The Heart Of The Community (HOTC)
Lead Participant:
ROEBUCK PRODUCTIONS LIMITED
Abstract
Our project, The Heart of the Community, is a website and forum to create and grow a thriving Community Shop network based upon active volunteer participation. By reducing resident's exposure to Covid-19 and addressing local needs, it shows how communities throughout the UK can work together to create a meaningful, "national" Community Shop.
There is a lot evidence to suggest that volunteering is hugely beneficial in terms of physical and mental wellbeing; and the majority have much to offer from their life-experiences. Further, by engaging local volunteers at low cost, profit can be reinvested in other community-benefitting schemes and services.
Aimed primarily at rural communities (19% of the UK population) -- ideally those with a Post Office - the project will target the 12,000 UK Parish Councils through the National Association of Local Councils. The purpose is to prove -- through sharing the example or the Church Fenton Community Shop (CFCS) -- that tangible societal, economic and environmental benefits can be enjoyed.
Free registration provides access to the Project Plan, which is based on the steps taken by the organising committee of CFCS. There will be links to relevant and useful help pages (sources of funding, business plan, revenue streams, documentation and a framework for consensus management) supported with personal anecdotal observations.
There will also be advice about every aspect of setting up the business from the vital importance of generating a feel-good factor to negotiating the best property deal and setting up accounts with local suppliers.
Our project will show how to build a supportive, resilient and sustainable community using the CFCS concept through 2022 and beyond.
CFCS is about people helping other people and the website will balance practical / legal information with personal reflections and observations from those who were involved with CFCS; we believe it is important to share success stories as well as failures. We want to ensure every project has the very best chance of success.
Equally, we want to hear from other participating communities. Ideas and innovations ought to be shared, as we can all learn from collective experiences. In the long term the website will seek sponsorship and advertising to sustain its existence but in the true spirit of the venture short-term day-to-day management of the site will be handled by volunteers.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The project was delivered within the 3 month timeline. The project identified that there is a clear need for profitable Community Shops, and that there is potential to scale up the rollout of such enterprises.
An 'extension for Impact funding' would enable market analysis and stakeholder engagement to refine the community shop proposition, how revenues could be grown and the impact this could have when rolled out nationally, including those aspects which can be adopted by rural post offices to grow their own revenues through community engagement and a new retail offer, supported by the route to market and a Business Plan to go to market.
There is a lot evidence to suggest that volunteering is hugely beneficial in terms of physical and mental wellbeing; and the majority have much to offer from their life-experiences. Further, by engaging local volunteers at low cost, profit can be reinvested in other community-benefitting schemes and services.
Aimed primarily at rural communities (19% of the UK population) -- ideally those with a Post Office - the project will target the 12,000 UK Parish Councils through the National Association of Local Councils. The purpose is to prove -- through sharing the example or the Church Fenton Community Shop (CFCS) -- that tangible societal, economic and environmental benefits can be enjoyed.
Free registration provides access to the Project Plan, which is based on the steps taken by the organising committee of CFCS. There will be links to relevant and useful help pages (sources of funding, business plan, revenue streams, documentation and a framework for consensus management) supported with personal anecdotal observations.
There will also be advice about every aspect of setting up the business from the vital importance of generating a feel-good factor to negotiating the best property deal and setting up accounts with local suppliers.
Our project will show how to build a supportive, resilient and sustainable community using the CFCS concept through 2022 and beyond.
CFCS is about people helping other people and the website will balance practical / legal information with personal reflections and observations from those who were involved with CFCS; we believe it is important to share success stories as well as failures. We want to ensure every project has the very best chance of success.
Equally, we want to hear from other participating communities. Ideas and innovations ought to be shared, as we can all learn from collective experiences. In the long term the website will seek sponsorship and advertising to sustain its existence but in the true spirit of the venture short-term day-to-day management of the site will be handled by volunteers.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The project was delivered within the 3 month timeline. The project identified that there is a clear need for profitable Community Shops, and that there is potential to scale up the rollout of such enterprises.
An 'extension for Impact funding' would enable market analysis and stakeholder engagement to refine the community shop proposition, how revenues could be grown and the impact this could have when rolled out nationally, including those aspects which can be adopted by rural post offices to grow their own revenues through community engagement and a new retail offer, supported by the route to market and a Business Plan to go to market.
Lead Participant | Project Cost | Grant Offer |
|---|---|---|
| ROEBUCK PRODUCTIONS LIMITED | £64,344 | £ 64,344 |
People |
ORCID iD |
| John Roebuck (Project Manager) |