secretarial and Internet development.

Guildhall Press functions and Services

Service Area / Activities
Publishing / book publishing
graphic design
internet/web development
desk top publishing
Archive agency / photographs for publication and academic/research purposes
Services / desk top publishing and computer consultancy service
a wide range of printed materials for local businesses and community groups
Employment / a freelance employment register of workers with related skills such as designers, photographers, copy-editors
News agency / A research utility/news agency to provide a local contact and information source for visiting media.

The company has continued to grow by concentrating in advanced publishing equipment, developing the quality of its product and by niche marketing itself in the Northwest. But its social dimension has also had an impact in the relationship with clients, employment and community life. For example they have assisted a number of new writers and non-profit groups to develop the quality of their publications and reports at subsidised pricing rates. They have provided on-the-job work experience and training for a range of people on a part-time and voluntary basis and have been involved in the New Deal Programme. The company highlights the local impact of their work:

“Our proudest contribution to the local community has been the production of a comprehensive social and historical book on the development of Creggan and the memories of its inhabitants. It celebrated the area and its people and has engendered a feeling of pride and belonging throughout Creggan as it has recorded and publicised the positive achievement of the many groups, schools and individual in this disadvantaged area”.


Naiscoil Ard Mhacha

IrishLanguageGroupArmaghCity and District

Naiscoil Ard Mhacha was formed in 1986 as a company limited by guarantee to co-ordinate the activities of a number of Irish language groups in the ArmaghCity and District Council area. The organisation operates a large pre-school nursery group, a shop and employ four full-time staff. It is in the process of building a £1.5m cultural centre and negotiating an outreach centre of St Mary’s TeacherTrainingCollege in Armagh.

Naiscoil Ard Mhacha developed an aggressive commercial strategy from its inception and this was based on the short lived and unsustainable experiences of some groups operating in the cultural and linguistic field. The Director noted that:

“Over the last 15 years we have seen many community groups come and go often leaving behind residual resentment. We expect to see a lot more community groups fail over the next few years.”

The organisation currently provides:

A community owned shop selling recycled books, toys and clothes;

Support other charities by applying for grants and training;’

Preschool playgroup provision for 48 children from mainly deprived areas;

Daily after schools clubs for 60 children;

Weekly adult evening classes for over 200 people;

A community based University Diploma;

An annual Irish medium science week in the Planetarium

A recycling business;

The organisation is strongly rooted in the dynamics and cultural fabric of a linguistic based community in Armagh. It demonstrates the diverse sectoral activity of the social economy but also highlights the linkages between the social economy and social capital, which helps to integrate and maintain spatial communities and communities of interest. In particular, this case study has demonstrated the ability of a social economy agency to bond people and interests within a community and to bridge between people of different cultural-religious perspectives to the mutual benefit of both. The wider social and cross-community effects of the social economy needs to be better understood in the distinctive political conditions of Northern Ireland.

But, the Director also makes the point that developing professional services in areas that people want is the key to a successful social economy business:

“We generate much of our own income namely through the shop, and recycling business and by utilising the goodwill of our local community for volunteers and donations. We do this by responding to the real needs of the community, by not tailoring our work to comply with the latest grant guidelines and by working with organisations that already exists”.

He points out that the fracturing of effort and structures among community and voluntary sector organisations is one of the principal drawbacks to the development of locally effective and networked social economy agencies. There is, in short, a need for social economy and related agencies to become more interdependent on the basis of common gain in order to help manage and support the effective development of area based sectors. The grant-led culture within parts of the community and voluntary sector has created a degree of competitiveness and dependence and it is vital for bottom up growth that organisations work in the spirit of cooperation and sharing. Naiscoil Ard Mhacha have coordinated funding applications involving 21 groups and including an Ulster Scots group but argue that this has not be characteristic of funding activity in the area.